William H. Sumner
Encyclopedia
Roxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868...
, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
. He was the son of Gov. Increase Sumner
Increase Sumner
Increase Sumner was an American politician from Massachusetts. He served as the fifth governor of Massachusetts from 1797 to 1799. Trained as a lawyer, he served in the provisional government of Massachusetts during the American Revolutionary War, and was elected to the Confederation Congress in...
. W H Sumner graduated from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
in 1799. He served as a General in the Massachusetts militia. Sumner wrote The History of East Boston and died in 1861.
Early life
William H. Sumner spent his boyhood in Roxbury, MassachusettsRoxbury, Massachusetts
Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and current neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It was one of the first towns founded in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, and became a city in 1846 until annexed to Boston on January 5, 1868...
, living in the house on the corner of Washington and Cliff Streets bought by his father, Governor Increase Sumner
Increase Sumner
Increase Sumner was an American politician from Massachusetts. He served as the fifth governor of Massachusetts from 1797 to 1799. Trained as a lawyer, he served in the provisional government of Massachusetts during the American Revolutionary War, and was elected to the Confederation Congress in...
prior to the American Revolutionary War
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...
. After primary school in Roxbury he attended Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy
Phillips Academy is a selective, co-educational independent boarding high school for boarding and day students in grades 9–12, along with a post-graduate year...
in Andover, Massachusetts
Andover, Massachusetts
Andover is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was incorporated in 1646 and as of the 2010 census, the population was 33,201...
. He later attended and graduated from Harvard College
Harvard College
Harvard College, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is one of two schools within Harvard University granting undergraduate degrees...
in 1799, shortly after the death of his father.
Early career
After graduating from college, Sumner entered the law office of district attorneyDistrict attorney
In many jurisdictions in the United States, a District Attorney is an elected or appointed government official who represents the government in the prosecution of criminal offenses. The district attorney is the highest officeholder in the jurisdiction's legal department and supervises a staff of...
John Davis, gaining admittance to the bar in 1802. He practiced law from 1802 until 1818 when he left the field in order to concentrate on his military duties. From 1808 to 1819 Sumner served in the Massachusetts State Legislature representing the city of Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
. In 1806 and again in 1813 to 1816 he was selected as aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to Governor
Governor
A governor is a governing official, usually the executive of a non-sovereign level of government, ranking under the head of state...
Caleb Strong
Caleb Strong
Caleb Strong was Massachusetts lawyer and politician who served as the sixth and tenth Governor of Massachusetts between 1800 and 1807, and again from 1812 until 1816.-Biography:...
. He served in the same roll from 1816-1818 to Governor John Brooks
John Brooks
John Brooks was the 11th Governor of Massachusetts from 1816 to 1823; he was the last significant Federalist elected official in office in the United States....
. In 1818 Governor Brooks appointed him Adjutant General
Adjutant general
An Adjutant General is a military chief administrative officer.-Imperial Russia:In Imperial Russia, the General-Adjutant was a Court officer, who was usually an army general. He served as a personal aide to the Tsar and hence was a member of the H. I. M. Retinue...
of the state along with the office of Quartermaster General
Quartermaster general
A Quartermaster general is the staff officer in charge of supplies for a whole army.- The United Kingdom :In the United Kingdom, the Quartermaster-General to the Forces is one of the most senior generals in the British Army...
which he held until he risigned the office in 1834.
War of 1812
In September, 1814 Massachusetts Governor Caleb Strong sent Lieutenant Colonel William H. Sumner to coordinate the defense of PortlandPortland, Maine
Portland is the largest city in Maine and is the county seat of Cumberland County. The 2010 city population was 66,194, growing 3 percent since the census of 2000...
which had been burned by the British in 1775. His task was to maintain 1900 militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
and create a better relationship between the Massachusetts militia and the U.S. Army forces posted there. There were many problems with the early American militia
“Some of the men were deserting and had to be brought back by force and some officers were protesting against serving under regulars. The militia in Oxford county were even more troublesome……….its militia showed little interest in making sacrifices for war. According to Sumner, they were “undisciplined, badly armed, miserably provided and worse commanded.” ,,,,,, Sumner could see no way of implementing a command agreement except by using force, which meant using militia against militia.”
In 1826 he served on a board with a young Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor was the 12th President of the United States and an American military leader. Initially uninterested in politics, Taylor nonetheless ran as a Whig in the 1848 presidential election, defeating Lewis Cass...
to consider improvements in the militia. They recommended that “a complete system of tactics and exercise for cavalry and artillery of the militia” be created. This would organize the US militia who were so disjointed during the war of 1812. Congress however did not approve this plan.
East Boston
William Sumner’s main accomplishment was the development of Noddle's IslandNoddle's Island
Noddle's Island is one of Boston Harbor Islands off East Boston, Massachusetts. In the 1940s the strait separating Noddle's Island from East Boston was filled, thereby connecting the island to Logan International Airport on the mainland.-History:...
, in Boston Harbor, as East Boston, an extension of the City of Boston, beginning in 1833, in partnership with Stephen White and Francis J. Oliver. The East Boston Company was created to conduct the development, and The East Boston Timber Company was created to supply wood from upstate New York to shipbuilders whom the Company hoped to attract to the shores of East Boston.
The East Boston Company, founded on 25 March, 1833, laid out the first planned neighborhood in the city of Boston. Sumner served as President and later on the Executive Committee of the company until he retired due to ill health in 1850 at age 70.
He spent many years writing the History of East Boston, a complete account of all of the early activities there.
William H Sumner is also known for being the founder of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society
Massachusetts Horticultural Society
The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, sometimes abbreviated to MassHort, is an American horticultural society based in Massachusetts. It describes itself as the oldest, formally-organized horticultural institution in the United States...
. In tribute to his tireless work for East Boston the Sumner Tunnel
Sumner Tunnel
The Sumner Tunnel is a road tunnel in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. It carries traffic under Boston Harbor in one direction, from Logan International Airport and Route 1A in East Boston. The tunnel originally deposited traffic at the west side of the North End but with the completion of the Big Dig,...
that runs under the Boston Harbor from East Boston to Boston bears his name. Sumner Hill (Jamaica Plain) and Sumner Street (Cambridge) are also named for him.
Personal
When he was in Boston Sumner resided at the family house on Mount Vernon Street in Beacon Hill. After resigning his office in 1834 he bought and moved to a large estate in Jamaica Plain.Four years before his death Sumner was stricken with paralysis and was unable to speak for a time. While he retained his mental faculties to the end, he eventually succumbed to the disease and died in 1861.