The students of the Radical University: Francis Cummings

Francis Asbury Cummings (b. September 1, 1855)
North Carolina.  White.
Occupation: business manager, farmer.
Father's occupation: merchant, preacher, professor, teacher.

Francis (or Frank) A. Cummings was born in North Carolina in 1855 to Isabella and Anson W. Cummings.  The family was living in Asheville, and the father Anson was working as College President of the Holston Conference Female College, a woman's college affiliated with the Methodist Church.  His parents are described in more detail in the entry for his brother Olin.

After the Civil War, in 1866, the family moved to Spartanburg, South Carolina because Anson had been hired as president of the Methodist Female College.  They stayed in Spartanburg until 1872, when they moved again, this time to Columbia, South Carolina.  They moved to Columbia because Anson had been made Professor of Mathematics and Civil and Military Engineering and Construction at the University of South Carolina.

Francis and his brothers Charles and Olin lived registered as students at the University of South  Carolina after moving to Columbia.  They were among the few students to remain after Blacks were admitted in October, 1873.  (The others were children of Professor Babbitt, Charles and Edward.)

In the 1872-73 academic year, Francis was a college student taking coursework in law and mathematics. He is listed as a "special student" at the university in February, 1875 and then as a student in the first class of the (college) preparatory school in January, 1876.  The 1877 closure of the university brought an end to his studies.

Francis left South Carolina for Wellsville, New York with his family in 1877.  There his father ran the Riverside Seminary, and Francis worked as seminary treasurer and business manager.

By 1902, Francis had left Wellsville and was living in Kansas.  He last appears in the 1910 U.S. Census.  That year he had moved to Fork, South Carolina (in Anderson County).  He was living with the family of his nephew Anson (the son of Charles) and was working on the family farm.

Sources

1.  1860; Census Place: Asheville, Buncombe, North Carolina; Page: 245

2.  1870; Census Place: Court House, Spartanburg, South Carolina; Roll: M593_1508; Page: 410A

3.  1880; Census Place: Scio, Allegany, New York; Roll: 809; Page: 349D; Enumeration District: 024

4). 1910; Census Place: Fork, Anderson, South Carolina; Roll: T624_1448; Page: 6B; Enumeration District: 0043

5). "Olin F. Cummings."  Wellsville Daily Report, May 28, 1902.  p. 5.

6). Cummins, Albert Oren.  Cummings Genealogy. Argus and Patriot Printing House, Montpelier, Vt. (1904).