Cummings Family Papers

Ebenezer Cummings (1790-1857) was one of the early settlers of the North Thetford, Vermont. Much of the village was built upon land which at one time was his farm. He was the father of three children, the most notable being Harlan Page Cummings. Harlan was educated at Thetford Academy. He served with the 15th Regiment during the Civil War. After the war he sold building lots in North Thetford. He was director, clerk, and treasurer of the West Fairlee, Fairlee, and Thetford Telephone Co., and also a trustee of the Thetford Academy. For twenty five years he held the office of Justice of the Peace and he was postmaster of North Thetford for ten years (1866-1876). He was also a member of the General Assembly, representing North Thetford. Harlen married Alpa M. Baxter on January 23, 1868, and was the father of six children. One son, Allen (1868-1930) graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Dartmouth in 1892. He later taught high school for thirty-five years. Marshall B. Cummings, another child , was a professor of Horticulture at the University of Vermont. He experimented with apple orchards, and in 1937 discovered the emergence date of the fruit fly thus giving farmers accurate data on when to spray to keep the fruit flys under control. Marshall was also secretary of the Vermont Sate Horticulture Society for thirty years. Another child of Harlan Page Cummings is Elizabeth A. Cummings. She is the woman who, while in her late years, crippled with arthritis, put together the papers in this collection. Prior to her affliction she was a supervisor at the Clark School for the Deaf, in Massachustts.