John CUMMINGS

                   History of Melinda Cummings Baum, Wife of Jacob Harris Baum

Melinda Cummings, daughter of John Cummings, Sr. and Rachel Kenedy Cummings, was born April 6, 1842 in Gibson County, Tennessee.
She married Jacob H. Baum July 24, 1864 at Heber City and died
January 31, 1909 at Provo, Utah. She was survived by a husband and four children. Four children, Rachel Ann, Thomas Jacob, John Edwin and Mary Jane preceded their mother in death.

Names of Children

Date of Birth

Rachel Ann Baum
Thomas Jacob Baum John Edwin Baum Elizabeth Agness Baum Melinda Baum
Mary Jane Baum
Harmon David Baum William Harris Baum

May 29, 1865
April 12, 1868 February 5, 1869 March 21, 1871 June 18, 1873 September 19, 1876 December 18, 1877 October 8, 1884

Melinda was only a baby when the Mormon elders came into Gibson County Tennessee. When her father heard the gospel he knew it was true, and he and his family were baptized members of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-Day-Saints. Her father desired to be with the saints and so they moved from Tennessee to Nauvoo, Illinois. They
were living there at the time of the martyrdom of the Prophet. Melinda's mother helped to wash the clothes the Prophet was martyred in.

The family left Nauvoo at the time the saints were driven across the Mississippi River. They traveled with the rest of the saints
from Sugar Creek to Garden Grove and stayed there until the year of
1852 before coming on to Utah

At this time Melinda was ten years old, and old enough to remember the trials and hardships. She remembered Johnson's Army coming to Salt Lake. ,When Brigham Young heard they were coming he gave orders for the people to put straw on all of their property, to put it on the roofs of their houses and floors so that everything could be burned if Johnson's Army tried to take possession.

About this time Melinda's father left Salt Lake and went to Provo. He built a home on Provo Bench on the farm later owned by Fred Ferguson. But the Indians were so bad they had to move again. They moved this time to Heber City and were among the first to build a home there.

The family along with others passed through many hardships.
On July 24, 1864 Heber celebrated the founding of their community. A part of the parade consisted of twenty-four beautiful young ladies, Melinda Cummings was one of them. The day was further celebrated when
Melinda was married to Jacob H. Baum.

, ,

Melinda and Jacob continued to live in Heber under very difficult circumstances. The children of Brother Cumming's and
other families had their food rationed out to them, and were thankful they even had any. Their lives were a vivid contrast to the luxuries of our so called "hard times".

The Lord did not forget Melinda and her husband. On the twenty-ninth of Maya baby girl was born unto them. Six weeks after the baby was born they decided to move to Provo. There was no road
through Provo canyon so that they had to go around through Park City' and pass through Salt Lake and go from there to Provo.

The Provo River was so high when they passed over the old bridge it was quivering and about to go. A few hours after they had crossed
the bridge went down. The journey from Heber to Provo now is around
an hour or less, but they were two weeks on the road. An ox team and lumbering wagon was their means of conveyance. A heavy snow storm pursued their journey, making it almost impossible to dry the baby's clothes. Melinda with her usual pluck decided necessity was the mother of invention and sat on the baby's clothes to dry them.

Melinda and Jacob Baum selected a little barren piece of ground.
They worked hard and built a little log house three blocks east of where the the lower Brigham Young University campus was later located. Later on they replaced the log house with a "mansion" made of adobe.

Even though work filled their entire time, Melinda became homesick and devised a means of going back home. One morning she strapped her baby on her back and started her journey over a wild rugged trail that led through the mountain pass, beautiful Provo Canyon, where we see the beautiful
Bridal Veil Falls. No hand had cleared a road or marred its natural beauty. There were dangers to be encountered, unfriendly Indians that might do harm. She courageously rode her little pony into Provo Valley (now designated as Heber City) to see her parents.

Jacob and Melinda raised their family in Provo and in the course of the rearing, sickness, death and the experiences of life came to them. Two baby sons died, at the time the father of the home was lying at the
point of death. Melinda, the mainstay of the home, bore it bravely
and met the grief and problems as they came. Far into the night she worked with her spinning, carding, knitting and sewing. Her object was to keep her children warm and make a little money for their maintenance. The path she was to follow if she went on was laid before her and she shouldered it.

Her husband was sick so much of his life, it fell to her to do much of the farmwork and maintain the home. It was an occurrence not uncommon for her to glean and gather grain, also gather ground cherries to sell for money. Her objective was to provide her family against want.

At one time when most of her family was lying sick with malaria fever she knew the ravages of winter would be felt if she did not provide against it. She drove her team and wagon from Provo to Heber and peddled fruit.
It was in this manner she obtained tax money and winter provisions.


She had charity in her heart for all. For each meal she cooked she included enough for a hungry unfortunate person if he would chance to call. Many a time the poor were remembered and extra food cooked and sent to them.

In times of sickness, she always went and helped carry the burden of others. At the time of her death, Bishop Gillespie said there wasn't a home in the old Fourth Ward, or from Provo to the mouth of the canyon but what Sister Baum had entered to help in cases of sickness and sorrow.