Letter from Betty Cummins (Mrs. Benjamin Cummins) of Elkton, Maryland, sending her late husband's Cummins research, with G. E. Valley Jr.'s notes trying to place Benjamin Cummins (b. 1916) among the Smyrna Cummins family.

[Notebook p. 6. Handwritten letter from Betty Cummins (Mrs. Benjamin Cummins) to GEV, pasted in. GEV's note in margin: "Cummins".] 308 Hermitage Dr. Elkton, Md 21921 June 24, 1986

Dear Mr. Valley, Have tried to compile as much information I thought you might be interested in. As you can see Ben searched every avenue and the best of my knowledge his conclusion was not completed.

Ben's grandfather name was Harry, 7th son of Alexander Cummins. Harry had 9 children one of which was Ben's father - Otho Perc. Ben was born in 1916.

If I can be of anymore assistance please let me know. Have completely recovered from auto accident, I'm glad to say.

Sincerely, Betty Cummins

[Notebook p. 7. Date stamp JUL 1 1986. Heading "Cummins". GEV's notes.] from Betty Cummins's letter Alexander Cummins b ~ 1820 ± 30 | Harry Cummins 7th b ~ 1850 ± 20 | Otho Perc. Cummins b ~1880 ± 10 | Benjamin Cummins b 1916

Benjamin Cummins could have been of my generation ± 1 generation.

None of the above names appears in the Cavender papers, which Benj apparently inspected.

Betty Cummins also sent along photo copies of 5 sheets of 8 1/2 x 11.

These seem to show Benj did not think he was descended from John R C, as indeed he couldn't have been from the above list of names - it being hardly creditable that the Alexander Cummins above could have been born ~1870, for that would leave only 46 - say 50 years - 3 for births of ~17 yrs/generation.

It does not seem possible that Benj came from the John Cummins line, but he may have descended from one of John Cummins's brothers.

From VLCM 98, these could have been: Timothy Cummins, III 1757-1823 George Cummins 1759-1827 Daniel Cummins Jr 1761-1788 [Written up the margin:] The five pages from Betty Cummins are in a folder marked Benj. Cummins & are in the Cummins file.

[Notebook p. 8 (left-hand page). GEV's notes continued.] I have numbered Betty C's pages [top line partly cut off in the scan]

This is supported by a remark on page (2) (Susan H. C. was daughter of John Cummins (cousin we never heard of))

If Benj's family never heard of John Cummins then they couldn't have lived near Smyrna.

Benj seems to have thought he came from Geo David C. son of George C. & Maria Durborow. This is the famous founder of Reformed Ep. Church see VLCM 99

Unfortunately VLCM 99 doesn't give names of children, if any, of Geo. David C.

It is possible that Benj came from some other line entirely.