Chapter 1: Early Life and Family Roots (1808–1827)

Simeon Randall Cummings was born on February 11, 1808, in the small town of New Lisbon, Otsego County, New York. He was the son of Stephen Cummings Jr., a farmer and landowner, and Lydia Randall, a woman of quiet strength and resilience. Simeon’s early years were shaped by the rhythms of rural life in upstate New York, where the rolling hills and dense forests provided both sustenance and challenge. The Cummings family was part of a growing community of settlers who had migrated westward in search of fertile land and new opportunities.