Thomas Newton Cummins was born January 18, 1859 in Reevesville, Illinois. He was the fifth of twelve children of Daniel T. and Anna Elizabeth Smith Cummins. He was the oldest son to survive infancy. He had three older sisters and seven younger brothers. Five of those brothers went to McKendree College near St. Louis and became Methodist ministers.

T.N. prospered in Reevesville running Cummins Bros. General Mercantile and post office and was the Justice of the Peace as well. He was also Sunday School Supt. and song leader at the Methodist Church and was a Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge.

In 1917 Tom took his family to live near Gladstone, Michigan "for health reasons," but by 1920 they moved again to Danville, Illinois. Tom's younger brother Lewis Grant Cummins had taken a pastorate at a Methodist Church in Danville. Florence and Marvin were still living at home when they moved and their eldest son Bert and his wife Elsie moved to Danville also.