Birth Record of Earl O. Cummings (1894-1972)
- Great-Grandparents
- Earl O. Cummings, Sr. – circa 1960
- Birth Record of Earl O. Cummings (1894-1972)
- Lorum Elmer Jackson and Leah Meeks: First Generation
- David, Ida & Harold Sorofman
I know very little about Earl O. Cummings, my husband’s maternal grandfather. He and his wife, Nellie Frances Silver, begin the Cummings ancestral line within this genealogy. Follow this link to the Cummings ancestral line.With few on-the-spot stories, I’ll turn to the documents created by various government agencies — from the moment of his birth to his death.
Earl O. or Earl Orlando Cummings? What Is His Name?
The very first thing the birth record tells us is his name. His official name. Names are not just important to the government. They are important to us. No one likes to be called by the wrong name. In telling his story, it’s important to know Great Grandfather Cummings’ name. According to the official record, it is Earl O. Cummings.
Many published family trees refer to Great-Grandfather Cummings as Earl Orlando Cummings. According to his birth record, though, he was Earl O. Cummings. And most of the census records identify him as Earl O. Cummings. In 1930, though, he was simply Earl.[efn_note]1900 U.S. Census, Oxford County, Maine, population schedule, Bethel Town, enumeration district (ED) 179, sheet 19 (penned)-A (stamped) to 19 (penned)-B (stamped), dwelling 450, family 474, Lincoln J Cummings and Earl O. Cummings; image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Nov 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 596. 1910 U.S. Census, Oxford County, Maine, population schedule, Bethel Town, enumeration district (ED) 181, sheet 2-B, dwelling 50, family 57, Lincoln J. Cummings Earl O. Cummings; image, Ancestry.com (https//: www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Nov 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 543. 1920 U.S. census, Oxford County, Maine, population schedule, Rumford town, enumeration district (ED) 128, sheet 6-A, dwelling 99, family 104, Earl O. Cummings, images, Ancestry.com (https//: www.ancestry.com : 12 Nov 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T625, roll 648. 1930 U.S. census, Oxford County, Maine, population schedule, Rumford town, enumeration district (ED) 9-48, sheet no. 6-A, dwell 80, far 109, Earl Cummins; database with images, Ancestry.com (https//: www.ancestry.com : 9 Dec 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T626, roll 836. 1940 U.S. census, Oxford County, Maine, population schedule, Greenwood Town, enumeration district (ED) 9-20, sheet 3-B, dwelling 58, Earl O. Cummings; database with images, Ancestry.com (https//: www.ancestry.com : 12 Nov 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T624, roll 54
[/efn_note] His marriage record, his obituary and his tombstone all record his name as Earl O. Cummings.[efn_note]
Bethel Town Clerk, Earl O. Cummings and Nellie F. Silver marriage record, 4 Sept 1915; digital images, “Maine, Marriage Records, 1713-1937,” Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 Sept 2013); Maine State Archives, Augusta, 1908-1922 Vital Records, roll number 13. “Earl O. Cummings,” newspaper clipping providing obituary for Earl O. Cummings; from unidentified newspaper article held by Nancy Sorofman as a part of the Ruth Sorofman papers. Find A Grave, database and images (http://findagrave.com : accessed 2 November 2018), memorial page for Earl Orlando Cummings (1894-1972), Find A Grave Memorial no. 153,061,988, citing Riverside Cemetery; Bethel, Oxford County, Maine. Created and photographed by John Wilby. Photograph of the tombstone clearly shows the inscription to be Earl O. Cummings.
[/efn_note]
To date, the only exception I’ve found to the use of Earl O., or the less common Earl, is on his draft registration form for WWI, where he identified himself as Earl Olando Cummings.[efn_note] “U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918,” images, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Nov 2017), Earl O. Cummings, Oxford County, Maine, no. 38, Bethel, Oxford County, Maine; citing Selective Service System, World War I Selective Service System Draft Registration Cards, 1917-1918, National Archives and Records Administration M1509, roll 1,654,008.[/efn_note] The O., Orlando, or Olando may refer to Earl’s maternal grandfather, Orlando Jesse Cross. Did Earl refer to himself as Earl O. Cummings, understanding that the “O” stood for his Grandfather Cross? Or was the O. simply an O?
It seems that more research will be needed to determine whether Earl Cummings is Earl O., Earl Orlando, or Earl Olando. For now, I will be referirng to him as Earl O. Cummings.
The Hard Timers: a 20th Century Generation
Earl O. was born on 17 August 1894. Because of his birth date, he was fated to live through World War I, the Great Depression, and Word War II. His generation lived through hard times. The World War I generation was also known as the Lost Generation to mark the apparent post-war aimlessness of drugs, wild music and wilder lifestyles.[efn_note]Elwood Carlson, “20th Century Generations,” Population Bulletin (March 2009), 64:1, 1-17 ( https://www.prb.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/64.1generations.pdf).[/efn_note] But they also welcomed in the modern age of automobiles and super highways, of telephones and TVs, of airplanes and sputniks. It seems that Earl O. embraced these new inventions, especially the automobile, with enthusiasm. As a young man he worked as a chauffeur and then for most of his adult life as a car mechanic.[efn_note]See footnotes 1, 2, 3.[/efn_note] It seems he easily spoke the language of the internal combustion machine, much as 21st century youngsters speak the language of computers and software programming.
