Commemerative Biographical of Harrison County, Ohio

Philip CUMMINGS In 1781 James CUMMINGS was born in Kent County, Del. Of Scotch-English ancestry. He grew to maturity in his native state, and married Miss Mary PETERSON, a descendant of a prominent family in Delaware, where James CUMMINGS was for years engaged as overseer of a large plantation. In the War of 1812 he entered the service of the United States as a bugler, serving until the close of the struggle, and was present at Baltimore where Gen. ROSS was shot. In 1815, after the close of the war, he and his family, having resolved to seek a home for themselves in the new country, concluded to come to Ohio, so with wagons they began the long, tedious journey through the wilderness, the only roads being Indian trails, and this journey, beset on all sides with the dangers incident to the times, lasted several weeks. Coming to Harrison County, they located near Cadiz, and in the spring of 1820 they settled on a tract of Government land in Monroe Township, then a part of Tuscarawas County. Here they built a cabin, and began clearing their land. They were among the earliest settlers in Plum Run, and were the vanguard of those brave and unselfish men and women who with undaunted courage had pushed into the forest to rescue this country from the savages, to rescue for us the smiling region we now behold. Here James CUMMINGS resided until his death, which occurred in 1845; his worthy wife died in Buchanan County, Iowa, in 1851, aged sixty years. He was an exemplary citizen, and his public spirit manifested itself on all occasions. He was a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, having united with it prior to coming to Ohio. He officiated as class leader and steward, and through his assiduous efforts the first church on Plum Run was built. He may, therefore, be called the father of the church. He was also active in educational matters, and was a thorough scholar for those times; was also a splendid singer, and was a great lover of vocal music. To this honored couple were born four sons and four daughters, of which family but two - our subject and George I. CUMMINGS, of Miami County, Kas. - are now living.

Philip CUMMINGS, who is the fourth child in the family in order of birth, first saw the light of day in a little log cabin, in Monroe Township, Harrison Co., Ohio, January 28, 1821, being the first white child born on Plum Run, and the little cabin wherein he was born was the first one erected in the neighborhood, having been put up by his father, built of round logs and covering a space of 10X14 feet. In the interior the ground floor was a single room -parlor, sittingroom, kitchen and diningroom of the family.

The second story was divided from the first by puncheon (split logs), laid even with the edge of the roof, and this allowed a small space in which to sleep. The means whereby this room was reached was a rude ladder. A huge stick chimney towered upon the outside of the cabin, and the capacious fireplace was the only means of warmth and cooking. After he was old enough Philip began attending the district school, the privilege afforded for an education being very limited. The school house was a log one, furnished with puncheon floor, split log benches while a single puncheon extended around the room, on pegs driven into the wall, served as a desk. One of the logs on each side of the house was taken out, and over this opening was fastened greased paper, the only window panes the primitive building ever possessed; a huge fireplace, taking in a log, eight feet in length, threw out a fierce heat, that battled with the cold air which came in through the cracks and crevices.

The school was maintained by popular subscription, paid by the settlers who had children to educate, while the teacher "boarded around." In the school room the master reigned supreme, and not the least important factor in the successful session was the bundle of birch rods and switches that stood in the corner, and which, with dreaded frequency, descended upon the luckless back of some offending pupil. Wolves, bears and deer roamed at will through the forest, and eyed with suspicion and distrust the encroachment upon their native domain by these sturdy settlers, who claimed the virgin soil as their heritage. Mr. CUMMINGS often saw the wild animals, and relates that it was a common experience to see twenty-five wild deer in a drove. The settlers, with their trusty rifles, laid many of them low, in which manner the larders was ofttimes filled, and in this manner the families were sustained. Mr. CUMMINGS' father killed twenty-three of the deer during the first year's residence here. Home-made clothes were all the country afforded, and dressed in the rough linsey, the pioneers felt as well satisfied as though dressed in broadcloth. Wheat was the principal crop, and after having been harvested by hand with a sickle and cradle, and threshed with a flail, would be conveyed to distant market places, and there sold for a small sum (often twenty-five and thirty-seven and a half cents) per bushel. Sometimes a bushel of the wheat would be exchanged for a pound of coffee, and this great luxury would be served in the family once a week, usually on Sunday morning. Amidst such scenes as these our subject grew to manhood, remaining with his parents until he was of age, and assisting them in the duties of the farm and in the maintenance of the family, experiencing all the privations and hardships of those early times. He began life for himself as a laborer, he to receive $100 and his board and home-made clothing for a period of two years. He hoarded carefully his meager earnings, and in 1847 went to Iowa, where he took up 120 acres of Government land, which was his first real estate. Soon thereafter he returned to his old home, intending soon to return to his western home, but he traded his western land for the old homestead, and located thereon. A few years later he sold this and bought other land.

In 1874 he settled on his present farm, upon which he erected his handsome residence and the commodious outbuildings and barns. He now owns 400 acres of land, 320 of which are the farm upon which he resides. The property is finely improved, and the broad, fertile fields give evidence of careful husbandry. Mr. CUMMINGS is now the oldest native resident of the region, and has cleared and improved more land in the section than any other settler.

He is a firm believer in the principles and policy of the Republican party, was an active Abolitionist in the exciting days before the war, and his was the only Abolition ballot cast in this region. He has held with credit the various positions in the township, and has been a member of the school board, and supervisor for twenty-five years. Mr. CUMMINGS has been thrice married, as follows: his first wife, Mary Anne Trimble, he married January 12, 1847; she died March 11, 1856, leaving three children, two of whom are now living: Sarah A., married to Perry DEMPSTER, and residing in Hardin County, Ohio, and Mary R., married to John T. CARSON, and residing in Monroe Township. On June 18, 1856, Mr. CUMMINGS married Miss Rebecca COX, who bore him five children, of whom two are now living, viz: Ida M., now Mrs. Amos HOST , of Monroe Township, and William L., also a resident of Monroe Township. This Mrs. CUMMINGS died March 18, 1872, and July 29, 1873, was solemnized the union of Mr. CUMMINGS and Susan E. ELLIS, a native of Tuscarawas County, Ohio, and a daughter of Nathan and Margaret ELLIS, pioneers of that county. The union has been blessed with four sons and one daughter: Melville, Manton Marble, Laurette N., Montcalm and Gillespie Blaine. Mr. and Mrs. CUMMINGS and family reside in their handsome residence on Little Stillwater, where they have a pleasant home, surrounded by the comforts of life, and are enjoying the fruits of their earlier labors. Mr. CUMMINGS' religion consists of a practical application of the Golden Rule. He believes in the gospel of intellectual hospitality and the freedom of thought, and is bound by no narrow egotisms or superstitions. He has been liberal in his support of all public enterprises, and has done as much as any one citizen toward the advancement of his country. He is in every sense of the word a self-made man, having begun at the foot of the ladder and climbed upward. He has hewn his success out of the difficulties which surrounded him, and has the satisfaction of seeing in a retrospective view a life well spent.