John Cummings (abt. 1755-1827)
We have confirmed our Cummins line back as far as John Cummings, who was born on the Indian frontier of Pennsylvania about 1755. By 1773, the area had become Westmoreland County. The spelling of his name in official records, including his own signatures, was usually Cummings. However, his descendants appeared to have dropped the G and settled on the spelling Cummins from about 1875 on. According to statements in John's 1816 Land Patent application, the Cummings family had lived on the land since 1770. John would have been about 15 then. Later, John married Martha whose family name is still unknown. They continued to farm the Cummings land, raising their family there of three daughters, Lucinda, Mary and Margaret, and two sons, William and John. Records show that John was a ruling elder of the Tyrone Presbyterian Church, which still exists today across Jacobs Creek near Dawson in Fayette, County. Then, in 1816, John "removed" his family to Indiana. He took his family and all their possessions down the Ohio River in a flat boat, landing at Cincinnati, Ohio. At that early period there was but one wagon road leading into or out of Cincinnati, cut through a bluff on a hill from Main Street. John Cummings remained in the Queen City only long enough to purchase a wagon and team to convey himself and his little family on to the Indiana wilderness over roads that were almost impassable. They located in the newly opened Franklin Co., where John built a log cabin. John and Martha Cummings, and their daughters, were listed among the founders of the first Presbyterian Church in Brookville, Indiana. The family prospered in Indiana. John died there in 1827, and his wife Martha in 1830.