I've Had a Breakthrough!

After all these years, all it took was a simple query!

I recently got another free 2 week subscription to ancestry.com (I try to purchase a month's subscription twice a year to look for any new leads). This time, I came across someone who had some information that corresponded with mine, but when I contacted him, he said this information came from a brother, and he was unable to confirm the details he had listed. One thing he had that I DIDN'T have, was the date of James Hamilton Cummons' marriage to Causby Jane Patterson. I wanted to confirm that the date he had was accurate... and that's where I got my epiphany!

I signed on to the Wythe County, Virginia message boards. (I knew for a fact that was where they were married.) There, I asked if anyone had access to marriage records, and if they could confirm the date I had (October 18, 1869). And then I began to wonder... what are the chances that James Hamilton listed his parent's names on the marriage records?? So, I asked about that too.

Two days later, after 12 years of hitting an ancestral brick wall, I had an answer! Here is what it said:

"According to Wythe County, Virginia Marriages 1867-1888, a compilation by Janie Dillon and Mary B. Kegley, James H. Cummons/22 yrs/single/born Gilford[Guilford]Co., NC, son of John Cummons and Sarah Nelson, married Causby[Cosby] J. Patterson/23 yrs/single/born Wythe Co., daughter of James Patterson and Sarah Halsey on August 18, 1869 in Wythe Co., VA. They were married by Andrew Wheeler."

So now, I know the name of my great, great, great, GREAT grandfather!
Welcome to the family tree, John Cummons!

It All Starts Here (Sort Of)

I guess it would help to give you an idea of where this branch of Cummons' came from! Let's start by taking a look at an old newspaper article my grandfather gave me. Unfortunately, I have no idea where or when this was published, but it gives a little background on our family's origin. (I have to note, this article says that my 3rd great grandfather, James, fought for the confederacy in the Civil War. However, if I am decifering his wife's application for Civil War pension correctly, he actually fought on the Union side.)

So, as you see James and Causby settled into the Cabell County West Virginia area. This is where they lived, worked (James was a shoemaker in Huntington), raised a family, and eventually died (I have pictures of their tombstones I will scan and get on here as soon as I can.)
My family line comes from their son, Henry Arthur, who married Anna Belle Davis, and settled down to farm in Ohio. So that is where my immediate roots come from, specifically the Gallia County area. Below is a picture of my great grandparent's (William H and Bessie) log cabin. I have pictures of my grandfather as an infant on the front porch of this cabin, and as a child, I remember visiting Bessie, or Mamaw Cummons as I called her, and playing the board game "Trouble" that she kept on top of the refrigerator in this same cabin. My great grandmother lived here until the early 1990's.

As to James Hamilton's origins in North Carolina, that has yet to be discovered, but hopefully I'll be able to pinpoint that soon!