John Cummings, of Mistley & Dunstable

John Cummings 1630–1700 • BIRTH 09 MAY 1630 • Mistley, County Essex, England • DEATH 01 DEC 1700 • Dunstable, Middlesex County, Massachusetts

He was appointed corporal at the Mar 1666 court at Ipswich. On 30 Nov 1682, John was one of the first 14 proprietors of the Dunstable. He was a selectman in 1682 and for many years town clerk. Thomas Tyng deeded land to John, Isaac, John, Jr. and Thomas Cummings on 29 Jan 1683. John was a member of the church in Topsfield on 11 Jun 1684. He was dismissed to the church in Dunstable on 7 Dec. [Ref "without recommendation"] On 16 Dec 1685, he was one of seven men who entered into a covenant to form a church in Dunstable.

John, eldest child of Deacon Isaac Cummings, was born in 1630, died December 1, 1700. By the terms of his father's will he received the homestead consisting of forty acres with house, barns, orchards and fences, and in 1680 sold same to Edward Nealand (Kneeland). About 1658 he removed to Boxford. In 1673 he was made a freeman. He and his wife were members of the church in Topsfield, December 7, 1685, when the church "voted dismission to John Cummings with out commendation and dismissed his wife with commendation to the church to be shortly gathered at Dunstable." He removed with his family to Dunstable about 1680, where he was one of the first settlers. He was a select man in 1682, and a member of the church in 1684. He married Sarah, daughter of Ensign Thomas and Alice (French) Howlett, of Ipswich. She died December 7, 1700, just six days after the death of her husband. Their children were: John, Thomas, Nathaniel, Sarah, Abraham, Isaac, Ebenezer, William, Eleazer, Benjamin, Samuel.

Cummings, John (1630-1700), of Topsfield, Mass., was a pioneer American tanner. He was probably a native of England, but this is not certain. We do know, however, that he was born in 1630, for in 1670, when he was testifying in court as witness, he gave his age as forty. He was granted land in Charlestown Village, as Woburn was then called, in 1635, and he was also allotted one-half of Plum Island. He and Ebenezer Fox were associated in trade. His first wife, whose Christian name was Alice, died in 1666, and he married Sarah Hallett. He was a member of the Topsfield church. His death occurred on December 1, 1700; his widow survived by only six days. There is frequent mention of the Cummings family in the records of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in the seventeenth century.

References

• Reference: Ancestry Genealogy - SmartCopy: Feb 5 2017, 20:51:24 UTC
• The Cummings Memorial: A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Isaac Cummings, an Early Settler of Topsfield, Massachusetts, by George Mooar, published by B. F. Cummings., 1903. Person # 2. Page 2, PDF page 28. < PDF >