JOHN S CUMMINS, M. D. Considering the healthy situation of Pope County, the Ozark Mountains not
being calculated to make the Doctor rich, our subject has a good practice.
He is one of the leading physicians of this locality, where he commenced the
practice of his profession November 16, 1881.
The Doctor was born in Washington County, Ind., December 8, 1848, and is the
son of Benjamin R. and Mary E. (Esslinger) Cummins. The father, a native of
Saline County, Ill., was a farmer by occupation, as was his father before
him. Our subject's mother was a native of South Carolina, where she was
married, her husband having made her acquaintance while driving a stage to
that part of the country. Removing to Saline County, Ill., shortly after
their marriage, they resided there for a few months, thence going to
Indiana. Remaining in that State a few years, they then settled in Pope
County, eight miles north of Golconda, where they purchased settlers' land
of the Government. At one time Mr. Cummins owned four hundred acres, and the
old homestead upon which his death occurred comprised one hundred and twenty
acres, and is now occupied by Willis Cosby. Dr. Cummins, of this sketch, is
one of six children, four sons and two daughters. He is the second in order
of birth of the four who survived. Reared on the farm, he worked and
assisted his father in carrying on the home place until his twenty-second
year. Though his school advantages were very limited, he was ambitious and
determined to adopt the medical profession. In 1870 he commenced his
studies, and during the winter of 1873-71 took a course of lectures in
Cincinnati and received a diploma from the medical college of Evansville,
Ind., the document being dated February 23, 1883. His certificate of
graduation from the State Board of Health bears the date March 5, 1883.
In Hardin County Dr. Cummins was married to Miss Mary J. Parkinson, on September 30, 1875. Her parents, W. F. and Lucinda (Anderson) Parkinson, were natives of Hardin and Pope Counties, respectively. Mrs. Cummins was born in this county, and soon after her marriage commenced housekeeping at Shuttlerville, in Hardin County, where the Doctor began practice with Dr. McGinnis. In the fall of 1872 and the following spring, our subject had taken a course of lectures in Cincinnati, and in 1873 opened an office six miles northeast of Cave in Rock, Hardin County. In the spring of 1875 he bought out Dr. Butler, of Shuttlerville, and was there engaged in practice until his marriage. To Dr. and Mrs. Cummins have been born two sons: Lewis Franklin, born November 4, 1876, on the old home farm, where the parents resided for two years; and Julius, whose birth occurred near their present home, November 28, 1881. They are both attending school and making good progress in their studies, being at the head of their classes.
Dr. Cummins has a pleasant little home situated on two acres of ground at Raum, the building being erected by him in the summer of 1885. Both he and his amiable wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, and at the present time our subject is a School Director. Politically, he is a Republican, and is one of the Examining Board of Pensions at Golconda. The Doctor started in life without means and has held his own remarkably well. Mrs. Cummins' father is still living on his farm in this county at the age of fifty-six years. In 1865 the mother of Mrs. Cummins died while in the prime of life, leaving six children, of whom four are now living.
Extracted from Biographical Review of Johnson, Massac, Pope, and Hardin Counties, Illinois, published in 1893, page 257
| Saline | Gallatin | Union KY |
| Pope |
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| Livingston KY Crittenden KY | ||
