Los Angeles County, CA, Biographies

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GEORGE CUMMINGS.
 
        It is a piece of rare good fortune that falls to the lot of a man who is 
permitted to pass more than a third of a century in this sunny evergreen land of 
Southern California, where existence is an ever-conscious pleasure. Of the few 
now living who have been thus highly favored, the gentleman whose name heads 
this sketch is one. Born in the Empire of Austria, Mr. Cummings wandered from 
the shelter of the parental roof-tree when a lad of thirteen in search of an 
elder brother who had gone from home several years before. After traveling with 
a fellow-countryman some time in Europe without finding the object of his 
search, young Cummings took passage on an American schooner for the United 
States. The Captain having taken a great fancy to the wandering boy, proved to 
be a true and valued friend; for he not only brought him across the Atlantic on 
his vessel, but around to San Francisco, and made him a present of $100 to 
defray his expenses in reaching the gold mines, to which the adventurous 
youngster was bound. Landing in San Francisco in the summer of 1849, he soon 
after proceeded to the mines, and with a companion whose acquaintance he had 
formed, commenced to search for gold. The greed and excitement for the yellow 
dust were at white heat, and fortunes were being washed out of the rich placer 
deposits in a day. Young Cummings and his chum were destined for some share of 
"good luck." While mining in the fall of 1848, in Tuolumne County, they took out 
$1,900 in five days. And so wild were they with the idea of growing suddenly 
rich, that they left this mine for reputed better "paying dirt" in Mariposa 
County, but were doomed to disappointment on reaching that fabled promised land. 
Realizing from experience the enormous prices paid for provisions�having on one 
occasion paid $600 in gold dust for 200 pounds each of flour, beans and 
rice�they decided in the spring of 1850 to try farming. And, erecting a rude hut 
on the Merced River, �which was afterward burned and many of their valuables 
(including some gold dust) destroyed with it,�they planted quite a large acreage 
to potatoes, melons and other vegetables, and produced a fine crop. Their 
potatoes sold in the field for $75 per 100 pounds, and the melons brought $8 to 
$10 each. The agricultural experiment proved very profitable; and in spite of 
the fact that the young farmers were attacked with malaria and reduced nearly to 
skeletons with the ague, they farmed three years and made money rapidly. In 1853 
they turned their attention to stock-raising, and Mr. Cummings continued in that 
business on the Merced River five years. In 1858 he bought the Tehachepe 
Ranch,�then in Los Angeles County, now in Kern,�comprising 3,300 acres, which he 
still owns, and engaged in raising and dealing in cattle and horses. Being a 
great lover of domestic animals he has continued in the business to some extent 
ever since. He subsequently bought a 160-acre ranch at Alpine Station, which he 
also still owns. Mr. Cummings purchased a tract of some forty acres, including 
his present homestead, on Boyle Heights, and erected there a fine residence 
about fourteen years ago. He has expended a large sum of money in improvements 
and in experimenting in fruit-growing, having had at one time 2,000 orange trees 
and over 1,500 deciduous fruit trees on the place. The homestead embraces 
thirteen acres. A portion of the property, consisting of thirty-five acres lying 
on the opposite side of Aliso street, he has subdivided into lots, and has sold 
off about ten acres of it. The lots are valued at $1,000 each. In 1869 Mr. 
Cummings and Miss ― Lopez were married. She is the daughter, and one of four 
living children, of Francisco Lopez, and was born within a few rods of her 
present home. Mr. Lopez is also a native of California, having been born 
sixty-nine years ago in San Diego, where his parents had settled on their 
arrival from Europe in the early part of this century. His wife, whom he married 
when he was nineteen years of age, was born in Lower California. Soon after 
their marriage they settled on what was then called the Mount Pleasant tract, 
now that part of Boyle Heights lying south of First street and west of Boyle 
avenue, and there, nearly fifty years ago, he planted one of the first orchards 
and vineyards started in this part of the State. The two comprised about thirty 
acres, and the last of the trees and vines were removed only two or three years 
ago. Mr. Lopez now lives in Kern County, his wife having died about fifteen 
years ago. Mr. and Mrs. Cummings have a family of seven children, five sons and 
two daughters. The eldest, Frank, is eighteen years of age, and graduated from 
Santa Clara College in June, being one of the youngest to graduate in that 
institution. He has ranked very high throughout his college course, and his fond 
parents have numerous cards from his instructors complimenting his scholarship 
and deportment. Albert, the second son, is sixteen years old, and is attending 
Los Angeles College. The other children range from infancy to fourteen years. 
Mrs. Cummings is a lady of culture and refinement, and presides over her 
pleasant home with becoming grace and dignity.
 
An Illustrated History of Los Angeles County, California �  Chicago, The Lewis 
Publishing Company, 1889   Page 438
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler