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Biography
Origins
Thomas Sumner was born in 1734 at Thetford, Connecticut and was the son of William and Hannah (Hunt) Sumner. He was married to Rebecca Downer. Thomas passed away in 1803 at 69 years.
Life and Career
He served in the French and Indian War. Thomas married Rebecca Downer in 1761 in Hebron, Connecticut. They had nine children. In 1776, he was imprisoned as a Tory, and escaped to New York in 1777. On account of the revolution and his political views, he went to Kingston, Nova Scotia and thus to Toronto. Thomas married Rebecca Downer in 1761 in Hebron, Conn. They had nine children. Being a King's magistrate, he was naturally held in favor to the existing government. Thomas later filed claim to land in Gloucester County, close to Toronto. He was one of the most prominent citizen of his country, a justice of the peace, commissioner, associate justice of the inferior court of common pleas of Gloucester county in 1770. Being a King's magistrate he was naturally favorable to the existing government and a Loyalist by conviction.
It is believed that Thomas Sumner was the author of the following letter to Loyalist Benjamin Brooks:
Thetford, June 17, 1777.
Sir I would inform you that I have just received Intelligence from Canada, and they are a making all preparations to come down, and I would have you all stand in readiness to help; your arms are all ready for you and will be sent to some secure Place, so that you may have them, and I will let you know where in a few days you may expect to receive them. I would have you encourage all friends for Government not to give back, and let everything be kept as a profound secret, for our Lives depend upon it; for if the plan should be discovered, we are gone, and if there are any more that have sworn allegiance to the King since I talked with you, I should be glad to know it, for I must make a return how many men we can raise. I hear that Captain Sumner, 3 is laid under Bonds since I saw you there; I hope he won’t be discouraged, and if he made any Progress I should be glad to know it. I hope in six weeks we shall be able to clear all our friends from Bonds and Imprisonment; For God’s sake let everything be carried on with secrecy, and I doubt not thro’ the justness of our cause we shall overcome the Dammed Rebels.So I remain a true friend to Government.
To Captain Benjamin Brooks.[1]
Sources
- ↑ Merritt Elton Goddard, Henry Villiers Partridge. A History of Norwich, Vermont, (Norwich: Dartmouth Press, 1905), pp. 86-87.
- Appleton, William S. Record of the Descendants of William Sumner, of Dorchester, Mass., 1636. Boston: D. Clapp & Son, 1879.
- Tami Osmer.
- The Hosmer Heritage: Ancestors and Descendants of the Emigrant Thomas Hosmer Author: Ronald Longaker Roberts Publication: South Lake Tahoe, CA: 1984
- Ancestral File - Heritage Quest Genealogical and Family History of Northern New York. p.434