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James and Margaret Cummings
Margaret Cummings who died in 1951 in Louisville KY at the age of 95, was buried in the St. Louis Cemetery there. One researcher thought she might be a sister to someone she was researching. It now appears that she was not that sister, but we decided to share the research we did on her and her family here in the hope that it might aid someone else.
We located Margaret's death certificate, which is shown below. As you will see, she was born 6 Apr 1856 at Floyd Knobs IN to Patrick and Anna (Hoyt) Byrnes. She died on 7 Apr 1951, having outlived her husband and two sons.
We found Margaret in the 1930 census with her son, Thomas J. Cummings, living on Third Street in Louisville as shown below.
1930 Federal Census: Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville, District 94, Page 33
Household 224/298 - 2800 Third Street
Cummings, Margaret - head, F W 74, widow, married at 23, born IN, parents born Ireland
Cummings, Thomas J. - son, M W 44, single, born KY, parents born IN, railroad shop machinist
Tracing back to 1920, we found Margaret and son Thomas still living at the same place. Living with them was Mary Cummings, her sister-in-law.
1920 Federal Census: Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville Ward 7, District 138, Page 16
Household 157/185 - 2800 Third Street
Cummings, Margaret - head, F W 64, widow, born IN, parents born Ireland
Cummings, Thomas - son, M W 35, single, born KY, parents born IN, railroad shop machinist
Cummings, Mary - sister-in-law, F W 66, single, born IN, father born Ireland, mother born IN
When we stepped back to 1910, we discovered that Margaret's husband was James Cummings, as shown below.
1910 Federal Census: Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville Ward 7, District 134, Page 1
Household 11/11 - Third Street
Cummings, James - head, M W 52, married, born IN, father born Ireland, mother born IN, locomotive engineer
Cummings, Margaret - wife, F W 52, married, born IN, parents born Ireland
Cummings, Thomas - son, M W 25, single, born KY, steam railroad machinist
The 1900 census showed the family together, with sons Charlie and Thomas.
1900 Federal Census: Kentucky, Jefferson County, Louisville Ward 10, District 96, Page 2
Household 13/17 - 1225 Lexington Street
Cumming, James - head, W M born Jun 1855, 44, md18yrs, born IN, father born Ireland, mother born IN, railroad engineer
Cumming, (no name given) - wife, W F born Apr 1856, 44, 2 children, born IN, parents born Ireland
Cumming, Charlie - son, W M born Aug 1886, 14, born KY, at school
Cumming, Thomas - son, W M born May 1883, 17, born KY, at school
The father, James B. Cummings, was born 14 Jun 1855, and died 18 Oct 1919 according to his death certificate which is shown below. It also shows that his parents were Patrick Cummings and Catherine Peters (actually Piers, as we will show later).
The son, Charles H. Cummings, died in 1926 according to his death certificate, shown below.
As noted above, Charles was married and a Nellie E. Cummings was the informant for the death certificate information. We located a Nellie Cummings in the 1930 Louisville KY census. She was living with her parents, was a widow, and had four sons: Charles, Robert, James, and George.
The other son, Thomas J. Cummings, died in 1941 according to his death certificate, shown below.
We found a record of Patrick Cummins marrying Cath Piers on 24 Jun 1852 in Floyd County IN. Then we found this family in the 1860 census in Floyd County:
1860 Federal Census: Indiana, Floyd County, Lafayette, page 13, household 698/674
Patrick Comins - 31 M, farmer, born Ireland
Catherine Comins - 35 F, born IN
Mary Comins - 6 F, born IN
James Comins - 4 M, born IN
Thomas Comins - 4 M, born IN
Barthol Comins - 8/12 M, born IN
As you can see, they had a son named James who was the right age to be Margaret's husband.
The family remained in Floyd County through the 1870 and 1880 censuses, except that James was not with them in 1880.
1870 Federal Census: Indiana, Floyd County, Lafayette, pages 26-7, household 209/204
Cumings, Patrick - 40 M W, farmer, born Ireland
Cumings, Catherine - 36 F W, keeping house, born IN
Cumings, Mary - 17 F W, at home, born IN
Cumings, James - 15 M W, born IN
Cumings, Thomas - 13 M W, born IN
Cumings, Barthomew - 11 M W, born IN
Cumings, John - 4 M W, born IN
1880 Federal Census: Indiana, Floyd County, Lafayette, District 68, page 29, household 313
Cummings, Patrick - W M 51, farmer, born Ireland, parents born Ireland
Cummings, Catharine - W F 53, wife, keeping house, born IN, father born Ireland, mother born IN
Cummings, Bartholemew - W M 20, son, farm hand, born IN
Cummings, John - W M 16, son, farm hand, born IN
Since we know from his death certificate that James became a railroad engineer, it is likely that he was already working for the railroad in 1880, and was located somewhere else.
Effort has been made to eliminate errors, but their absence is not guaranteed. This document is copyright 2009 by Charles Hartley. Permission is hereby granted to individuals seeking family history information to copy the contents of this document for their personal use. It may not be sold, either separately or as part of a collection, without the written permission of the copyright holder; nor may it be placed at any other location on the internet without said written permission.
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