Summers, Francis Sr.

Summers, Francis Sr.

Male 1732 - 1800  (68 years)

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  • Name Summers, Francis  [1
    Suffix Sr. 
    Born 2 Mar 1732  Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    Gender Male 
    Died 14 Oct 1800  Fairfax, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [2
    • Summers Grove
    Buried Summers Grove, Alexandria, Fairfax Co., Va Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Person ID I11595  My Genealogy
    Last Modified 21 Jan 2022 

    Father Summers, III John,   b. Bef 14 Nov 1686, Christ Church, Middlesex Co., VA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Dec 1790, Alexandria, Fairfax Co., VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age > 104 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Blake, Seth (Elisabeth),   b. 18 Aug 1695, Stafford Co, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 26 Nov 1737, Fairfax County, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 42 years) 
    Relationship natural 
    Married Bef 1717  Stafford Co, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [4
    • There is much confusion about John Summers' wife(s) name(s). Names that appear in some research are:

      Mary West
      Seth Harrison
      Elizabeth Blake

      Most of this information comes from LDS records and have no other cited sources.

      Information Pertaining to this:

      His grandson Lewis Summers stated that John married a Mrs. Blake.
      Some researchers cite that Judge Lewis Summers stated that John Summers married Elizabeth Blake.
      In a John Summers deposition he states that he married the widow Lucas in the Winter of 1717.
      In his will, John West made a bequest to Seith Lucas who was a tenant on his land. He also bequeathed to John, and Benjamin Blake and their father Robert Blake, also tenants on his land. Now, Judge Lewis Summers (mentioned above) stated that John Summers was married to Elizabeth Blake. Some researchers feel Seith was a nickname for Elizabeth, and it was Elizabeth Blake Lucas who married as her second husband John Summers.
      There is a land transaction in 1723 from Thomas Harrison giving "Seith Lucas and her 2nd husband John Summers, and their son John" a lease for life.

      Therefore, I support the conlusion that Elizabeth (nicknamed Seth) Blake Lucas married John Summers in 1717. This conclusion is not supported by primary sources and should be regarded with significant caution.
    Notes 
    • Marriage Notes:

      There is much confusion about JOhn Summers' wife(s) name(s). Names that appear in some research are:

      Mary West
      Seth Harrison
      Elizabeth Blake

      Some of this information comes from LDS records and have no other cited sources.

      Information Pertaining to this:

      His grandson Lewis Summers stated that John married a Mrs. Blake.
      Some researchers cite that Judge Lewis Summers stated that John Summers married Elizabeth Blake.
      In a John Summers deposition he states that he married the widow Lucas in the Winter of 1717.
      In his will, John West made a bequest to Seith Lucas who was a tenant on his land. He also bequeathed to John, and Benjamin Blake and their father Robert Blake, also tenants on his land. Now, Judge Lewis Summers (mentioned above) stated that John Summers was married to Elizabeth Blake. Some researchers feel Seith was a nickname for Elizabeth, and it was Elizabeth Blake Lucas who married as her second husband John Summers.
      There is a land transaction in 1723 from Thomas Harrison giving "Seith Lucas and her 2nd husband John Summers, and their son John" a lease for life.

