John Cummins

	Cummins/ings

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Doraville Whitney was the first Black settler in Isabella County in 1860. The first documentation of an African-American settler in Mecosta County Michigan was James Guy. His deed was signed by Abraham Lincoln. He obtained 160 acres in Wheatland Township on May 30, 1861. Lloyd & Margaret Guy were the first Black settlers in Montcalm County in 1861. The Homestead Act of 1862 allowed each settler 160 acres in Michigan. By 1873 African-Americans owned 1,392 acres in the three counties of Isabella, Mecosta and Montcalm. In the 1860's most of the land in Remus was owned by the Old Settlers.

SECTION 1

John Cummins

SECTION 2

William Cummins

SECTION 3

Cummins Family Pictures

SECTION 4

Cummings Homestead

John Cummins/Cummings

Photographs: Courtesy of

LaMoine (Green) Smith

Deonna (Todd) Green, Robert Hill Williams

Roger Cummings

Betty (Cummings) Shelby & Ken Todd

Picture Courtesy of Robert Hill Williams

Susan Cummins-Harper with

daughter Florence Harper John Cummins

Picture Courtesy of Robert Hill Williams

Cummins Family: Standing - Marinda Ann, Ida,

Joseph, Jr., (Sadie)

Seated (L - R) - Sophia, Joseph, Sr.

Esther M. Lett-Cummins & Elida

Date Unknown

According to the census records, the original surname for this family was spelled "Cummins." As families move to locations, sometimes a name is spelled in different ways. The surname for this family had more than one spelling. Some Cummins went by "Cummings" and others by "Comings." John Cummings, Sr. was born in Virginia on August 16, 1799. His father, Joseph, came from Wales, his mother was born in Maryland. Her name is not known. John, Sr. married Susan Lett and settled in Athens, Ohio, where their children were born. John, Sr. and his sons and daughters traveled by oxen-wagon to the central part of Michigan. John, Sr.'s children were: Millie, John, William, Joanna, Susan and Joseph. Millie was born in 1825 and married Daniel Pointer.

John was the second child of John Cummings, Sr. was born in 1831 in Ohio. He married Susan Lett. It is believed they lived in the Barryton area later moving to Bushnell Township, Montcalm County where he died on August 22, 1913.

William was born in 1833 and married Harriet Flowers on June 20, 1850, in Athens County, Ohio. They traveled with their family to Michigan, where they bought 80 acres of land near Millbrook, Michigan. They worked hard to clear their land and also worked in the lumbering business. Will had horses for farming, but his pride and joy was his buggy horse, "Joe Slick," shown in the picture on the pages that follow. Will raised Jay Cook along with their own 17 children.

During the Diphtheria Epidemic seven children were taken from them: Mary 17, Elizabeth 12, John 10, William 7, George 4, and 2 year old twin sons, Oscar and Orson. Thomas Squires a slave owner's son, stayed with the family until the epidemic was over. The surviving children of William and Harriet (Flowers) Cummins were: Minnie, Maude, Susan, Elydia, Diantha, Nancy, Rebecca, Clarence, Wesley and Delbert.


	Cummins/ings

There are "Old Settlers" who came from Canada via "The Underground Railroad." It was the most dramatic nonviolent protest against slavery in the United States that began in the Colonial Era and reached its peak between 1830 and 1865. An estimated 30,000 to 100,000 slaves used the "railroad" to get to Canada; many others escaped to Mexico, the Caribbean, and Europe.