Sherwood Curtis Cummings was one of four brothers. Their father was George Riley Cummings. During World War I, Sherwood Cummings was a corporal in the U.S. Army and was stationed at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. He went to "buzzer" or telegraph school in Kansas City. After the war, he worked as a bookkeeper and later was with the Bank of Mooringsport. He was married to Mona Pearl Bryant on 6 June 1920. They had two daughters, Jeanne and Mona Aimee. Cummings died suddenly of pneumonia in 1932. He never drank or smoked.