Member

Cornelius was born in 1865. He studied at Albany State Normal School and New York State Normal School. In 1888, he taught high school in New York and Nebraska. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in 1897 and a Master’s degree in 1901, both from University of Nebraska, and then went to work at the Bureau of Plant Industry. In 1906, Cornelius moved to Washington, D.C. In 1923, he was appointed director of the Division of Mycology and Disease Survey. From 1927 to 1928, he went on a collecting expedition to Hawaii. Dörfelt and Heklau say that, while still a school teacher, Shear issued a set of exsiccati under the title New York Fungi, but they don't give a date for it. Shear named several species of fungi. Cornelius was a member of Sigma Xi and was a charter member of the Washington, D.C., Alumni Chapter of Sigma Xi. Cornelius died in 1956. He we elected to the Washington Biologists’ Field Club in 1900 and terminated his membership in 1913.