Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 5).djvu/789

SUMNER, George, physician, b. in Pomt'ret, Conn., 19 Dec.. 1793; d. in Hartford, Conn.. 21) Feb.. 1X55. lie was graduated at Yale in 1813, and at the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in 1817. Two years later he es- tablished himself at Hartford, Conn., where he was professor of botany in Trinity college from its foundation in 1824 till his death. He wa> an active friend of the college, and to his taste and liberality the beautiful grounds of the former col- lege site owed much of their attractiveness. For many years he was also a lecturer on botany. He published a "Compendium of Physiological and Systematic Botany" (Hartford, 1820).

SUMNER, Increase, jurist, b. in Roxbury. Mass., 27 Nov., 1746: d. there. 7 June, 1799. His ancestor, William, emigrated from England to Dorchester, Mass., about 1635. and his father, In- crease, was a prosperous farmer and a select-man of Roxbury in 1753 and 1756. The son, after graduation at Harvard in 1767, studied law under Samuel Adams while teaching at Roxbury, was admitted to the bar in 1770, and began practice in his native town. He was a member of the lower house of the legislature in 1776-'80, and senator till 1782. In the mean time he was a member of the convention of 1777 for agreeing on a form of government, and of the State constitutional conven- tion in 1779. He was elected to congress in 1782, but preferred to accept an appointment as associ- ate judge of the supreme judicial court, remaining on the bench till 1797. He was one of the com- mittee on the re- vision of the laws of the state in 1785, a delegate to the convention that adopted the constitution of the United States in 1789, and at the close of his judicial office was elected governor

for three successive terms. Judge

Sumner's ability and intimate relations with his kinsman, John Adams, and other statesmen, gave him great influence in public affairs. His son, William Hyslop. soldier, b. in Roxbury, 4 July, 1780; d. in Jamaica Plains, Mass., 24 Oct., 1861, was graduated at Harvard in 1799. admitted to the bar in 1802, and in 1808-'19 was a member of the legislature. In 1814 he was sent to put the coast of Maine in a state of defence against a threatened invasion, and in 1818-'35 he served as adjutant- general of the state, with the rank of brigadier- general. He organized in 1833 the East Boston company. He was one of the original members of the Massachusetts horticultural society. His works include "An Inquiry into the Importance of the Militia" (Boston, 1823)': " Observations on Na- tional Defence" (1824); "Reminiscences" (1854): " Memoir of Increase Sumner, Governor of Mas- sachusetts" (1854); "Reminiscences of General Warren and Bunker Hill" (1858); "History of East Boston " (1858); and " Reminiscences of La- fayette's Visit to Boston " (1859).

SUMNER. Jethro. soldier, b. in Virginia about 17::o ; d. in Warren county, N. C.. about 1790. His father, William, came from England and settled near Suffolk, Va., about 1690. Jethro was active in the measures that preceded the Revolution, and in 1760 was paymaster of the provincial troops of Xorth Carolina and commander at Fort t'uinbrr- land. In 1770 he was appointed by the Provincial congress colonel of the 3d North Carolina regi- ment, and served under Washington in the north. He was commissioned brigadier-general by the Continental congress in 1779, was ordered to join Gen. Horatio Gates in the south, and was at the battle of Camden in 1780. He then served under Gen. Nathanael Greene, and at the battle of Entaw, 8 Sept., 1781, made a bayonet charge, after whieh he was active in keeping the Tories in check in North Carolina till the close of the war.

SUMNER. John, soldier, b. in Middletown, Conn., in May, 1735; d. in February, 1787. He was commissioned, 24 March, 1760, captain in the regiment of foot of which Phineas Lyman was colonel, and in this service he was in the battles of Lake George and Ticonderoga, and at the capture of Crown Point ami the surrender of Montreal. At the opening of the Revolution he was a zealous patriot, and he entered the Colonial army in June, 1776, being commissioned major in a battalion of which John Durkee was colonel, and continued in the service until 1 Jan.. 1781. He was in the bat- tles of Long Island, Harlem. White Plains, Cier- mantown, Trenton, and Monmouth, where he wa^ in the thickest of the fight and one of many thai were overcome by their exertions in the great heat of that day, from the effects of which heuiever recovered. He was one of the founders of the So- ciety of the Cincinnati. His son, Joshua, b. in Middletown, Conn., 11 Oct., 1761 ; d. March, 1832, was a surgeon in the army of Gen. St. Clair during his unfortunate expedition against the Miami In- dians in 1791, and subsequently in his native state and in Massachusetts. Another son, William, b. in Middletown. Conn., 22 Jan., 1780 ; d. 28 Sept., 1838. was colonel of an Ohio regiment in the war of 1812, and camped his command in the forest on the site of Columbus, the capital of the state.

SUMNER, William Graham, political economist, b. in Paterson, N. J'., 30 Oct., 1840. He was graduated at Yale in 1863, and studied at Gottingen, Germany, and Oxford, England. lie ,i< tutor at Yale in 1866-'9, took orders in the Protestant Episcopal church in 1867, and was for some time assistant at Calvary church. New York city. In 1872 he was appointed professor of political and social science at Yale. Prof. Sumner is an earnest advocate of the so-called laissez fairs principle in political economy. He favors the gold standard in currency and free-trade. He has done much to promote liberal methods of instruction in his department, and, among other innovations, has established a loan library of political economy for the use of his classes. He is a member of the American social science association, to whose "Transactions" he has contributed papers, including one on 'American Finance" (1874). Besides articles in periodicals, he has published a translation of Lange's "Commentary on the Second Book of Kings" (New York. 1872) : ' History of American Currency" (1*74): "Lectures on the History of Protection in the United States " (1875); "Life of Andrew Jackson," in the " American Statesmen " series (Boston. 1S82): "What Social Classes Owe to Each Other" (New York, 1883); "Economic Problems" (1884); "Essays in Political and Social Science" (1885); and "Protectionism" (1885).

SUMTER. Thomas, soldier, b. in Virginia 14 July, 1735; d. at South Mount, near Camden, S. C., 1 June, 1832. Little is known of hi* parent-