Brick Wall for exact DOB, place and parents of James Cumming

Question

I'm trying to resolve the origin of my first Cumming ancestor, my 3x great grandfather, James Cumming, to emigrate from Scotland (Maryculter, Kincardineshire, Scotland) to Canada (Huron County, Ontartio, Canada) in 1850. He arrived with his wife, Ann Shepherd, and their eight children. Based on Scotland's 1841 Census and Canada's 1861 Census, I believe that James was born in 1790-1791. His Ontario grave marker implies 1800 ("age 62 years" when he died in 1862), but the data doesn't support this. Unfortunately, Canada didn't start keeping records of deaths until 1869, so I do not have a death certificate. I have tried obtaining more information from the cemetery in Ontario, without any luck. 1841 Scotland Census shows he was born "A" (Away?). In 1841, he and his family were well-settled at Maryculter, where he was leasing a farm called Ashentilly. Newspaper announcements (British Newspaper Archives) that mention his name in notices suggest that he was in Maryculter working for General William Gordon of Fyvie on his property as early as 1828. Since James would have been 37 at that time, I tried searching military records to find his history/whereabouts before he married in 1832 ... no luck.  

I've tried many "back door" approaches to confirm his parentage, birth year and exact location, but to no avail ... yet:)

Answer 1

There is a couple of different ways to spell Cumming. - Cummings, Common, Comyn etc.

Answer 2

I have added some full source citations from Ancestry, including both census citations and the family list.  The 1841 census states he was age 50 in 1841 and age 71 in 1861, both would seem to indicate that he was born abt 1791.  

The gravestone date may have wrong date, since the ages in both census would be incorrect by quite a bit, if birth was 1800.

I have added Research Notes, with 3 birth / baptism records from Scotlands People for year of 1791, as well as a link to an Ancestry Tree, which has some other information in it, including sources for many children. Frequently, the children are named after the parents, as well as grandparents. Two of the possible birth sources have Alexander as a father, and Catherine and Elizabeth as mothers, but there are no children with any of those names. Unfortunately, the 1841 Census in Scotland does not give any birth location for James, other than Scotland.

Comments

I appreciate your thorough input, Linda. I had tried to add all of these sources to James' profile, but apparently I didn't do it correctly (I'm a newbie!). The Ancestry profile that you added for James is from my tree there:) Like you, I have found the other three James Cumming infants born 1791, but it's helpful to save them here too. Just learning the ropes!

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I thought the Ancestry Tree might have been your tree.  lol  Adding the possible birth sources in Research Notes can help in the future, if more info is found with his parents names or mother's maiden names. Because of no children named Alexander and there is a child named James, I tend to think it could be the last one which doesn't have mother info.

Scotland Project Sourcing Examples has some examples of citation formats from different sites.  The Sourcer app can help.  Signing up for the Scotland Project Tartan Trail can help in learning what sources to use, as well as how to create citations. 

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Thanks again, Linda. I'll have a look at the sourcing sites. I've done more research on the three 1791 James infants by triangulating them with the 11 James Cumming adults aged 50 in 1841 Scotland Census. I feel confident that Thurso-born James and Dunfermline-born James are not my ancestor. Still working on data for Roxburgh-born James.

Answer 3

I have an Alexander Cumming born 1730 in Perthshire. Son of William Cumming 1695 and Jean Moir also 1695 OR possibly Catherine Sands b 1696. Alex married Kathryn OR Katrin McDonald. Alexander has a child, James listed, born 1775 and a daughter, Cecelia born 1772 I descend from her.

Other possible children listed are Janet, Charles, Duncan, Catherine, and John.

This is pretty much all of the information I have on Cumming at this time. I have not researched this part of the line. It ties into my Robertson and Bell line in Canada.

Comments

Thanks for your info, Tim. The 1775 James you referenced was born well before the abt 1791 James in my line. At 16 yrs old, he could have been the 1791 James' father, but not enough info to say ...