Cornelia Edwards

Cornelia Edwards is the aunt of Samantha Parkington and wife of Gardner Edwards.

Facts

 * Name: Cornelia Edwards (née Pitt)
 * First Appearance: Meet Samantha

Family

 * Mary Edwards: Mother-in-Law.
 * Gardner Edwards: Husband.
 * Samantha Parkington: Niece.
 * Agnes and Agatha Pitt: Twin sisters.
 * Alice Pitt: Sister.
 * Nellie O'Malley: Adopted daughter.
 * Bridget O'Malley: Adopted daughter.
 * Jenny O'Malley: Adopted daughter.
 * William Parkington: Son.

Personality
Cornelia is the oldest of four girls: Agnes, Agatha, and Alice. She is described as a pretty and dark haired woman who likes laughing. (Her hair color is in contrast with the illustrations done by Dan Andreasen, which give her auburn hair.)

Cornelia is very socially forward; she works for woman's suffrage as well as social change, and believe that newfangled ideas and inventions are a step in the right direction for society. Grandmary and her do not agree on this point for most of the series. She influences Samantha towards her own social change.

Gardner is courting Cornelia from the beginning of the series; however, Samantha only refers to Cornelia as a "friend" as she does not know the whole story. She suspects there is more, as she does ask if they will marry. Samantha is initially lukewarm to Cornelia; she dislikes her for a while in Samantha's Surprise (but more because she feels everyone is ruining the holidays in order to please Cornelia) and then warms back up to her. She is delighted when Gard proposes to Cornelia on Christmas Day and they are married in the spring.

Meet Samantha: An American Girl
Cornelia is first mentioned without being seen by Samantha; Samantha thinks that Cornelia is pretty but not right for her Uncle Gard and that someone more famous would be better. She asks Jessie if Gard will marry Cornelia and Jessie tells Sam that it is none of her business and that children shouldn't ask such questions.

Later, as Samantha is working on her sampler, she hears sounds of a car coming down the street that is disturbing horses and people. Cornelia and Uncle Gard arrive in the car, smiling at each other and dusting off thier clothes from the ride over. When Gard offers to take Samantha for a ride and Grandmary refuses, citing that Samantha's clothes will be ruined, Cornelia offers her duster coat to Samantha and helps her into it to it to Samantha's gratitude. She stays back to have tea with Grandmary.

The afternoon after Nellie is sent away, Gardner and her are over for tea. Samantha ignores them both as she is angry at grown ups. When Samantha says she knows what happened to Jessie and later says Grandmary was wrong not to tell her, Grandmary looks at Gardner and Cornelia. They are both silent, and Grandmary confesses she was wrong not to inform Samantha.

Nellie's Promise
Cornelia and Gardner have taken in the O'Malley sisters and Cornelia is first seen in the parlor teaching Samantha to play chess. When Nellie starts to call Jenny and Bridget to go to bed, Cornelia reminds her that Gertrude can do it, embarrising Nellie a little. She tugs the bellpull to call Gertrude who comes to take the girls to bed. At Samantha's suggestion that they go to a settlement house Cornelia is quite eager to go, as she thinks the work there to educate women is important and would like to help. She decides to take them the next day after school. They walk out and make their way to Seventeenth Street. Nellie navigates them through the packed street and is worried they may be overwhelmed, but Cornelia's eyes are alight with interest. Nellie startles when she thinks she sees Uncle Mikeand Cornelia ends up taking them down a wrong turn. When she stands up to one of the men in the alley, Cornelia gasps at her language. Samantha has to pull her past. When they make it to the settlement house, Cornelia remarks that something smells delicious and is told it's the cooking classes. Miss Brennan greets them well and is pleased to hear that Cornelia wants to help. Cornelia is unsure where to help and is told about the house by Miss Brennan before being led by Nellie to the kindergarten room where Samantha stays to tell the children a story. She and Nellie go to the cooking classes where she begins to help wash the dishes. She has to constantly dry her hands to taste the the food that the ladies keep bringing her. Nellie tells her how to say "the bread is good" in both Italian and German as the women in class speak those languages. When they leave Cornelia thanks Nellie for taking them and leans back to rest on the ride home. She tells Gardner about the trip and the ruffian they encountered, and how much she enjoyed it there. She intends to go back at least once a week. When she tries to get Samantha to talk about the trip, Samantha is very quiet. Cornelia declines the ride in the motorcar the following Saturday but suggests all the girls go.

Nellie and Cornelia begin to go to the settlement house twice a week after school, which causes her to spend more time with Nellie. She calls Nellie down to the cab they take each time. She quickly goes to the cooking class while Nellie and Miss Brennan speak, saying she will have to get along for a while without Nellie's translating. After Nellie writes the Clark school and she and Gardner receive the reply, she asks him about the letter that he's received and is worried it is bad news. Hearing that it's from the Clark School, she is shocked and hurt and asks Nellie if she is happy there and if she wants to go to school in Boston. She is the one to suggest that Nellie go up and talk to Samantha, who overhears that Nellie wants to leave and bolts upstairs. She and Gardner do not come up to tuck the girls in and Nellie believes they are talking.

The next morning Cornelia and Gardner have brought Uncle Mike to the house. Cornelia explains that they had been looking for Uncle Mike since taking in the girls, to speak to him about adopting the girls. She hugs Nellie when she confesses that she didn't want to worry the Edwards, and explains that he has been brought to sign away his rights. After Mike does so and leaves, she and Gardner both collapse into chairs. Nellie is still solemn, Gardner pulls her into his lap and Cornelia asks what's on her mind, which gets her to confess that she also wants to go to a different school. Cornelia understands and, with Miss Brennan's help, gets Nellie enrolled in a school she finds more practical.

The Cry of the Loon
She and Gardner cannot go to Piney Point as they are caring for their infant son, William. They give a picture of the family to Grandmary as a present.

In The Film
Cornelia is first seen after Nellie and Samantha meet with Uncle Gard in the automobile. Samantha has only met her once before, at Christmas last year. Gardner introduces her to Samantha as Miss Pitt, but Cornelia requests she be called by her first name. Samantha greets her passively; when Cornelia says that she heard that Sam likes to read. Samantha requests she be called by her full name. Cornelia correct herself and gives Samantha a copy of The Wizard of Oz saying that girls in New York City love the book. Samantha reluctantly accepts the gift.

When the three arrive in the parlor Gardner introduces Corneila and Grandmary tensely greets her, saying it's a pleasant surprise to see her. Cornelia returns the greeting and says that she was told that Gardner would say she was coming, but she can see he did not. Grandmary says they will have time to catch up later and Mrs. Hawkins will show Cornelia to the guest room. Cornelia thanks her and leaves.

During dinner, Gardner announces that he and Cornelia will wed; Cornelia says that she and him have been planning this for a year. She asks Samantha to be a bridesmaid, which she accepts reluctantly. Before the wedding, she has Samantha and Nellie try two cakes to choose the one for her wedding. The day of the wedding, her young neice Agatha picks up her veil and plays with it, accidentally setting it on fire; Cornelia is the one to put out the flames. She is flattered when Samantha lends her her mother's veil.

After Samantha moves in with Gard and Cornelia, she starts to slowly warm up to Cornelia. Cornelia is involved in sufferage and in well with some of the well-to-do of society. She uses her society life to get her and Samantha in to visit Nellie and her sisters. She is the one who gets Mrs. Vandergelt to remove Mrs. Frouchy from her position with her influence and organizes a feast for the orphans at the end of the movie. When Samantha changes her speech, she stands up for her when the teacher disqualifies her.

She is played by Rebecca Mader.