The O.F. Cummins Map Company was established around 1917 in Regina, Saskatchewan and was in operation until 1940’s. The president of the company, Oliver Francis Coumans, was an engineer and land surveyor. He changed his surname to Cummins around 1917, after which the company was known as the Cummins Map Company. Melville S. Arneil, a draftsman, was vice-president and manager.
SOURCE: Archives.org
“The main product of the Cummins Map Company was a series of landowner maps, known as the Cummins Rural Directory Maps, for Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario and Prince Edward Island. The rural directory maps contained the names and locations of post offices, the location of local rail lines and the names of the owners of each parcel of land within the area covered. The maps were issued as collections of single map sheets instead of being bound in book form as many of the atlases were at the time. The maps were often used by local merchants and travelling salesmen to find customers as well as to assist travellers to find their way across unfamiliar and often unmarked land. The Saskatchewan map series were produced in 1917/1918 (covering most of the settled areas of the province); 1920; 1922; 1926 (covering eastern Saskatchewan) and 1930 (covering north-central Saskatchewan). An uniform sheet numbering system was used and maintained in all series.” (1)
In 1923, The Cummins Map Co published the Cummins’ Manitoba Rural Directory Maps which showed the individual landowners in each township. As a project to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the publication of these maps, the MGS has initiated a project to index the entire province’s maps for inclusion in their Manitoba Name Index (MANI) database. This index will list all the landowners according to this map, the Section-Township-Range in which they resided, the district where the land was located, and any other pertinent information noted in the original survey map.
The Manitoba Name Index (MANI) database with it’s many indexes is available online for all MGS members. Non-members can access these records at our resource centre for a nominal day-use fee, and the MGS Research Team will do a Single Source Search for a nominal fee for those who cannot visit our resource centre.
2022-April Project Launch: Where Were Your Ancestor’s 98 Years Ago?
2022-Oct Update: We have completed over 50% of the indexing project. Winter is coming, and if you can contribute to this project by doing some indexing from the comfort of your home, please contact the MGS Project Chair. We thank all our member and non-member volunteers for their continued work and support of this project.
2022-Dec Update: Learn more about this project and the final areas that need to be indexed. Winter is a good time to index a map and learn more about Manitoba genealogy. Visit 1923 Cummin’s Map Indexing Project Update for details on this update.
CONTACT: projects@mbgenealogy.com
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BIBLIOGRAPHY:
(1) Provincial Archives of Saskatchewan, Fonds F521 – The Cummins Map Company fonds