Cummons, Cummins, Cummings - Would You Make Up Your Mind Already??

I was born Angela Dawn Cummons. I took pride in that spelling, because there weren't many of us around. I wasn't Cummins, like the diesel engines, nor the more proper, stuffy looking Cummings... I was a Cummons.

It wasn't until I became interested in family history, that a realized what a bother my last name could be. Just because my family knew how to spell their last name, didn't mean that census takers, or other record keepers did! Early on in my history, it wasn't hard to figure out. My grandpa is still living, and he could tell me stories clear back about HIS grandpa Blackie (Henry Arthur Cummons), but then we got to my 3rd great grandpa, James Hamilton Cummons, and that's where the fun began!


Here is what has taken me since 1999 to compile:

Now do you see my confusion? Who am I?? Am I a Cummons... a Cummins... a Cummings?? Did my 3rd great grandfather come from Ireland, or North Carolina? What about the 12 years of confusion about when he was born? And most importantly, am I ever going to find his parents???

My mother's line, the Malones, runs cold before I can ever place them in Ireland. I so desperately wanted to get my Cummons line in Ireland, to find out what county they were from, to give me an excuse to return to the Emerald Isle... but it looks like I still have lots of work cut out for me!