Wilson B Cummins (1851 - 1910)

Born 29 Mar 1851 in Lacon, Marshall, Illinois, United States

Died 9 Aug 1910 at age 59 in Streator, LaSalle, Illinois, United States

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Frances Carner [send private message]

Biography

Wilson was born in 1851 in Lacon, La Salle, Illinois, the youngest of three children to Theodore Cummins and Nancy White. In 1871, he married Ida E. Pratt, daughter of Philander and Emily (Sawyer) Pratt. He was a grain operator and merchandizer and an ardent 19th century Democrat. ^[1]

He and his extended family moved from Lacon to Wenona in 1878. There he engaged in the hotel and grain business for one year before moving to Iowa Falls, Iowa, where he engaged in the drug and grocery business. After a year the families went to Carlisle, Arkansas where they becamse involved in general merchandize and saloon keeping. His father practice medicine. In 1876, Wilson B Cummins returned to Illinois and followed painting for one year in Ancona. He then reentered the grain business and also took charge of the C. P & S. W. RR station before forming the partnership, Cummins & Mathis, in July of 1878, He then moved to Ransom, La Salle County, Illinois in 1888 where he owned a grain elevator and half interested the Bartlett-Frazier Company of Chicago before settling in Streator, Illinois. He built a large home on N. Bloomington Avenue, still standing in 2022. He passed away after a short illness in 1910, although he had been in poor health for a number of years before that.

Sources

1. ↑ Letters to Nettie Cummins Lower. c. 1895. The Davies and allied families Collection, Arkansas State Archives, Department of Heritage. Little Rock, Arkansas. MS.000773

• History of Livingston County, Illinois: containing a history of the county. William Le Bron, Jr. & Co. Chicago. 1878. p, 715. http://www.familysearch.org/library/books/idurl/1/325806
• U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989 (Beta) (Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), Ancestry.com, http
• The Davies and allied families Collection, Arkansas State Archives, Department of Heritage. Little Rock, Arkansas. MS.000773
• Mrs. Ida Cummins 93 Years Old Today. Omaha World-Herald. Thursday, Dec 26, 1946. Omaha, NE. Page: 2. www.newspapers.com
• Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle County Illinois. Vol 1. The Lewis Publishing Company. Chicago. 1900. p. 120. http://www.familysearch.org/library/books/idurl/1/478442
• Buried; Wilson B Cummins. Newspapers.com - The Times - 11 Aug 1910 - Page 1. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112921952/wilson-b-cummins-burial/?xid=637
• Obituary for Wilson B. Cummings. Newspapers.com - The Times - Streator, IL - 9 Aug 1910 - Page 1. https://www.newspapers.com/clip/112921910/obituary-for-wilson-b-cummings/?xid=637