Denise, I've seen no replies to your posting looking for Cummings obituaries, and I think the connection between the Lease surname, the Cummings surname and Clay townships may be important. I had ancestors in Lagrange County in the 1840 census, and the Cummings in question had a Lease son-in-law in Branch Counti MI, just to the north.

Did John Cummings' family come to Indiana vi Ohio, Canada, and before that, New York and Connecticut?