Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 301, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 December 1910 — A Comer in Ancestors [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A Comer in Ancestors

By ELEANOR LEXINGTON

Gumming Family (Copyright by McClure Syndicate)

This is a family which rose to great power and eminence both in England and Scotland. The name is derived from Comines, a town of FTance, near Lille. Robert Comine, a follower of the Conqueror, became earl of Northumberland, when William in 1066, or thereabouts, was dealing out lands, manors and titles, With a lavish hand. From Robert descended William Cumina, lord chancellor of Scotland, 1124, time of David I. The lord chancellor laid the foundation of this powerful house, one of the most powerfu* of Scotland. Before the time of Robert, there was an abbot of Icolmkill in the sixth century, who was called Cummine, and in the following century another

named Comlneas Albus. Sir Kenneth Cumming was a knight errant of a later date.

According to one story, the first of note of the faqaily was killed with Malcolm 111. in battle about 1093, and he left two sons, John and William, and “from John all the Cumins of Scotland descend.”

Of this line, Sir John, the "Red Cumin,” or Comyn, was the first lord of Badenoch, and in 1240 ambassador to the court of France. His son, John, called the “Black Lord of Badenoch, was inferior to no subject in Scotland for wealth and power, and

was one who vowed to support Margaret, daughter of Alexander 111., in her title to the crown.” At her death he became a competitor for the crown as the son And—heir of John, who was son of Donald, king of Scotland. “The great house of Comines” is the usual style, when speaking of the family, but you can spell the name in -40 r more or less, ways. t Here are a few samples for gratuitous distribution: Beginning Comines, the name of the French town, the variations have been Cunmin, Cummin, Cummins, Cumyn, Comin, Comyn, Comines, Comynges, Comyns, Comings, Cummings, Cumings, Cuinming. Virginia and Maryland were early homes of the Cumming family, and there the name was usually spelled Cummins. The marriage connections of the southern branch include the Polks, Dennys, Hydes, Holts, Jennings, Edmundsons, Herberts/ and Langs. } In New England the more commop. orthgraphy has been Cummings. Lmao of Ipswich, Mass., is the forefather of this line, and a valuable asset as an ancestor for he was a man of mark, holding many offices. In 1641, he was constable, and his son Isaac was the deputy, and he also held many offices and was sergeant in an Indian war. Isaac, the first, was a pillar of the church, and none was more worthy in the town than old Deacon Cummings. The pilgrim had several children; besides Isaac, there was John, who married Sarah Howlet, daughter of Sergt. Thomas and Alice French Howlet of Woburn, Mass. Heitman's “Officers of tne Amerlcan Revolution” records the names of the following members of the Cumming family—all thus spelled, with the exception of Lieut. Alexander “Cummins” of Virginia. The other names! are Lieutenants Thomas of Massachusetts, ’76 to ’7B, and Thomas of the same state, ’75; Lieutenant Jotham of New Hampshire, his name having the addition of “s;”; LieuL Col. John Noble Cumming of New Jersey, ’75 to ’B3. William Cumming, born in Georgia, 1790, was in the war of 1812, and his brother Alfred in the Mexican war.

The • coat-of-arms reproduced, is blazoned: Azure; three garbs (or wheat sheaves) within a bordure, or. Crest: A garb, or. Motto: Courage. Another coat-armor, blazoned In Burke’s, is Azure, an oval buckle, between three garbs, within a bordure, or.

Cumming