Archives West Finding Aid

Mason A. Cornwall was born 2 December 1821 to Enos Cornwall and Betsy Fox in New York state. He arrived in Idaho in 1883 and secured a ranch from the government 6 and a half miles east of Moscow. On this land, he built a store, opened trade and established a post office (called Cornwall) and merchandising until 1887 when he moved to Moscow. There he established Bank of Moscow in partnership with McConnell, McGuire and Brown of which he held half stock and was elected president. He withdrew from this position after five months. In 1890, Cornwall erected the Cornwall Block on Third Street. The Mason Cornwall House in Moscow was the family residence when in town and was built in 1889. Cornwall died on 18 April 1906 in Moscow, Idaho. Willis Sweet was born 1 January 1856 in Alburgh, Vermont. He attended school in the University of Nebraska in Lincoln and was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. He moved to Moscow in 1881. He was the first editor of the "Moscow Mirror" in 1882, studied law and became an attorney, judge, and supreme court justice in Idaho Territory. He drafted legislation which brought the University of Idaho to Moscow, submitting it to territorial councilor John W. Brigham. Sweet was the first president of the university's board of regents. In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison gave Sweet recess appointment as United States Attorney for the Territory of Idaho. He served as delegate to the Idaho Constitutional Convention for Latah County in July and August of that same year. In November of 1889, Harrison elevated Sweet to associate justice of the Idaho Territorial Supreme Court. He was confirmed on January 27, 1890. He remained in this position until the state's supreme court justices were elected in October 1890. Sweet served as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Idaho between October 1890 and March 1895 where he advocated for free and unlimited coinage of silver. Sweet was a member of the Republican political party. He was a candidate for U.S. Senate in 1896 but was defeated by Henry Heitfeld. He served as an attorney in northern Idaho in Coeur d'Alene until appointed as attorney general of Puerto Rico in 1903. Sweet served until 1905 and then was a newspaper editor in San Juan from 1913 to his death on 9 July 1925 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.