Who were his parents?
The birth record identifies his father as Lincoln Z. Cummings, a farmer born in Albany, just like his son. His mother was a Cross, Inez I. Cross. She was born in Bethel, just to the north of Albany. From the record, we learn she was the mother of three children. And she was a housekeeper. Her job was huge. Remember in 1894, electricity was still a dream. In many places so was indoor plumbing.
Where was he born?
He was born in Albany, Oxford County, Maine. At the time of his birth, Albany was a township within Oxford County. His family had owned land there since, at least, the 1820s.[efn_note]Oxford County Registry of Deed (Eastern District), Oxford County East, Maine, “Search Records” (http://www.oxfordcounty.org/deeds-east.php : accessed 5 Dec 2018), “Early Books,” Book 22, page496, John Cummings to Jeremiah Harriman. 22 January 1824.[/efn_note] The Town of Albany can be found in the center of the map below
Halfpenny, H.E. and John W. Caldwell. Atlas of Oxford County, Maine. Philadelphia, PA: Caldwell & Halfpenny, 1880. Map. https://digitalmaine.com/atlas_oxford_1880/.
At present, I don’t know exactly where in the Town of Albany the Cummings family lived. Within Albany there was no community named Albany. No village. Just the Albany Post Office. Albany was then a township. Now, you will not be able to find it on a modern map. It is now part of the Unorganized Territory of South Oxford. The western half is part of the White Mountain National Forest. I believe Earl’s family lived in the eastern half of the town(ship), somewhere in the greyed area on the map below..
Born at home…
In 1894 in rural Maine, Earl O. was no doubt born at home, especially since the first hospital in Oxford County wasn’t built until 1924.[efn_note]Margaret Joy Tibbetts, “Bethel Doctors, 1900-1950,” The Courier (Maine), Quarterly Publication of the Bethel Historical Society’s Regional History Center, 28 (Winter 2004) 4:1; digital image, Museums of the Bethel Historical Society Online Collections & Catalog (https://bethelhistorical.org/catalog/item/SERIAL_1.28.4.1[/efn_note] Dr. J.A. Twaddle, who had been serving the community of Bethel and its neighboring communities since 1877, was a horse and buggy doctor for most of his years of service. [efn_note]Margaret Joy Tibbetts, “Bethel Doctors, 1900-1950,” The Courier (Maine), Quarterly Publication of the Bethel Historical Society’s Regional History Center, 28 (Winter 2004) 4:1-3; digital image, Museums of the Bethel Historical Society Online Collections & Catalog (https://bethelhistorical.org/catalog/item/SERIAL_1.28.4.1 : accessed 5 December 2018).[/efn_note]
I imagine him getting news of the impending birth. Probably not by phone, not in 1894 in rural Maine. He would have gathered his medical bag and made his way to the Cummings home in his buggy. Luckily, in August there was probably no snow on the ground. Hopefully the ground was dry and the ruts not too deep.
Whether or not Dr. Twaddle arrived in time for Earl’s birth, he would have made a visit to make sure the mother and baby were in good health. According to the record, he reported the birth to the town clerk of Albany.
… the rest of the Family
The infant, Earl O., was greeted by his two older siblings, Lula Bessie, born probably in 1890 and Chester Arthur, born probably in 1892.[efn_note]1900 U.S. Census, Oxford County, Maine, population schedule, Bethel Town, enumeration district (ED) 179, sheet 19 (penned)-A (stamped) to 19 (penned)-B (stamped), dwelling 450, family 474, Lincoln J Cummings and Earl O. Cummings; image, Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com : accessed 2 Nov 2017); citing NARA microfilm publication T623, roll 596.[/efn_note] No birth record for either child has yet been located.[efn_note]Search of “Maine, Birth Records, 1715-1922,” digital images, Ancestry, (www.ancestry.com : accessed 26 Sep 2018), Oxford County for Lula and Chester Arthur Cummings.[/efn_note]
Besides his brother and sister, he had a large extended family, living close at hand. Although his Cummings grandparents, Calvin Cummings and Louise York, were deceased by the time of his birth, his Cross grandparents, Orlando Jesse Cross and Betsy Mason Stiles were still very much alive, and still living in Albany.
The Town Clerk, a Cummings …
Were W. B. Cummings and Lincoln Z. Cummings related? Wallace B.Cummings was a clerk of the Town(ship) of Albany, who signed his name W. B. Cummings. Whether or not they were related (and that is a topic for another time), W.B. would have known this Cummings family. He would have known that they were married residents of Albany. He would have known that they were farmers and I’m sure he could have told us many more facts and “gossips” about the family. If only he could speak with us now.