James (Jack) Cummins (1773–1849) was a Texas

farmer A farmer is a person engaged in agriculture, raising living organisms for food or raw materials. The term usually applies to people who do some combination of raising field crops, orchards, vineyards, poultry, or other livestock. A farmer ...

public official An official is someone who holds an office (function or mandate, regardless of whether it carries an actual working space with it) in an organization or government and participates in the exercise of authority (either their own or that of the ...

and a colonist of Stephen F. Austin's first settlement in Texas.

Early life and family

James (Jack) Cummins was born circa 1773. He became interested in

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

from as early as July 15, 1819, while operating a salt business on the south side of the

Caddo River The Caddo River is a tributary of the Ouachita River in the U.S. state of Arkansas. The river is about long.Calculated in Google Maps and Google Earth Course The Caddo River flows out of the Ouachita Mountains through Montgomery, Pike, and C ...

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. He was in Texas before June 1822 and settled on the east bank of the

Colorado River The Colorado River () is one of the principal rivers (along with the Rio Grande) in the Southwestern United States and in northern Mexico. The river, the List of longest rivers of the United States (by main stem), 5th longest in the United St ...

, opposite the community at Beason's Ferry, site of the present town of Columbus. While he was returning east to gather his family, an Indian raid destroyed his corn crop, leaving them without provisions when they arrived. Cummins and his wife, Rebecca, were the parents of six children.

Career

He became mayor (

alcalde ''Alcalde'' (; ) is the traditional Spanish municipal magistrate, who had both judicial and Administration (government), administrative functions. An ''alcalde'' was, in the absence of a corregidor (position), corregidor, the presiding officer o ...

) of

San Felipe de Austin San Felipe ( ), also known as San Felipe de Austin, is a town in Austin County, Texas, United States. The town was the social, economic, and political center of the early Stephen F. Austin colony. The population was 691 at the 2020 census. Histo ...

on August 16, 1823, and served for four years. On July 5, 1824, as one of Stephen F. Austin's

Old Three Hundred The "Old Three Hundred" were 297 grantees who purchased 307 parcels of land from Stephen Fuller Austin in Mexican Texas. Each grantee was head of a household, or, in some cases, a partnership of unmarried men. Austin was an American approved in ...

, he was granted six leagues and a labor of land in current

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

and

Austin Austin refers to: Common meanings * Austin, Texas, United States, a city * Austin (given name), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin (surname), a list of people and fictional characters * Austin Motor Company, a British car manufac ...

counties. A land bonus was granted to him for his efforts to build both a lumber and

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

in the new colony. The census of March 1826 listed him as a farmer and stock raiser aged over fifty. His home was a community center on the Colorado River, and he took an active part in all colonial affairs, serving on committees, drafting petitions, and carrying on extensive correspondence with Stephen F. Austin. He was with the group of settlers who went to

Nacogdoches Nacogdoches ( ) is a city in East Texas and the county seat of Nacogdoches County, Texas, United States. The 2020 U.S. census recorded the city's population at 32,147. Stephen F. Austin State University is located in Nacogdoches and specia ...

to put down the

Fredonian Rebellion The Fredonian Rebellion or Texan revolt of 1826 (December 21, 1826 – January 31, 1827) was the first attempt by Texans to secede from Mexico. The settlers, led by Empresario Haden Edwards, declared independence from Mexican Texas and creat ...

, but was too old to fight in the

Texas Revolution The Texas Revolution (October 2, 1835 – April 21, 1836) was a rebellion of colonists from the United States and Tejanos (Hispanic Texans) against the Centralist Republic of Mexico, centralist government of Mexico in the Mexican state of ...

. He lived on Cummins Creek, now in Colorado County, until his death in 1849."Cummins, James," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fcu16), accessed May 31, 2011. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

References

Citations

* Eugene C. Barker, ed., The Austin Papers (3 vols., Washington: GPO, 1924–28). * Eugene C. Barker, ed., "Minutes of the Ayuntamiento of San Felipe de Austin, 1828–1832," 12 parts, Southwestern Historical Quarterly 21–24 (January 1918-October 1920). * Lester G. Bugbee, "The Old Three Hundred: A List of Settlers in Austin's First Colony," Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association 1 (October 1897). Colorado County Historical Commission, Colorado County Chronicles from the Beginning to 1923 (2 vols., Austin: Nortex, 1986).

External links

* http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fcu16 * http://www.txgenweb3.org/txfayette/creeks.htm {{DEFAULTSORT:Cummins, James 1849 deaths Mayors of places in Texas People from Austin County, Texas People from Columbus, Texas 1770s births Farmers from Texas Place of birth missing