Hon. J. H. Cumings, of Woodbury, attorney at law, is a native of Warren County, Tenn. and was born in 1839. His parents were Warren and Orlend Cumings, both natives of Warren County, the former having been born in 1814, is a farmer by occupation and held the office of sheriff of Cannon County six years. He was a member of the constitutional convention of 1870, and now resides at Woodbury, Tenn. The subject of this sketch received his literary education at Woodbury, and in 1872 began the study of the law with T.B. Murry of McMinnville, Tenn, and afterward attended the law department of the Cumberland University at Lebanon,Tenn. He was admitted to the bar in 1873 and has since been engaged in the practice of the law at Woodbury. In November 1885, he was elected to the legislature. He enjoys an extensive and lucrative practice, and in politics he is an ardent Democrat. In May, 1861, he enlisted in Company D, Eighteenth Tennessee (Confederate) Infantry, under Capt. H.J. St. John. He was with the company three years and engaged in some of the heavy battles of war. During the last year of the war he was with the Fourth Tennessee Cavalry, commanded by Col. Baxter Smith of Nashville. H. A. Wiley of Woodville was his captain. He participated in numerous engagements, was captured once but soon paroled, and returned home in 1865.

Source:  The Goodspeed Histories of Cannon, Coffee, DeKalb, Warren and White Counties: With Biographical Sketches and Aboriginal Map of Tennessee. Goodspeed Pub. Co., 1887.