Summers, Mathew James

Summers, Mathew James

Male 1852 -

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  • Name Summers, Mathew James 
    Born 9 Jun 1852  Cabell, West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [1
    Gender Male 
    Person ID I28794  My Genealogy
    Last Modified 21 Jan 2022 

    Father Summers, George W.,   b. 17 Jan 1813, Fairfax, Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Relationship natural 
    Mother Black, Sarah A,   b. 12 May 1813, Cabell, West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Relationship natural 
    Married 29 Jan 1835  [1
    Family ID F10756  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

    Family Rece, Elizabeth Handley,   b. 6 Jun 1855 
    Married Y  [1
    Children 
     1. Summers, Gertrude Medora,   b. 1 Jan 1876  [natural]
     2. Summers, Frederick Lindley,   b. 26 Dec 1877, Cabell, West Virginia, USA Find all individuals with events at this location  [natural]
     3. Summers, Olive June,   b. 11 Nov 1879  [natural]
     4. Summers, Lewis Rece,   b. 31 May 1882,   d. 5 Dec 1883  (Age 1 years)  [natural]
     5. Summers, Florence Buffington,   b. 6 Jun 1885  [natural]
     6. Summers, Harry Lee,   b. 26 Sep 1887  [natural]
     7. Summers, Robert Pritchard,   b. 1 Nov 1889  [natural]
     8. Summers, Herbert Sidney,   b. 21 Nov 1893  [natural]
    Last Modified 21 Jan 2022 
    Family ID F10758  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  • Event Map
    Link to Google MapsBorn - 9 Jun 1852 - Cabell, West Virginia, USA 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.

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