Birthplace: Fauquier County, Virginia
Father: William Francis Taliaferro 1790 – 1836
Mother: Mary Willis Turberville 1793 – 1836
1st Husband: William Henry Jamesson 1820 – 1845
Married: December 3, 1844 in Washington, DC
2nd Husband: Lewis Addison Armistead 1817 – 1863
(Buried: Old Saint Paul's Cemetery, Baltimore, Maryland)
Married: March 17, 1853 Christ Church, Alexandria, Virginia
Children:
Willamina Henrietta Jamesson Janney 1845 – 1882
(Buried: Saint Paul's Cemetery, Alexandria, Virginia)
Life Events:
1844 – 1845: Wife of William Henry Jamesson
1845 – 1853: Widow of William Henry Jamesson
1853 – 1855: Wife of Future General Lewis Armistead
Died: August 2, 1855
Place of Death: Fort Riley, Kansas
Cause of Death: Cholera
Age at time of Death: 26 or 27 years old
Burial Place: Fort Riley Post Cemetery, Fort Riley, Kansas
Major Armistead was overcome with grief at the loss of his wife and hired a stone mason to carve Cornelia's tombstone. When someone came to check on the progress of the stone, they found the young man lying dead on the grave with the tombstone half finished: he too had fallen victim of cholera. Armistead lived on to fight in the battle of Gettysburg but never fully recovered over the loss of his wife. Many people have claimed to have seen the ghost of Armistead weeping at his wife's grave, leading to the site's popularity on Fort Riley as one of the many ghost stories.
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