hello David, welcome to genealogy site of Family Tree Circles

It all depends on which country you come from, or your ancestors come from, have a good read through this from wiki Surname
I work with a guy with 2 surnames! he is from a Spanish-speaking country, where the custom is for people to have two surnames. It's so different everywhere

so, you've been here a few days now David, how about some stories of your own ancestors. Where they originated from, where they settled and the names you're descended from. We would love to hear about them

Seems difficult to do on this 7 inch Tablet, Nextbook using Android. Should do this later on my 19 inch screen desktop compu or 15 inch laptop. I posted already basic family history already on my PROFILE; my dads' [Chas. Taylor Cummings, b. 1909, Medford,Ma] nexus Direct-Lineal Bloodline [Consanguinity: 1. Direct, Lineal Vs. 2. Collateral, indirect, as shirt-tail, as in-law via marriage] descent side came in the early 1600's to Massachuttes, being spelled thro the years as: PERS, PEIRCE, PIERCE, PEARSE, etc for PATERNAL. For Maternal, one family clan/klan name is: FESSENDEN. Sometimes very confusing cuz both of my dads' parents descendedfrom the very SAME FOLKS;BEING from different areas of Mass. did not know, were unaware they descended from same genetic folks; were both a first & second Cousin to each other! VISIT 4 pgs. PDF of pics of MEMORIAL TOMBSTONE & BIG house of Solomon Peirce & wife Amity Fessenden; & brief history at "COMMITTEE of Study of Solomon Peirce" ((((side of my mom, maiden name/last name being: MANSFIELD, First name: Virginia, Middle name: ALLISON. Desc. from her dad, Charles ERSKINE Mansfield; her g.dad Thomas Stanley Erskine MANSFIELD, married daughter of Josiah ALLISON/wife being Julia BALDWIN, daugh. being HARRIET ALLISON [had brother David Erskine Allison]-Harriet m. Thomas S. ERSKINE MANSFIELD. Origin of the famous NUT TREE RESTAURANT @ NUT TREE, Ca. was re JOSIAH ALLISON & wife JULIA BALDWIN; re VACAVILLE/Ca. Found records that Josiah Allison had purchased a combined total of over 1,500 acres re [mid to later 1800's] area now [Year 2013] known as Vacaville, Ca. Now result is a BIG Mall, NUT TREE MALL & 80 acres Family Amusement Park at Vacaville/Ca. I FOUNTOOK PICS of Family Tombstone PLOT of Thom. S.ERSKINE MANSFIELD @ the biggest [Pltd, Or.] PIONEER Cemetary per Oregon, The LONE FIR Cementary; He & 3 more MANSFIELD buried there; including Vice-Pres. of Boeing Aircraft, HAROLD MANSFIELD, friend of William Boeing, Pres. Of Boeing Inc. etc. Is 2 plots left to claim to be buried in; I gotta die first to get that spot! My maternal g.dad, Chas. ERSKINE MANSFIELD m. MARY DUNN; married the RIGHT girl! Together, cuz of her, they inherited what is now the City of WHITE SALMON, Wa. Chas. & Mary had 3 sons, &my mom being 1st. born-had 3 little brothers to boss around: Richard J. M., ROBERT ERSKINE M., & HARVEY/CHARLES MANSFIELD. I think it NOT very WISE to post some types of personal information on the www-such as of Names with BIRTHDATES-Birthplaces, etc. Cuz of ID FRAUD/THEFT! I'm very NEW @ doing genealogy; commo to me, esp. if you are definitely related to me [David ERSKINE Cummings] at either: solomonpeirce.genealogy@yahoo.com [re my dad: C.T.C.] or allison.genealogy@gmail.com [re my Mom: V.A.M.]. Note in passing: My Unc.Harv/Mansfield was conned out of quite a of $$$ re name MANSFIELD w/fancy FAMILY TREE CHART, fabricated genealogy connections to famous & wealthy people, etc.! I purely by happenstance, luck, came across via study of law, LORD CHIEF JUSTICE MANSFIELD of ENGLAND. was the "1st. EARL of MANSFIELD," England [actually in SCOTLAND!] His actual name was NOT Mansfield, but his "TITLE" of "NOBILITY" was "FIRST Earl of Mansfield, Scotland" His given name at BIRTH was WILLIAM MURRAY. If history is correct--he was the ATTORNEY [LAWYER] for NEW YORK CITY, New York! Became said LORD CHIEF JUSTICE MANSFIELD--was such, appears during the American Revolutionary War [1775-1783]. Have to research again--recall his house was burned down by a riotious, MOB, angry crowd; I speculate the MOB crown was manipulated to RIOT--to punish him re setting FREE a Negro SLAVE, re SLAVE SHIP, slavery. Can't recall the Case right now! But, must be WHY Judges usually have a secret residence, secret street address?! Is there anybody out there who knows more than I do about the ISSUES mentioned just above? POSTED @ BURGERVILLE via WiFi, E. 4th. Plain Blvd., Vancouver, Wa. 98661 DATE/TIME: SUNDAY, 3rd. of Nov., 2013 "AD" PST 7:22PM PatriOughtically, David ERSKINE Cummin-gs
PS: re "Origin of Names & Phrases": Visit LAW LIBRARIES! Example being my LAST given name...3x CUMMIN in KJV in Is.28: & one [1] CUMMIN at Mt.23:3. is CUMMIN to English from both HEBREW & GREEK. From Latin is
"Cumin"--that SPICE @ your local grocery store!