Violet Louise (Cummings) Hagelstein Research

George Harvey Cummings (father of Pearl and Lawrence, Bertha, Stella and Violet Louise) was born 1859 at Salem, Oregon, and died there in 1918. He was the son of Gilbert Cummings, born 1828, and Charity Jane Barzee, whose father, James Barzee, was outstanding in ship building, and printing of books. During travels westward, over the Oregon Trail, George's sister, Harriet, and her twin brother, Harry, were born. Harriet lived until 1919, dying six months after her twin, Harry. Harriet married George Graves, and had a daughter, Maude. When Mr. Graves passed on Harriet married a Mr. Biladeau, and had a daughter, Marie, whom married a Mr. Morrison. They also had a son Roy. Maude Graves had a son, Dolph, whom furnished some of this data. Gilbert Cummings, father of George, was only thirty-nine years old at his death. He lived until his death at his farm, "Live Oaks", near Lodi, dying of a sunstroke. Gilbert's sister Mary's granddaughter, Mary, lives on the original farm in Balan's, Illinois.

Viola Cummings (called Aunt Ollie) was born in 1858 and was married to a Charles Hams, whom had a sheep farm in Heppner, Oregon. Viola's twin, Volney-Jay, died at the age of nine in California. Brother Harry was a nursery man, and also taught school in Hardeman, Oregon. He married and had a son, Gilbert, whom was manager of a Western Union office in Los Angeles, and had three daughters, one of them named Emma. Grandfather Gilbert's brother's grandson is head of the Forestry and Research Department in Oregon. Emma Cummings made the whole trip on the Oregon Trail. She was the oldest child of Gilbert and Charity Jane. Ebinezer Cummings, Gilbert's brother [father], went to Canada to settle there, joining the Loyalist. He married a Jane Harris, daughter of John and Jane (German) Harris and they had two sons; Gilbert and William Harvey, and three daughters, Mary, Phoebe and Elizabeth. Jane German Harris's father, John German, came from Albany, NY to Canada during the rebellion.

When George was eight years old, his mother, Charity Jane, was now a widow and then married a man named Metzger. George left home and walked all over the California mountains to Oregon. Later he bought a small stationery store on Canyon Road in Portland, Oregon.

He married and had a son Lawrence, and a daughter, Pearl. Pearl was raised in an orphanage. Years later, he married Inez Morriss, and lived in Tacoma, Washington. Inez gave George three daughters and died in 1910 or 1911. He met Inez in Puyallup where they were married. Inez died at the age of thirty-seven. Her daughter, Bertha, was eight years old, Stella was three, and Viola, five months. George kept the girls together, with the help of relatives for about six months and when he told Minnie and James Roagers, whom he was doing landscaping for, of his trouble, they took the three girls to care for. After a few weeks, George brought his friends, the Ross's and Forbes to take Bertha to the Ross's and Stella to the Forbes to raise. The Roagers kept the baby Viola, adopting her, and changing her name to Ruth Louise.

Marie Morrison, nee Marie Biladeau, was sixteen at the time, and writes of Inez - quote, "Inez was a sweet little person, very dark, with brown eyes and hair and olive skin" . Marie married William Morrison in 1912, and had a son, William, now living in Canada. Marie was raised in a Convent. After her marriage she moved to Montana, then to California, and later to Arlington, Washington. Her mother, Hattie, remarried to a Mr. Abral from Canada and lived at 5228 S. Ferry St. in Tacoma. While Marie was in Tumwater, Washington, Will Morriss, brother of Inez, paid her a visit there. While George lived in Olympia, he caught an octopus, and there was a big write up in the papers about it. Marie thinks grandfather Gilbert lived in either Vermont or Massachusetts, before settling in Canada.