Elizabeth Sumner, wife of Governor Sumner was born on the 5th of August 1757. She was the only daughter of William Hyslop, Esq., then of Boston, and afterward of Brookline, and was a woman of great intelligence, of a remarkably amiable character, and of attractive personal beauty. From her mother she inherited one sixth of the Noddle's Island estate in fee, and subsequently became possessed of one sixth more of the fee of the same property from her aunt, Mrs. Chauncy. The particulars of her life and character need not be minutely detailed, for although those virtues which adorn female character were most beautifully exemplified in her, yet there were no remarkable
incidents in her honored life which demand the especial notice of the biographer. She was first betrothed to the Rev. John Hunt, colleague of the Rev. John Bacon, pastor of the Old South church in Boston; but this relation was broken off by his death, from pulmonary consumption, on the 20th December 1775. On the 30th of September, 1779, she was married to Increase Sumner, then a member of the legislature from Roxbury. It is an interesting fact, that she always perserved her friendly con-
nectiion with the family of the Rev. Mr. Hunt; and his sister, who married Samuel Henshaw, Esq., of North Hampton, was through her life her most intimate friend. As the wife of the chief magistrate of the commonwealth, she distinguished herself by her dignified presence, and by the ease, grace, and entire propriety with which she fulfilled every duty, at home or abroad, and no one could more acceptably have filled the station of a governor's lady than she. Highly esteemed and respected abroad, loved and honored at home, she was a noble example of the valued friend and acquaintance,
and the Christian wife and mother. Numerous instances come to mind in which her kindness and benevolence were manifested.
She gave to Cuff, her servant and the son of a slave, £ 100, which the writer expended in building him a house on "Tommy's Rocks," where it is still standing, she also enjoined upon the author to give £ 300 to the Female Asylum, envincing in this, as in other instances, a thoughtful consideration for worthy objects of charity.
Mrs. Sumner continued to live in the mansion house in Roxbury until 1806, when she removed to a hired house on Bowdoin street, Boston. She subsequently purchased a house in Beacon street, at the corner of Spruce street, where Peter Parker Esq., now lives, and here she resided with her family, until her death, which took place on the 28th December, 1810. Two motives induced her to move into the city. One was that her son had entered into the practice of law there, and it would be much more pleasant, as well as more convenient, to live in Boston, where the small family could be kept together. The other was that the estate of fourteen acres opposite the house in Roxbury, and since called the Dudley land, together with another on the Tremont road of like quantity, which her father had ordered to be purchased and given to her husband and to herself, in joint-tenancy, and which of course,
became her own upon Gov. Sumner's death, was recovered of her in a lawsuit by the tenant in tail,
Joseph Dudley. His entry into the land opposite her mansion-house, the cutting down of the trees which her husband had assiduously cultivated, the opening of public streets through it, and the dividing it into house lots, so destroyed the beauty of the place, that it was a strong motive to induce her to quit the estate, and sell the mansion-house in which she had lived all her married life.
Source:
History of East Boston
with Biographical Sketches
by William H. Sumner A. M.
Published by William H. Piper & Co.
Boston - 1868
*********************************************
incidents in her honored life which demand the especial notice of the biographer. She was first betrothed to the Rev. John Hunt, colleague of the Rev. John Bacon, pastor of the Old South church in Boston; but this relation was broken off by his death, from pulmonary consumption, on the 20th December 1775. On the 30th of September, 1779, she was married to Increase Sumner, then a member of the legislature from Roxbury. It is an interesting fact, that she always perserved her friendly con-
nectiion with the family of the Rev. Mr. Hunt; and his sister, who married Samuel Henshaw, Esq., of North Hampton, was through her life her most intimate friend. As the wife of the chief magistrate of the commonwealth, she distinguished herself by her dignified presence, and by the ease, grace, and entire propriety with which she fulfilled every duty, at home or abroad, and no one could more acceptably have filled the station of a governor's lady than she. Highly esteemed and respected abroad, loved and honored at home, she was a noble example of the valued friend and acquaintance,
and the Christian wife and mother. Numerous instances come to mind in which her kindness and benevolence were manifested.
She gave to Cuff, her servant and the son of a slave, £ 100, which the writer expended in building him a house on "Tommy's Rocks," where it is still standing, she also enjoined upon the author to give £ 300 to the Female Asylum, envincing in this, as in other instances, a thoughtful consideration for worthy objects of charity.
Mrs. Sumner continued to live in the mansion house in Roxbury until 1806, when she removed to a hired house on Bowdoin street, Boston. She subsequently purchased a house in Beacon street, at the corner of Spruce street, where Peter Parker Esq., now lives, and here she resided with her family, until her death, which took place on the 28th December, 1810. Two motives induced her to move into the city. One was that her son had entered into the practice of law there, and it would be much more pleasant, as well as more convenient, to live in Boston, where the small family could be kept together. The other was that the estate of fourteen acres opposite the house in Roxbury, and since called the Dudley land, together with another on the Tremont road of like quantity, which her father had ordered to be purchased and given to her husband and to herself, in joint-tenancy, and which of course,
became her own upon Gov. Sumner's death, was recovered of her in a lawsuit by the tenant in tail,
Joseph Dudley. His entry into the land opposite her mansion-house, the cutting down of the trees which her husband had assiduously cultivated, the opening of public streets through it, and the dividing it into house lots, so destroyed the beauty of the place, that it was a strong motive to induce her to quit the estate, and sell the mansion-house in which she had lived all her married life.
Source:
History of East Boston
with Biographical Sketches
by William H. Sumner A. M.
Published by William H. Piper & Co.
