Frederick  P.  Cummins

          My great-great-great grandfather was Frederick P. Cummins.  He moved to LaPorte around 1840-50 with his father-in-law,  John  Walker,  who died in the late 1840's in La Porte.
          F. P.'s wife was  Frances  A.  Walker  Cummins.  They had children named  Richard  W.,  John  W.,  Frances  E., Mary  E.,  Hattie,  and  Carrie ?.   Mary E. married  Edwin  Swan  and I believe moved to Bridgeport, CN.  John W., is my great-great-grandfather. He died in 1905 in Elkhart, IN, after 40 years with the Lake Shore Railroad.
          F.P. was a clergyman in the 1850 census.  He began the Lancasterian Academy in La Porte and served as a county commissioner around 1850 or so.
          I am trying to find his parents' names and their places of birth.
Written by Dave Miller;  visit his Cummins genealogy website

          PMF note: The Shelby Co library does have some additional information on the above Frederick and Dr. Richard Cummins (his brother), but it is in Marian McFadden's book, published in 1968 (and therefore, cannot be copied here). As with many of the early pioneers who "moved on" prior to the writing of the two Shelby Co history books (1887 & 1909) we have very little formal biographical information because their descendants were not here to record their parents' and grandparents' histories.

          The booklet "The Story of St. John and Its People", written by Fern W. Brill, contains information about Frederick P. Cummins on pages 46-49 and a short bio on page 261.  This book is still protected by copyright laws and the articles cannot be reproduced here.  I am sure Deli at the Montgomery Co (IN) library would be happy to help you, if interested.  I would like to thank Jean Bischoff and her son, Dave, for helping me follow this family.  It can be very frustrating to have an early pioneer family, whose descendants have all left prior to the time Brant & Fuller and Chadwick published their Shelby County histories. In this case, we know the CUMMINS family figured very prominently in our early history, but we have VERY little information about them.

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