When Cornelia Adelia Schmidt was born on 1 September 1861, in Squaw Grove Township, DeKalb, Illinois, United States, her father, Alexander Otto Robert Schmidt, was 30 and her mother, Franziska Augusta Keen, was 21. She married James Edward Tomlin on 1 March 1886, in Sandwich, DeKalb, Illinois, United States. They were the parents of at least 3 sons and 3 daughters. She lived in Salt Lake City Ward 3, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States in 1900 and Murray, Salt Lake, Utah, United States in 1910. She died on 27 April 1914, in Magna, Salt Lake, Utah, United States, at the age of 52, and was buried in Midvale, Salt Lake, Utah, United States.