Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Cumming, Thomas S ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 13, 2006, 5:40 pm Author: History of Grundy County, 1914 Cumming, Thomas S. – Thomas Stewart Cumming was born at Whitehall, Edinburgh County, Scotland, a son of Robert and Barbara (Proctor) Cumming, both natives of Edinburgh. His parents were married at Clay Barnes, Edinburgh County, Scotland, in 1828, where they lived for some time, and there their first son, James P., was born. Subsequently these three came to America, taking up their residence in Pottsville, Pa., and here it was that a daughter, Janet, was born to them. After scarcely more than a year in this country, the family returned to Scotland, where Janet died, aged two years, and where the remaining eleven children were born. Of the thirteen children which constituted their family, but nine were spared to reach maturity. Their names are, in order of their birth: James P., John P., David, George A. P., Patrick M., Elizabeth R., Thomas S., Marion, and Robert. All of these sons and daughters came, in later years, to America, to establish their permanent homes. Thomas S. Cumming started his schooling at a very early age, attending the infant class at Cowdenfoot, and, finishing this at the age of five, was entered in the schools of Whitehill, studying history, geography, and arithmetic. This last named study was the one toward which he seemed most naturally inclined, and he had just entered the class in plain geometry when he was forced to commence regular work at the mines in which his father worked, although he was not yet ten years old. His first job was that of trapper, or door-tender, in the old Cowden Mine, and later was a helper to the cager; then a driver; and , when about fourteen years old, he went to pushing and loading, which is a direct apprenticeship to coal digging. For five years he continued at mining in Scotland; but, in 1866, he came to America, in company with his parents, two sisters and his brother, Robert, after landing coming directly to Gardner, Ill. They reached their ultimate destination September 1, 1866, and have ever since that time considered Gardner their home town in this country. Some time after Gardner had become their home, Thomas left to take up a homestead in Smith County, Kansas, and here his father and mother came, in 1878, to live with him. Two years later the father died quite suddenly, and the mother was left to survive him until she reached the age of eighty-five. After coming to the United States, Thomas G. Cumming divided the earlier decade of his residence between mining and farming; but his time was never so completely monopolized as to exclude his desire for a more specific and comprehensive education. In accordance with his views on this subject he took up the study of Geology and of mining problems, receiving much benefit from his perusal of The Colliery Engineer, published in Scranton, Pa. He also attended the night school, with some enforced irregularity, but he worked with a purpose that more than made amends for deficiencies in time. In 1883, he and his brother James, both qualified at the first examination held in the State, for Mining Inspectors, James receiving one of the appointments given by Governor Oglesby. Thomas then took a full course in the Scranton school; and, in 1893, was appointed Inspector for the First District, two years later being transferred to the Sixth District, his appointment coming from Governor Altgeld. Subsequently Mr. Cumming taught mining classes in Braidwood, Braceville, Coal City, Carbon Hill, and Gardner, with splendid results to show for his labor. It was in 1880 that he returned to Illinois, after farming his homestead in Kansas, where the locust pest and the low prices on the products of his farm, detracted somewhat from the expectations he had had. At that time it was not the high cost of living that caused discomfort; but rather the excessive labor that were necessary in order to get the dollar. He recalls hauling dressed pork a distance of 65 miles, and selling it at two and one-half cents a pound. On his return to Gardner, he and his brother, John Cumming, contracted to sink a shaft, southeast of Garner, for Taylor Williams, and when this shaft was completed, John became the mine manager, while Thomas continued prospecting for coal. This engaged his time for a year or so, until he became County Mine Inspector, for a term of four years; later being State Inspector in the First and Sixth Districts. In 1895 he moved his headquarters to Bellville, and during the four years of his residence there was manager of the mines, near O’Fallon, Ill., owned by the Consolidated Coal Co., of Alma, Minn. He then undertook the management of Mine No. 6 at Stanton, Ill., for the same company. The family to which Mr. Cumming belongs relate an interesting bit of tradition pertaining to their early predecessors, the Cummings, of Cammernade, Bamffshire, in the north of Scotland. The great-great-grandfather of our subject was the only son and heir to the large family estate. His father was dead and his mother had married again. One day, when he was but a mere boy, he came home from herding the flocks and found his stepfather beating his dearly beloved mother. The lad knocked her assailant down, with the shepherd’s staff that he had in his hand, and then alarmed at what he had done, fled form home and wandered to Edinburgh County where he remained and became the progenitor of a great number of descendants. From his early youth, Mr. Cumming has been fond of literature. He joined the Y. M. C. A., at Dal Keith, and especially enjoyed the essays that were read and the debates and discussions that were held there. He was but fourteen when he became a member of the Christian Brethren Church at Dal Keith. These things, which contributed to his pleasure in his youth, still hold for him their old-time enjoyment, for the hard knocks of the world have not change him essentially. His interest in youth did not fade, as he himself grew to maturity, and he recounts, to his very young friends, the excitement of the games that were played in his boyhood, among which “Rounders and Prisoners” and “Smuggle the Geg” were the chief. Politically, Mr. Cumming is what he would call a democratic Democrat. In the matter of taxation, he believes with Prof. T. H. Huxley that “even the best modern civilization appears to exhibit a condition of mankind which neither embodies any worthy ideal nor even possesses the merit of stability”. Huxley says: “I do not hesitate to express the opinion that if there is no hope of a larger improvement of the condition of the greater part of the human family; if it is true that the increase of knowledge, the winning of a greater dominion over Nature which is its consequence; and the wealth which follows on that dominion, are to make no difference in the extent and the intensity of Want with its concomitant moral and physical degradation among the masses of the people, I should hail the advent of some Kindly Comet, which would sweep the whole affair away”. On August 16, 1870, Mr. Cumming was married to Miss Mary E. Blaney, born in Licking County, Ohio, August 10, 1846. To Mr. and Mrs. Cumming were born six children: Charles Stewart, born May 26, 1871; William Henry, born July 16, 1873; Orin Kimpton, born December 18, 1875; Maud Elizabeth, born March 24, 1878; Ernest Proctor, born Mary 16, 1880; and Clarence Carl, born October 19, 1882. Mrs. Cumming passed away on October 3, 1885. On December 29, 1886, Mr. Cumming was united with Miss Mary C. Bartilson. pages 798-799 Additional Comments: Source: History of Grundy County, Illinois, Chicago: Munsell Publishing Co. Publishers; 1914 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/grundy/bios/cumming779nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 8.3 Kb