Early Memories of Saugatuck, Michigan : 1830-1930
Author: Heath, May Francis
Publisher: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company; Grand Rapids, Mich: 1930

CAPT. DENNIS CUMMINGS

A man of the seas was Dennis Cuminings, who was born in 1848, in the lake port of Oswego. N. Y., on Lake Ontario, and as a boy loved the seagoing boats as they came or left the harbor; he was a husky lad and so anxious to go sailing, he at the age of 13 left home and shipped on an ocean-going craft, not returning home till he was 21, when he had saved enough money to buy the sailing vessel "Flora," which he brought down the lakes to the famed lumber town of Singapore at the mouth of the Kalamazoo river, and began carrying lumber to lake ports.

He spent the rest of his life in Saugatuck and in 1870 was married to Miss Jeanette Shore and to them were born three children, Mrs. R. J. (Winifred) Walker of Saugatuck and two sons (both deceased) Capt. George Cummings and John Cummings.

Capt. Dennis Cummings was part owner of the lake propellers “Kalamazoo” and “Saugatuck,” which plied between Chicago and Saugatuck many years and at the time of his death was getting the Saugatuck ready for the season when he fell from the pilot house to the dock and was instantly killed in 1890. Mrs. Cummings died in 1902.