Leonard Cummings

Also Leonard Cummins

Of Litchfield, New Hampshire, in 1742, and later of Londonderry, where he died in 1758, leaving young children under a guardian. He married Jane, apparently of Dunstable. Possibly a son of Samuel Cummings of Groton and Elizabeth Shedd; no record yet names his father. Probably the father of Jerahmeel Cummings and grandfather of Joseph Cumins.

Family tree →Migration map →
01

Life

  1. 1714
    Born
    1714

    Kith and Kin's "b. 1714, in Dunstable (?)" belongs to its placing of him as Samuel Cummings's son, which the Cummings Memorial does not make; WikiTree has 1714 at Groton.

    compiledpossible
    Sources· 2 found
  2. c. 1738
    Married Jane
  3. 1758
    Died
02

Family

Father
Samuel Cummings

Of Groton (1684-1718), son of John Cummings and Elizabeth Kingsley and great-grandson of Isaac Cummings of Ipswich and Topsfield. Kith and Kin makes Leonard his fourth son, but the Cummings Memorial (1903), which Kith and Kin follows elsewhere, lists only Samuel, Jerahmeel and James as his children "recorded in Groton" and places Leonard among the Cummingses it could not connect. See the open questions.

compiledpossible
Sources· 2 found
Mother
Elizabeth Shedd

Samuel Cummings's wife (m. 14 Jan 1708/9), daughter of Samuel Shedd and Elizabeth Bowers; widowed in 1718, she married Robert Robbins of Littleton in 1720. Possible only, with Samuel.

compiledpossible
Sources· 2 found
Spouse
Jane · married c. 1738

"His wife's name was Jane and appears to have been of Dunstable" (Mooar). WikiTree gives her 1717-1806.

compiledprobable
Sources· 2 found
03

Pedigree

documentedcompiledinferred
04

Notes

Grandfather of Joseph Cumins. The Cummings Memorial (1903) gives what the records show of him: “Leonard Cummins is mentioned Nov. 20, 1739, by Josiah Cummings, administrator of Eleazer Cummings’ estate. He sold land, 1742, in Litchfield, N. H.; at least he was of that town then. His wife’s name was Jane and appears to have been of Dunstable. He died in 1758 in Londonderry, N. H. Joel Parkhurst was appointed guardian of the children, Jerahmeel, Rachel and Silas, the last under 14 years” (source). Kith and Kin lists seven children: Mary (b. 1739, m. Eleazer Farewell), Leonard (b. 1742, d. young), Betty (1744-1837, m. 1762 Joel Parkhurst), James (b. 1747, d. young), Jerahameal (b. 1750), Rachel (1752-1838, m. Eleazer Reed) and Silas (b. 1754, m. about 1775 Hannah Kendall) (source).

Research: research/hatten/Browne_Chapin_Cumins.md.

Open questions

  • Who were his parents? Kith and Kin (1922) makes him the fourth son of Samuel Cummings of Groton and Elizabeth Shedd, and on that rests the family’s descent from John Cummings of Chelmsford, John Cummings of Boxford and Dunstable, and Isaac Cummings of Ipswich and Topsfield (the research report’s Link L, rated probable). But the Cummings Memorial, the book Kith and Kin names as its source, gives Samuel only three children, Samuel (1709), Jerahmeel (1711) and James (1713), and prints Leonard separately, as “Leonard Cummins, of Litchfield, N. H.,” unplaced. The name Jerahmeel among both families’ children is a clue, not proof; nor is his tie to the estate of Eleazer Cummings (1739). Until a record names his father, Samuel and Elizabeth stay names here at possible, and the generations above them are not brought in. The Litchfield and Londonderry deeds, the 1739 administration of Eleazer Cummings’s estate, and Leonard’s own probate of 1758 (New Hampshire) are the places to look.
BeginEnd