Henry Harford Cumming (1799-1866) was an important figure in Augusta before the war, Georgia.
His main business is cotton but he also involves J. Edgar Thomson to design the Augusta Channel, to run his factory and have started a law firm with politician George W. Crawford. His brother is Utah County Governor Alfred Cumming and his son, Alfred Cumming, is a general in the Confederate Army.
Video Henry Harford Cumming
Life
Family
In 1799, Henry Harford Cumming was born of Thomas Cumming and Ann Clay, in Augusta, Georgia. In 1798, Cumming's father, Thomas, was Augusta's first mayor, when the city was first established. Henry Cumming's maternal grandfather was Joseph Clay, one of the first members of Georgia in the First Continental Congress. Clay was also a Deputy General of Retired to the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Henry Cumming's brother, Alfred, is the other mayor of Augusta and then the first non-Mormon governor of the Utah Territory.
Another brother Henry H. Cumming, William, was offered the position of the General Quartermaster of the US Army on two occasions, in 1818 and 1847. However, in 1822, William Cumming had gained a famous national reputation when he fought George McDuffie in a duel, on two separate occasions which are believed to be politically motivated.
John Forsythe, US Secretary of State at the time, had appointed Henry Cumming to become US Secretary to Spain; especially he will become an attaché at the American Embassy. However, Cumming refused the post; he decided to stay in Georgia to marry Julia A. Bryan from Hancock County.
Career
In the 1840s, South - including Georgia - experienced a setbacks in their economy. Henry Cumming imagined a canal in Augusta to help ease some of the economic calamities that the city faced. The Augusta region and city are regarded as commercial centers for southern cotton trade in the Georgian region and some southeast of South Carolina. Augusta is located at the head of the Savannah River which makes the city a perfect place to trade and transport goods up and down the river.
The economic situation of the 1840s in the South is precarious for many reasons, one sure factor for Augusta in adverse conditions over the period is the depression of 1837; which consequently has significantly lowered the price of cotton. It was Cumming who believed that the canals at Augusta could give the city the power it needed to push out of a depressed pause. Cumming envisioned that the canal would allow and provide a reason for the manufacturing industry to thrive in Augusta. The logic behind the desire of a manufacturing base in Augusta is that it will keep pace with its economy providing the city's commercial diversity.
Another attraction of the Channel, as Cumming has seen, is that in this case it develops an industrial manufacturing base in Augusta, so the South will have something to compete in the manufacturing industry against the North. Cumming looks at Augusta - if it will build a canal - as a possible "Lowell of the South" - Lowell is a leading industrial center in Massachusetts. These arguments may be of interest to Cumming, however, they are less likely to persuade the common plantation owner of the South.
Southern industrialization is not only hindered by southern plantation owners, but also by local communities; the local population as a whole has a mixed reaction to the idea of ​​industrialization. To overcome public sentiment and doubt: Cumming demonstrates its confidence in the channel project by donating the necessary funds to carry out the initial survey for the site. Cumming has finally gained public and private support with its confident and approved projects. Augusta city council has set up a commission for the canal project and made Cumming the commission's head.
Once Augusta Canal is completed, Augusta has developed an industrial base for the region. In the 1850s, the canal allowed sawmills, gristmills, textile factories and other plant species to be set up in Augusta; this proves that Cumming's vision has a validity behind it. During the Civil War (1861-1865), the newly established Confederate Government had built their Confederate Powder two miles from the Augusta Canal. It also shows the importance of channels for the Southern economy.
Henry Cumming may have commercial interests and business pursuits, but he's a first and foremost a lawyer. Cumming began practicing law when he founded his own law firm with his partner George W. Crawford. Crawford became a successful politician and was appointed General Prosecutor for the State of Georgia from 1827 to 1831, serving as a member of the United States Congress in Georgia, which eventually led him to become the 38th Governor of Georgia from 1843 to 1847.
Cumming is also driven by the duty of citizens to his hometown. His strong sense of responsibility for citizenship has brought fruit in Georgia, including the Augusta Canal - which is the crowning achievement of his ministry. Among the channel's successes and in its business, Cumming gained the trust of its local brothers and was able to become much more persuasive in its civil service efforts in the future. Although Cumming was known to be somewhat passive in personal affairs, he once risked his own life to save William H. Pratt from the death penalty - Pratt had shot William H. Harding out of humiliation.
Maps Henry Harford Cumming
Cumming Dating
Henry Harford Cumming is known and often quoted in historic Southern books and papers for the effectiveness of his courtship. This is most likely due to Cumming recording his courtship with Julia A. Bryan in his journal. She notes that when she has the intention to write love letters to her "lover," she finds out that "she's just writing about herself" and that she tends to "perform well in style" instead of trying to "romance" Miss Bryan.
Cumming has married his girlfriend, Julia A. Bryan, with the support and encouragement of both of their families. Cumming and Bryan shared a successful forty-year marriage, which resulted in eight children. Cumming married Julia near Mount Zion, Georgia, at Rotherwood Plantation on February 24, 1824.
References
Henry Cumming (1799 - 1866); David Connolly; Universitas Rice, Houston, Texas; 8/19/2005
Tautan eksternal
- Henry Cumming di The New Georgia Encyclopedia
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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