Isaac Cummlngs

64. ISAAC CUMMINGS (1664–1746), son of Deacon Isaac Cummings and Mary Andrews

65. ALICE HOWLETT (say 1665–1695/6), probable daughter of Thomas Howlett and Lydia Peabody

Isaac Cummings was born on 15 September 1664 in Topsfield. [1] He died on 7 August 1746, age 82, in Ipswich. [2] He married first Alice Howlett of Boxford on 25 December 1688 in Topsfield. [3] He married second Frances Sherwin of Boxford on 23 November 1696 in Topsfield. [4]

Alice was probably the daughter of Thomas and Lydia (Peabody) Howlett, named after her father's mother Alice French. Given the date of her marriage she was probably born about 1665. She died between the birth of her last child on 10 December 1692 and her husband's remarriage on 23 November 1696.

Isaac Cummings of Ipswich "being very sick and weak of body but of perfect mind and memory" signed—with the ragged signature of a frail and ill man—his will on 9 June 1736. He left bequests to his wife Frances, his son Isaac, his daugther Lydia Smith, the children of his daughter Alice Bixby, his daughter Jemima Foster, and his daughter Jerusha. The will was proved on 18 August 1746. Inventory was presented on 1 September 1746 and amounted to about 602 pounds. This substantial estate was mostly land, but also included such things as 12 old chairs, 11 cider barrels, salt pork, Indian corn, flax, an old mare, two oxen, five cows, two heifers, four calves, 19 sheep, swine, a cart, two books, a gun, an old sword, kitchen equipment, table linen and bedding. [5]

Children of Isaac Cummings and Alice Howlett:

i. Lydia Cummings was baptized on 4 May 1690 in Topsfield. [1][6, 7] She married as his second wife Stephen Smith by an intention of 5 October 1723 in Ispwich. [7][8] He died on 29 October 1744 in Ispswich. [9]

Lydia's grandfather Isaac Cummings left her a bequest in his will of 27 August 1712. [10]

ii. Isaac Cummings was baptized on 24 April 1692.

iii. Alice Cummings was born on 10 December 1695. [7] She was baptized on 9 May 1697 in Topfield. [1][6, 11] She died on 9 June 1736. [7] She married Thomas Bixby by an intention of 22 April 1725 in Boxford. [7]

Thomas and Alice moved to Hopkinton. [7]

Children of Isaac Cummings and Frances Sherwin:

iv. M6y Cummings was born on 5 June 1699. [7] She died on 4 November 1731, unmarried, in Ipswich. [2] Mary was unmarried. [7]

v. Jemima Cummings was born on 4 July 1704. [7] She was baptized on 20 August 1704 in Topsfield. [6, 15] She died by 17 December 1751. [7] She married Jonathan Foster on 1 January 1733 in Ipswich. [VIR1] Jonathan, the son of Caleb and Mary (Sherwin) Foster, was born on 30 November 1704 in Ipswich. [7] He married second the widow Dorcas Perkins on 17 December 1751. [7]

Jonathan Foster acknowleged receipt of a payment to his wife Jemima from her father Isaac's estate on 22 August 1752. [5]

vii. Jerusha Cummings was born on 17 February 1710. [7] She was baptized on 17 June 1716 in Topsfield. [6, 22] She married Joshua Conant by an intention of 1 January 1736/[7?] in Ipswich. [8] Joshua, the son of Lot and Elizabeth Conant, was born on 19 October 1707 in Rowley and died on 3 September 1749 in Ipswich. [7]

References

1. Vital Records of Topsfield, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849 (Topsfield: Topsfield Historical Society, 1903), 23, 30–31.

2. Vital Records of Ipswich, Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849, vol. 2 (Salem: Essex Institute, 1910), 535.

3. Vital Records of Topsfield, 134.

4. Vital Records of Ipswich, vol. 2: 110.

5. "Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638–1881," database with images, AmericanAncestors, no. 6709.

6. John H. Gould, Early Records of the Church in Topsfield (Salem: Essex Institute, 1888).

7. George Mooar, The Cummings Memorial: A Genealogical History of the Descendants of Isaac Cummings, an Early Settler of Topsfield, Massachusetts (New York: B.F. Cummings, 1903), 14–16.

8. Vital Records of Ipswich, vol. 2: 119–20.

9. Vital Records of Ipswich, vol. 2: 679.

10. "Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638–1881," AmericanAncestors, no. 6706.

last revised 20-Apr-2020