      Therefore, I have concluded that Elizabeth (possibly nicknamed Seth) Blake Lewis married John Summers in 1717. This conclusion is not supported by primary sources and should be regarded with significant caution.
    Family ID F4674  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Watkins, Jane,   b. 1735, Of, Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 22 Aug 1814, Summer Grove, Fairfax, VA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 79 years) 
    Married 1756  Fairfax, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [3
    Children 
     1. Summers, Thomas,   b. 14 Mar 1780, Truro Parish, Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 18 Apr 1871, Putnam Co., West Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 91 years)  [natural]
     2. Summers, George,   b. 5 Oct 1758, Truro Parish, Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1818, , Kanawha, West Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 59 years)  [natural]
     3. Summers, John,   b. Abt 1760, Truro Parish, Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1818, AlexandriaVa Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 58 years)  [natural]
     4. Summers, Francis,   b. Abt 1760, Truro Parish, Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [natural]
     5. Summers, Samuel,   b. Abt 1762, Truro Parish, Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [natural]
     6. Summers, Susannah,   b. Abt 1764, Truro Parish, Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [natural]
     7. Summers, Jane,   b. Abt 1764, Truro Parish, Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location  [natural]
     8. Summers, William,   b. Abt 1766, Truro Parish, Fairfax, Virginia Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 27 Oct 1797, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 31 years)  [natural]
    Last Modified 21 Jan 2022 
    Family ID F4680  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - 2 Mar 1732 - Fairfax, Virginia Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsMarried - 1756 - Fairfax, Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsDied - 14 Oct 1800 - Fairfax, Virginia, USA Link to Google Earth
    Link to Google MapsBuried - - Summers Grove, Alexandria, Fairfax Co., Va Link to Google Earth
     = Link to Google Earth 

  • Notes 
    • West Virginia and its People, Volume 3 by Thomas Condit Miller, Hu Maxwell, Lewis Publishing Company, 1913, page 951-953

      The Summers family is said to be of Flemish origin, SUMMERS and to have been first known in England at the time of the Reformation. Property was granted to them at a former religious seat a short distance from Worcester, and this became the family seat. Here they resided and here they entertained Queen Elizabeth in her progress through Worcestershire in 1585. Many of the members of this family became men of distinction and renown. One branch of the family moved into Dorsetshire, England, and it is from this branch that the Virginian family is descended. The name is variously spelled Somers, Sommers, Sumers and Summers, but the Virginians of this stock have in general used the form Summers. As is well known, the tracing of ancestries in Virginian families is attended with much difficulty and many dangers of error, so that the results are often incomplete or uncertain, if not both. In the present case there is much more material for judgment than in many, and the following account is based on good evidence and confidently believed to be correct from the time of the settlement of the family in Virginia, which cannot have been greatly posterior of the coming of the family to America.

      (I) John Summers, the first member of this family about whom we have definite information, was born in Maryland, in 1687, died near Alexandria, Virginia, December 4, 1791. Coming early into Virginia he settled on the Potomac, where the city of Alexandria now is, and his cabin was the first building erected on the site of this city. The first framed house ever put up at this place was prepared under his direction and on his land, being afterward hauled therefrom to its intended site. The country abounded at that time in deer, bears, wolves, wild turkeys and other animals, and his earlier years were largely passed in hunting. He became an active leader of the white settlers and a pioneer in the campaigns against the Indians west of the Blue Ridge. Hunting, however, was still a favorite employment. So little did he care about the acquisition of land that he refused a deed from the patentee for the land on which Alexandria has been built and on which he lived in exchange for a rifle. In his later years he was much engaged in pointing out the best vacant lands and in conducting surveyors and others through the forests. At last he did acquire from four hundred to six hundred acres of land for each of his sons, but he did not do this for his daughters. He lived to see Alexandria become a place of some importance. The home, on the Little river turnpike, about four miles west of that city, which he bequeathed to his son Francis was long known as one of the finest estates in Fairfax county. At the time of the revolution John Summers was too old to take a part. He was a man of robust constitution, broad of chest and powerful, and retained his faculties to a remarkable degree, although he lived to be more than one hundred years old, but about a year before his death he was disabled by a severe fall. He was a member of the Church of England. The name of his wife is not known, but among his children the youngest son was Francis, of whom further.

      (II) Francis, son of John Summers, was born in Fairfax county, Virginia, March 3, 1732, died at "Summers Grove," October 14, 1800. "Summers Grove" is the estate which he had inherited from his father, four miles west of Alexandria. His life was the quiet and uneventful life of a Virginia planter. For many years he held the office of magistrate. Being, like his father, a member of the Church of England or Protestant Episcopal church, he was a vestryman of Christ Church, Alexandria. He married Jane (Watkins) Charlton, born in 1735, died August 22, 1814. Children, so far as known to us: George, born October 5, 1758, died January 10, 1818, married, in 1776, Ann Smith Radcliffe; Thomas, of whom further; Francis; Samuel. All these sons settled in the Kanawha valley in 1810; George, accompanied by his daughter Jane, made an exploration of the Kanawha valley and of the Ohio valley between Wheeling and Guyandotte, and settled three years afterward at Walnut Grove, Kanawha county, Virginia, to which he brought his family in the winter of 1813-14. From him has come a prominent family of West Virginia.

