Joseph Cummings Family Papers
Scope and Contents
Collection primarily consists of correspondence, legal and financial documents, and background notes related to the Joseph Cummings family of Ware, Massachusetts. Correspondence span 1814-1894, and cover a range of topics from daily life to encounters with acquaintances and health. Correspondence from acquaintances discuss life in Buffalo, New York, and Amherst, Massachusetts during the 1830s. One file contains correspondence related to Nicholas Harris; a son-in-law of Joseph Cummings who taught school in Hartford, and recounts Harris' experience teaching during the 1840s, as well as business endeavors carried-out in the Hartford area, and the health of his wife, Delphia, Cumming's daughter, spanning approximately 1844 to 1857.
Dates
- Creation: 1835 - 1861
Creator
- Cummings, Joseph, 1784-1860 (Person)
- Harris, Nicholas (Person)
- Yale, James (Person)
- Cummings, Elbridge (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open to the public and must be used in the John M.K. Davis Reading Room of the Watkinson Library, Trinity College Library, Hartford, Connecticut. Researchers must register and agree to copyright and privacy laws when using this collection.
Conditions Governing Use
Digital surrogates may be provided in accordance with the duplication policy of the Watkinson Library.
Copyright resides with the creators of the documents or their heirs unless otherwise specified. It is the researcher's responsibility to secure permission to publish materials from the appropriate copyright holder.
Archival materials may contain sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal and/or state right to privacy laws or other regulations. While we make a good faith effort to identify and remove such materials, some may be missed during our processing. If a researcher finds sensitive personal information (e.g. social security numbers) in a collection, please bring it to the attention of the reading room staff.
Biographical / Historical
Joseph Cummings (1784 – 1860), of Ware, Massachusetts, was an active community leader who held
a wide variety of local and state positions: deacon, postmaster, justice of the peace, bank director,
school teacher and town representative to the state Senate and House. He was born to a shopkeeper, also named Joseph Cummings, who kept an inn and store in Ware from 1785 to 1792.
Cummings had several children with whom he corresponded on a regular basis: William B. Cummings; a business man, Elbridge Cummings of Beloit, Wisconsin, his son-in-law James Yale; a doctor, and his son-in-law Nicholas Harris; a schoolteacher from Hartford (Conn.).
Extent
.50 Cubic Feet (2 flat boxes)
Language of Materials
English
- Title
- Guide to the Joseph Cummings family papers
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Michelle C. Sigiel, with inventory by Michael Breen
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Watkinson Library - Archival Collections Repository
Trinity College Library
300 Summit St.
Hartford Connecticut 06106