When you stroll through cemeteries, those mausoleums, obelisks, headstones and other memorials of unique design catch your eye. The more elaborate the memorial the more expensive they would have been to manufacture, especially in the 19th and early 20th Century. Unless they were erected as a public display of affection, these marble and granite creations definitely point us toward those with the most individual or family wealth.
Erected at Evergreen Cemetery, stands the oversized monument of Wellington Willson Cummer and his wife, Ada Gerrish Cummer. This granite stone is oddly shaped. At over 6 ft. tall and nearly 14 ft. wide it is the largest of its style in the cemetery. Not only is it larger than most, but the property surrounding it is unobstructed indicating the family owns one of the largest plots in the cemetery. Two enormous planters stand as sentries guarding the site. This monument faces the giant Cummer mausoleum directly across the street. These two structures truly capture ones imagination and begs the question “Who was this man?” and “How did he earn the wealth to afford such a memorial?”
Anyone who has lived in Jacksonville, Florida, for any period of time has visited the Cummer Art Gallery. So, the easiest conclusion to draw is that this was the famous man responsible for its construction. In fact, it is common knowledge of Jacksonville residents that a portion of the existing museum structure was part of the Cummer family home.
This was not Wellington Cummer, but Wellingtons’ son Arthur Gerrish Cummer who inherited the family name, fortune, and work ethic established years earlier. Arthur benefited from direct tutelage from both his grandfather, Jacob Cummer and his father, Wellington.
If you were to travel to Cadillac, Michigan, today and mention the name Wellington Cummer, you would probably get a better answer to the questions above than in Jacksonville, Florida. Wellington’s dynasty days of extreme wealth building first occurred in Cadillac, Michigan, then moved to our wonderful city.
What was unique about the Cummer family at the time was the fact that for years they lived in both Cadillac, Michigan, and Jacksonville, Florida. Initially they called Cadillac home, but later in life they chose Jacksonville as their home and final resting place.
Wellington was born on October 21, 1846, in Toronto, Canada, to Jacob and Mary Ann Snider Cummer. Jacob was a flour miller by trade and owned a significant farm. As soon as he was physically able, young Wellington assisted in most of the required day to day farming chores. But, though Jacob wanted Wellington to understand farming and hard work, he also made sure he studied at the local schools.
In 1860, the family moved to Newaygo, Michigan. Jacob bought a saw mill and a stave mill. Wellington completed his high school studies in Newaygo then traveled to Waterdown, which is near Hamilton, Ontario, (near Niagara Falls) for grammar school. He then moved to Toronto and attended Bryant & Stratton Business College where at age 18, he graduated in 1864.
After graduation, he joined his family in Croton, Michigan, where they had moved a year earlier in 1863. His father had sold the mills in Newaygo for
a profit and established a flour mill and camping supply business there in Croton.
The family moved to a nicer home in Cedar Springs, Michigan, about 25 miles from Croton. For two years, Jacob and Wellington bought and sold lumber.
Utilizing their accrued wealth, Jacob and Wellington purchased a large tract of pine forest in Morley, Michigan, about 12 miles from Cedar Springs. Here they enlisted Wellington’s Uncle J. Walter Cummer, to build a mill and process the lumber. The Cummers were now lumbermen.
In 1876, Jacob and Wellington moved to Cadillac, Michigan. It was here that Wellington met and married Ada M. Gerrish on October 11, 1871. For the next 16 years, Wellington and Jacob harvested and manufactured lumber from their pine forest holdings. Their creed of “honesty and integrity” carried the family name and business “into every civilized country in the world.”
In 1878, Wellington purchased the finest home in the city of Cadillac. It was built by George Mitchell, the city’s most successful lumberman (before the Cummers came to town). Mitchell was also Cadillac’s first Mayor.
The family kept and maintained the home until 1922 when it was purchased by George Mitchell’s grandnephew and industrialist Charles T. Mitchell. The home is open for tours today and is listed on the national record of historic places.