      (III) Thomas, son of Francis and Jane (Watkins-Charlton) Summers, came from Fairfax county, Virginia, and settled on the Kanawha river, in Mason county, Virginia, one mile above Winfield; according to the best information his settlement was made about 1816. He was a farmer. He married Hooper. Child, George W., of whom further.

      (IV) George W., son of Thomas and (Hooper) Summers,

      was born, probably in Fairfax county, Virginia, January 17, 1812. He was a farmer, and about 1838 became a member of the state militia. He was a Democrat and a Methodist. He married, January 29, 1835, Sarah A., born in Cabell county, Virginia, May 12, 1813, daughter of Adam and Elizabeth (Cockburn) Black. Children: 1. Quintilian L., born March 12, 1836, died September 28, 1842. 2. Sylvester Adams, born January 23, 1838, died May 8, 1912; a Confederate soldier. 3. John William, born May 15, 1840. 4. Constantine Ruf us, born October 9, 1842; Confederate soldier. 5. Edgar Lewis, born October 29, 1844. 6. Thomas Bascom, born March 11, 1847. 7. Tyra Campbell, born November 6, 1849. 8. Matthew James, of whom further.

      (V) Matthew James, son of George W. and Sarah A. (Black) Summers, was born in Cabell county, Virginia, June 9, 1852. His home is now at Huntington, West Virginia, and he is a baggage master on the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad. Mr. Summers is a Democrat and a Methodist. He married, February 24, 1875, Elizabeth Handley, born June 6, 1855, daughter of Warren P. and (Handley) Rece. Children: 1. Gertrude Medora, born January 1, 1876. 2. Frederick Lindley, of whom further. 3. Olive June, born November 11, 1879. 4. Lewis Rece, born May 31, 1882, died December 5, 1883. 5. Florence Buffington, born June 6, 1885. 6. Harry Lee, born September 26, 1887. 7. Robert Pritchard, born November 1, 1889. 8. Herbert Sidney, born November 21, 1893.

      (VI) Frederick Lindley, son of Matthew James and Elizabeth Handley (Rece) Summers, was born in Cabell county, West Virginia, near Milton, December 26, 1877. His education was received at Huntington, West Virginia; there he attended the public schools, including the high school, and he pursued also a business course at Marshall Business College in the same city. December 19, 1899, he became a stenographer at Parkersburg, West Virginia, for the Ohio River railroad, in the maintenance of way department, and in this position he remained until October 1, 1903. From that date to the first of May in the following year he was assistant cashier at Parkersburg for Armour & Company, Then he was general bookkeeper for the General Distributing Company, of Clarksburg, West Virginia, until August 15, 1906. He was secretary of the Penn Table Company, at Huntington, West Virginia, from August 15, 1906, to February 1, 1911. Since that date to the present time he has been a partner in the firm of Logan & Summers, insurance agents at Parkersburg. In this city also Mr. Summers now makes his home. He is a member of the United Commercial Travelers, Council No. 35, at Parkersburg. In Masonry he is a master mason, member of Mount Olivet Lodge, No. 3, of Parkersburg; a Royal Arch Mason, being a member of Adoniram Chapter, No. 11, at Clarksburg; a member of Huntington Commandery, No. 9, Knights Templar, at Huntington; and of Beni Kedem Shrine, Ancient Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Charleston. He is also a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, Lodge No. 198, of Parkersburg. Mr. Summers is a Democrat. He and his family are members of the Baptist church.

