Biography

11/17/1810 - 07/16/1879

CUMMINGS, Alexander, a Representative from Philadelphia County; born, November 17, 1810 in Williamsport, Lycoming County, Pa.; special purchaser, United States War Department (1861-1862, Civil War); colonel, 180th Regiment, 19th Pennsylvania Volunteer Cavalry (1863-1864, Civil War); superintendent of Troops of African Descent for the state of Arkansas (1865, Civil War); printer and publisher, Lycoming Chronicle, Williamsport (1833-1837); state director, The Philadelphia Bank (1840); unsuccessful campaign, prothonotary, Pennsylvania Court of Common Pleas, Philadelphia (1845); printer and publisher, The North American, Philadelphia (1845-1847); printer and publisher, Cummings’ Evening Telegraphic Bulletin (1847-1851); printer and publisher, Cummings’ Evening Bulletin (1851-1856); unsuccessful campaign, Pennsylvania State Senate (1852); elected as a Temperance and American Party candidate to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives for the 1855 term; not a candidate for reelection to the House for the 1856 term; unsuccessful campaign for reelection to the House (1862); appointed collector of Internal Revenue, 4th district (1867-1869); presidential appointee, Governor, Territory of Colorado (1865-1867); publisher, The World, New York City (1860-1861); publisher, The Day, Philadelphia (1869-1874); agent, United States Consular Office, Ottawa, Canada (1877-1879); died, July 16, 1879, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada; interred, Laurel Hill Cemetery, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.