University of Virginia Library

REV. CHAS. CUMMINGS.

Mr. Cummings was an Irishman by birth, and came to America in early
manhood. Soon after arriving in this country he entered Carlisle College,
Pennsylvania. After receiving a thorough education he settled in Lancaster
county, Virginia, and on the 13th of February, 1766, he married Miss
Mildred Carter. He was licensed to preach by Hanover Presbytery on the
18th of April, 1767, and received a call to the North Mountain church, in
Augusta county, which church he served until 1772, when he received a
call to the Sinking Spring and Ebbing Spring congregations, on the Holston.
This call he accepted, and removed with his family to a tract of land
in the neighborhood of Abingdon. He served the Sinking Spring church
until the year 1812, the date of his death, which occurred in March of that
year.

He accompanied Colonel Christian upon his expedition against the Cherokees
in the year 1776, and preached in the territory, now in the State of
Tennessee, being the first preacher in that territory.

He joined a company organized at Abingdon under the command of
Colonel Evan Shelby, and hurried to the relief of the inhabitants at
Watauga when besieged by the Indians, in 1776.

He was the first named on the Committee of Safety for Fincastle county,
and is accredited with the honor of having drafted the Fincastle resolutions
which were adopted on the 20th of January, 1775. He assisted in drafting
a petition from Hanover Presbytery to the General Assembly of Virginia,
asking the separation of the Church and the State, in October, 1776.

When Washington county was formed, in the year 1777, he was elected
chairman of the Committee of Safety, and by his example and admonition
did much to fire the spirit of patriotism which blazed forth so brilliantly
among the people of the Holston in the War of the Revolution.

He was of middle stature, about five feet ten inches high, well set and well
formed, possessing great personal firmness and dignity of character. His
voice was strong and had great compass; his articulation slow, clear and
distinct; without apparent effort he could speak to be heard by ten thousand
people. His mind was good, but not brilliant. He understood his own
system well; spoke always with gravity, and required it from all who sat
under the sound of his voice. He would not tolerate any movement among
the congregation after the services commenced. He uniformly spoke like
one having authority, and laid down the law and the gospel, as he understood
them, with great distinctness.