L. E. Cummings Biography


	This biography appears on pages 386-387 in "History of Dakota Territory" 
	by George W. Kingsbury, Vol. IV (1915) and was scanned, 
	OCRed and edited by Maurice Krueger, mkrueger@iw.net.

	This file may be freely copied by individuals and non-profit 
	organizations for their private use. 

	Any other use, including publication, storage in a retrieval 
	system, or transmission by electronic, mechanical, or other 
	means requires the written approval of the file's author.

	This file is part of the SDGENWEB Archives. If you arrived here inside
	a frame or from a link from somewhere else, our front door is at

	http://usgwarchives.org/sd/sdfiles.htm


				L. E. CUMMINGS.  

	L. E. Cummings, receiver of the United States land office at 
Pierre, to which position he was appointed in 1913, has throughout his 
entire life been identified with the west, and the spirit of progress 
and enterprise which has ever characterized this section of the country 
has been a dominant element in his life. He was born in Independence, 
Iowa, February 22, 1857, a son of William G. and Elizabeth (Wright) 
Cummings. The father was one of the early merchants of Iowa and at the 
time of the Civil war responded to the country's call for troops, doing 
active service on southern battlefields. Following the close of 
hostilities he became a traveling salesman and to that vocation devoted 
the remainder of his active business career. 

	L. E. Cummings was the second in a family of five children and 
was educated in the public schools of Independence, Iowa, and of 
Yankton, South Dakota, his parents having removed with their family to 
the latter place in the year 1873. He was next appointed to the United 
States Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland, and after attending school 
there for two years resigned. He then turned his attention to the study 
of law in the offices and under the direction of the firm of Pendleton 
& Wakefield at Sioux City, Iowa. Subsequently he was associated as a 
law student with E. E. Hasner of Independence and was admitted to the 
Iowa bar in 1878. For a time he engaged in active practice in 
Independence and then entered the insurance business, in which he 
continued until 1893, when he returned to South Dakota, settling at 
Yankton, where he conducted the Windsor Hotel. Subsequently he was 
manager of the Chandler Hotel at Vermillion, where he remained until 
1903, when he removed to Highmore, South Dakota, where he engaged in 
the real-estate business. There he continued until 1913, when he was 
appointed receiver of the United States land office at Pierre where he 
now resides. 

	Mr. Cummings is a democrat and has always taken an active 
interest in political questions and issues and a helpful part in 
advancing the interests of democracy, being recognized as one of the 
party leaders in the state. He holds membership in the Episcopal church 
and in Masonry has attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish 
Rite and become a member of the Mystic Shrine. He is also a Knight of 
Pythias and a member of the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. In 
everything pertaining to the work of general development and public 
improvement he is an out and out progressive. Among other beneficial 
movements that have claimed his attention and cooperation is that of 
the agitation for improved public highways. He furthers every practical 
movement for advancing the good roads system, his sagacity enabling him 
to recognize the advantages that will accrue therefrom, and at the same 
time he looks beyond the exigencies of the moment to the needs and 
opportunities of the future. His office is being conducted in a highly 
efficient manner and he ever fully meets the obligations which devolve 
upon him in this connection.