      He married, at Parkersburg, October 26, 1904, Donna, daughter of John A. and Mary E. (Cochran) Hutchinson, who was born at Parkersburg, February 26, 1879. Her father was a lawyer of this city. Children: Frederick Lindley, born at Clarksburg, July 23, 1905; Mary Elizabeth, born at Huntington, August 1, 1909.

      ______________________________________
      W.S. Laidley (ed.), West Virginia Historical Magazine Quarterly, West Virginia Historical and Antiquarian Society, Charleston, WV, , July 1903

      Francis Summers, the youngest son of John, and the grand-father of Lewis Summers, was born in Fairfax County, Virginia, March 3rd, 1732, and died at his country seat of Summer Grove, four miles west of Alexandria, October 14th, 1800. He married Mrs. Jane Charlton, whose maiden name was Watkins, by whom he had six sons and two daughters. She was born in 1735 arid died August, 22nd, 1814.

      Francis led the quiet, uneventful life of a "Virginia Planter," as he styles himself in his will, on his estate and died honored and esteemed by all who knew him. For many years he held the office of magistrate, then an office of much greater importance than at the present day, the duties of which he discharged with untarnished reputation. Like his parents, he and his wife were devoted members of the P. E. Church and communicants of old Christ Church Alexandria where he was a vestryman.

      The children of Francis and Jane Summers were George, William, Francis, Samuel and Thomas, sons, and Jane and Susanah, daughters.

      George, the eldest son was born October 5th, 1758, in Fairfax County, Virginia, and died January 10th, 1818, at Walnut Grove, Kanawha County. He married in 1776 Miss Ann Smith Radcliffe, of Fairfax and five sons and five daughters were born to them:
      Lewis, born Nov. 7, 1778. Die'd August 27, 1843.
      Collin, born Oct. 7, 1784. Died July 8,1782.
      Jane Amelia, born Oct. 17, 1785. Died Jan. 8, 1862.
      Elizabeth, born December 21,1787. Died Jan. ~, 1877.
      Ann Matilda, born Nov. 7, 1789. Died Oct. 25, 1863.
      Ferdinancl, born ---.' Died Jan. 24, 1792.
      Celina Louise, born Dec., 1793. Died August 12,1875.
      Syuney Lucy, born April 5, 1797. Died Qct. 6, 1883.
      Albert/Smith, born Jan., 1801. Died Feb. 5, 1824.
      George William, born March 4, 1804. Died Sept. 19,1868.

      Mrs. Summers survived her husband twenty-five years and died at Walnut Grove, Kanawha County, Virginia, July 23d, 1843, aged 84 years

      ____________________________________________________________________

      Ronda Berry Research-list her a child 6; !IGI 1993-children -FHLC film 471963 !IGI 1993 Chil dren- FHLC film 1761117-lists only children, Susannah b. 1757, William b. 1762, Samuel b. 177 1 & Thomas b. 1780 all born Fairfax Co. VA; !Ancestral File list Franncis a last child;

      BIRTH-MARRIAGE-PARENTS-DEATH: Research of Ronda Berry-documents recorded on research repor t of 30 Mar 1995.

      Will written 10 Sep 1800. Proved 15 Dec 1800. Francis was a Revolution Soldier. Jane Watkin s probably widow of Andrew Charlton.

      Aug 2002: Ronda Berry
      Notes for FRANCIS Summers:
      Francis will written 10 Sept 1800, proved 15 Dec 1800. Will book H, pg 171 Fairfax Co, VA . Francis was a Rev. Soldier. Lived at "Summers Grove". Was a Constable in 1770s. Overse er of the Poor in Alexandria during the Rev. War. Taxed for self and father in 1787.

  • Sources 
    1. [S27] Ancestral File (TM), The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

    2. [S647] West Virginia and its People, Thomas Condit Miller and Hu Maxwell, (Name: Lewis Historical Publishing Company; Date: 1913;), page 950.

    3. [S327] The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Ancestral File (TM).
      Date of Import: Apr 18, 2000

    4. [S1040] The Monteith family and the Potomac Indians, William L Deyo, (Name: DeJoux Publications; Location: Colonial Beach, Virginia; Date: 2001;).