As the wealth accumulated, so did the acquisitions. Jacob and Wellington owned both the Cummer Electric Light Company of Cadillac and the Cadillac and Northeastern Railroad.
In 1888, Wellington was elected Mayor of Cadillac. Later he served on the Cadillac School Board for five years. He also represented the city, casting its vote for United States President.
When the Cadillac area forest was completely harvested in 1892, Jacob finally retired from the day to day operations. Most men would retire at this point, but not Wellington; he purchased large tracts of forest outside the city and continued milling.
In Norfolk, Virginia, he formed another milling operation which became the largest producer of southern pine of all southern states. In 1902, after 9 years conducting business in Virginia, he sold his shares. It was during these 9 years that Wellington made trips to Florida and acquired large pine tracts.
In 1896, he finally was prepared to build an operation in Jacksonville. He built two saw mills and began pine production. Almost all was lost to fire the following year. Fire consumed one saw mill, a planing mill, four large dry kilns, tramways and 6 million board feet of timber which was ready for market.
The total value of the loss was estimated at $162,000, of which only $110,000 was insured. Not to be defeated by disaster, Wellington rebuilt the plant and enlarged its capacity by 42 percent. It was known as the “largest lumber plant south of the Mason Dixon line.” Not long after the reconstruction, he built a chemical plant to process the pine sap released by the lumber mills.
In 1899, he was moving so much lumber from Jacksonville that local rail lines could not keep up with shipping requirements. To solve this dilemma, he built his own railroad known as the Jacksonville & Southwestern railway. At 80 miles in length, this became a key section of rail necessary to move his lumber, passengers and other Florida freight. The train engine from Cummer’s rail operation is on display at the Jacksonville Beaches Museum and History Center.
Jacksonville became his full-time home and legal residence in 1902. When the men of Cadillac queried why they were moving to Jacksonville, the answer they received was, “to turn boys into men.” Wellington brought his two sons, Arthur and Waldo into the family business in 1903. In that same year, he sold his interest in the rail line to a Gainesville businessman.
You might say the family had reached its peak of business. The family now owned 220,000,000 feet of Cypress and 100,000,000 feet of Pine. This equaled 500,000 acres of the state of Florida which honored Wellington with the title of “the largest land owner in the state.” Cummer and Sons now employed over 800 men; 375 men in Cadillac, Michigan, and 425 men in Jacksonville.Waldo and Arthur, like their father and grandfather, began expanding their holdings. They formed the Cook-Cummer Steamship Line.
While building this empire, Wellington and his wife focused on social issues. They were well-known in the philanthropic circles. In 1895, Mrs. Cummer, believing in the power of education for the young, convinced Wellington to build a free kindergarten for the youths of Cadillac, Michigan. Through their generous endowment, over 150 children per year (rich and poor alike) attended the kindergarten. All fees and expenses were paid for by the Cummers.
One writer penned it correctly when he wrote, “[They] have established and maintained an institution which will preserve [their] names long after the imposing monument and the costly mausoleum have crumbled into dust and passed from the minds of men.”
Wellington Cummer died on Christmas Day, 1908.
His inscription on his monument reads:
*An oak has fallen – in the time of changing leaves*
*And somber haze – a man has fallen – in his prime*
*And this the triumph o’er the tomb*
*The man who slumbers does not die*
*His life doth other lives illume*
An obituary of Wellington W. Cummer printed in the Ocala Evening Star reported that his funeral was “one of the most largely attended ever held in Jacksonville.” It went on to mention that most businesses closed during his funeral in utmost respect for the man.
Wellington’s son, Arthur, is buried directly across from his parent’s headstone in a massive Egyptian influenced mausoleum. Arthur requested that his mausoleum be sealed with a ton of concrete. There are no entrances.
God Bless Wellington and Ada Cummer and the entire Cummer family.