Boston - 1868
*********************************************
Elizabeth Sumner, wife of Governor Sumner was born on the 5th of August 1757. She was the only daughter of William Hyslop, Esq., then of Boston, and afterward of Brookline, and was a woman of great intelligence, of a remarkably amiable character, and of attractive personal beauty. From her mother she inherited one sixth of the Noddle's Island estate in fee, and subsequently became possessed of one sixth more of the fee of the same property from her aunt, Mrs. Chauncy. The particulars of her life and character need not be minutely detailed, for although those virtues which adorn female character were most beautifully exemplified in her, yet there were no remarkable
incidents in her honored life which demand the especial notice of the biographer. She was first betrothed to the Rev. John Hunt, colleague of the Rev. John Bacon, pastor of the Old South church in Boston; but this relation was broken off by his death, from pulmonary consumption, on the 20th December 1775. On the 30th of September, 1779, she was married to Increase Sumner, then a member of the legislature from Roxbury. It is an interesting fact, that she always perserved her friendly con-
nectiion with the family of the Rev. Mr. Hunt; and his sister, who married Samuel Henshaw, Esq., of North Hampton, was through her life her most intimate friend. As the wife of the chief magistrate of the commonwealth, she distinguished herself by her dignified presence, and by the ease, grace, and entire propriety with which she fulfilled every duty, at home or abroad, and no one could more acceptably have filled the station of a governor's lady than she. Highly esteemed and respected abroad, loved and honored at home, she was a noble example of the valued friend and acquaintance,
and the Christian wife and mother. Numerous instances come to mind in which her kindness and benevolence were manifested.
She gave to Cuff, her servant and the son of a slave, £ 100, which the writer expended in building him a house on "Tommy's Rocks," where it is still standing, she also enjoined upon the author to give £ 300 to the Female Asylum, envincing in this, as in other instances, a thoughtful consideration for worthy objects of charity.
Mrs. Sumner continued to live in the mansion house in Roxbury until 1806, when she removed to a hired house on Bowdoin street, Boston. She subsequently purchased a house in Beacon street, at the corner of Spruce street, where Peter Parker Esq., now lives, and here she resided with her family, until her death, which took place on the 28th December, 1810. Two motives induced her to move into the city. One was that her son had entered into the practice of law there, and it would be much more pleasant, as well as more convenient, to live in Boston, where the small family could be kept together. The other was that the estate of fourteen acres opposite the house in Roxbury, and since called the Dudley land, together with another on the Tremont road of like quantity, which her father had ordered to be purchased and given to her husband and to herself, in joint-tenancy, and which of course,
became her own upon Gov. Sumner's death, was recovered of her in a lawsuit by the tenant in tail,
Joseph Dudley. His entry into the land opposite her mansion-house, the cutting down of the trees which her husband had assiduously cultivated, the opening of public streets through it, and the dividing it into house lots, so destroyed the beauty of the place, that it was a strong motive to induce her to quit the estate, and sell the mansion-house in which she had lived all her married life.
Source:
History of East Boston
with Biographical Sketches
by William H. Sumner A. M.
Published by William H. Piper & Co.
Boston - 1868
*********************************************
incidents in her honored life which demand the especial notice of the biographer. She was first betrothed to the Rev. John Hunt, colleague of the Rev. John Bacon, pastor of the Old South church in Boston; but this relation was broken off by his death, from pulmonary consumption, on the 20th December 1775. On the 30th of September, 1779, she was married to Increase Sumner, then a member of the legislature from Roxbury. It is an interesting fact, that she always perserved her friendly con-
nectiion with the family of the Rev. Mr. Hunt; and his sister, who married Samuel Henshaw, Esq., of North Hampton, was through her life her most intimate friend. As the wife of the chief magistrate of the commonwealth, she distinguished herself by her dignified presence, and by the ease, grace, and entire propriety with which she fulfilled every duty, at home or abroad, and no one could more acceptably have filled the station of a governor's lady than she. Highly esteemed and respected abroad, loved and honored at home, she was a noble example of the valued friend and acquaintance,
and the Christian wife and mother. Numerous instances come to mind in which her kindness and benevolence were manifested.
She gave to Cuff, her servant and the son of a slave, £ 100, which the writer expended in building him a house on "Tommy's Rocks," where it is still standing, she also enjoined upon the author to give £ 300 to the Female Asylum, envincing in this, as in other instances, a thoughtful consideration for worthy objects of charity.
Mrs. Sumner continued to live in the mansion house in Roxbury until 1806, when she removed to a hired house on Bowdoin street, Boston. She subsequently purchased a house in Beacon street, at the corner of Spruce street, where Peter Parker Esq., now lives, and here she resided with her family, until her death, which took place on the 28th December, 1810. Two motives induced her to move into the city. One was that her son had entered into the practice of law there, and it would be much more pleasant, as well as more convenient, to live in Boston, where the small family could be kept together. The other was that the estate of fourteen acres opposite the house in Roxbury, and since called the Dudley land, together with another on the Tremont road of like quantity, which her father had ordered to be purchased and given to her husband and to herself, in joint-tenancy, and which of course,
became her own upon Gov. Sumner's death, was recovered of her in a lawsuit by the tenant in tail,
Joseph Dudley. His entry into the land opposite her mansion-house, the cutting down of the trees which her husband had assiduously cultivated, the opening of public streets through it, and the dividing it into house lots, so destroyed the beauty of the place, that it was a strong motive to induce her to quit the estate, and sell the mansion-house in which she had lived all her married life.
Source:
History of East Boston
with Biographical Sketches
by William H. Sumner A. M.
Published by William H. Piper & Co.
Boston - 1868
*********************************************
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