William Morrell Cummings

Compiled by Jane Montgomery Kinsel

William Morrell Cummings was born July 30th, 1835, in Gibson County, Tennessee. He was the son of John and Rachel Canarda Cummings. John and Rachel had five children when they heard the gospel message of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and converted. They knew they would be persecuted by their friends and neighbors as a result, so they secretly prepared to leave their home and join the Saints in Nauvoo, Illinois.

In the spring of 1846, the Cummings were among those Saints driven from their homes in Nauvoo due to persecutions. They crossed the frozen Mississippi River and eventually went to Iowa, settling in Gallows Grove, where they remained for about 5 years. In the spring of 1852, they were among the 365 Saints who crossed the plains with the Uriah Curtis wagon company, arriving in Salt Lake City on October 1, 1852. After a brief stay, they moved to Provo, Utah and lived there for eight years.

In the fall of 1857 (when he was 22) William went up the Provo River with Joseph Parker to trap beaver. They came into the Provo Valley and stayed there all winter and trapped beaver. In the spring of 1858, they built 4 cabins. That summer, William Cummings, Joseph Parker, Andrew Ross, William Meeks, and William Wall brought their livestock into the valley and wintered them at Meeks Bottom.

During the winter of 1859-60 these men moved to Center Creek and built a sawmill in Center Creek Canyon. William Cummings plowed the first ground in this valley. William and Robert were the first white men to spend a winter in the Provo Valley. In spring of 1860, seventeen families moved to Provo Valley, including the parents of William Cummings.

William joined in the Black Hawk war. He learned to talk with the Indians and acted as an interpreter. Chief Tabby, with a group of Indians, called at his home and demanded he make a treaty. He took the Indians to an official who was plowing a field and there a final treaty was made. This ended the Indian troubles around Heber. (From the history of Eva Cummings Johnson in History Book of the Early Utah Pioneers.)

It should be noted, however, that other researchers have had questions about the accounts of William being the first to plow, bring in livestock, stay a winter in the valley, end the Indian troubles, etc. Like a good genealogist, I went to other sources to see if his history

was collaborated. Joseph Parker, John Cummings and William Wall each mentions William Cummings as an early Provo Valley settler. The William Meeks family, for example, were early settlers in Provo valley and their history validates William’s story:

In 1858 or 1859 William Weeks came into the Provo valley with Joseph Parker, William Cummings, William Wall and Andrew Ross. They cut some hay, fed their livestock on what they called Meeks Bottom, about two miles southwest of the present Heber City. During the winter of 1859 and 1860, William Meeks and the others built a sawmill in Center Creek Canyon which was the pioneer sawmill in the valley.

Another point of question is William’s claim that he joined the Black Hawk War and his claim that Chief Tabby came to his home and demanded that he make a peace treaty. William says that he took him to someone working in their field who could do this. In the history regarding Chief Tabby and the signing of the peace treaty found in How Beautiful Upon the Mountains, pages 109-113, William Wall, Captain in the county militia, is mentioned as being instrumental in establishing peace between Chief Tabby and the settlers in Wasatch County. Because of his close relationship with William Wall, William was probably part of his militia company, which makes this account plausible.

Williams Cummings married Mary Ann Meeks, daughter of William and Mary Elizabeth Rhodes Meeks on October 23,1861 in Provo, Utah. They had the following children: William, Mary Elizabeth, John, Rachel, Nancy Jane, Ada Eveline, Sarah Ann, MaryAnn. Harvey, Isaac, and Eva. (No further information is available about the children. The only record in FamilySearch for Mary Ann Meeks is her record of being baptized.)

The Williams Cummings family, along with Andrew, Thomas and Robert Ross, moved to southern Utah and settled at Corn Creek, which was later named Kanosh. William Cummings died January 28,1922, age 86, at Kanosh, Utah and was buried there. There is no death date given for his wife Mary Ann Meeks Cummings.

Heber Valley Heritage Foundation