Overcoming Adversity
John Sumner of London and Virginia during the time of Kings James I and Charles I by
Wayne Sumner, September 21, 2018
Formatting incompatibility prevented inclusion of the following in this document.
1. Illustration of Bridewell prison, hospital, collection center.
2. Copy of page from Bridewell records showing John Sumner among seven boys taken for transport to Virginia.
3. Map showing approximate location of John Sumner's land vicinity Suffolk, VA.
4. Illustration/map of London showing relative location of Langborne Ward and Bridewell.
Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome. — Booker T. Washington
For my children Justin Roberts Sumner and Ashleigh Lei Quinn and for my grandchildren Claire Addison Sumner, Hayden Yale Sumner, Reid Evans Sumner, Amelia Jane Sumner and Liam Titus Quinn.
We are the Story Tellers by Anne Stevens, Copyright December 3, 2003
We are the story tellers, the bards, the druids of the tribes.
We hear the calling of those who went before us as their path leads to ours.
We yearn to discover their stories, to know each and every one of them.
We search for their graves, their histories, and an understanding of their lives beyond cold statistics.
We connect to a past rich in history and hardships, loves and losses, glories and gains.
We understand ourselves as we understand them, the same genes, the same features, the same family.
We honour them and bestow our respect to their memory, for their bones are our bones, their flesh is our flesh.
We record carefully all that we have unearthed, learned, discovered, understood and surmised.
Then, we pass the torch of knowledge and heritage to our children, our grandchildren and their grandchildren.
We are the story tellers, the bards, the druids of the tribes.
Gratefully used with permission from Anne Stevens
John Sumner was born 400 years ago, about 1618, probably in the City of London, England. For reasons later explained, his early life into adulthood was especially challenging. This is the story of my 8th great grandfather.
The passage of 400 hundred years disappointingly shrouds the life of John Sumner. Nevertheless, supposition is that he was born in London about 1618 of undetermined parents. By age 12, it appears that he was an abandoned or orphaned child on the streets of Langbourne Ward, London, England. Around 1630, he was apprehended and confined in Bridewell Prison; a victim of exploitive and heinous officials desperate to provide labor for the Colony of Virginia. He arrived in the Colony of Virginia about 1631 at age 13 as a bound apprentice or involuntary indentured servant. By 1656, at age 38, he was a land owner in Nansemond County (now the present-day city of Suffolk, Virginia). He married, apparently at least two times, and fathered several children. He died in 1670, at age 52, in Nansemond County, Colony of Virginia.
Genealogical researchers surmise that John Sumner of London is the forefather of brothers Joseph Chestnut Sumner and Richard Sumner who arrived in Georgia from Onslow County, North Carolina about 1782 near the end of the Revolutionary War. The brothers married and eventually were the first Sumners and among the first settlers to put down roots in Emanuel County, Georgia, about 1811/12. Joseph Chestnut Sumner is, unquestionably my 3rd great grandfather and, if the line of ancestors is accurate, John Sumner of London is my 8th great grandfather.
Many experienced genealogical researchers have contributed constructive information, speculation and hypotheses about John Sumner, his descendants and their families. I am grateful for their efforts and insights. They include: Dr. Charles R. Holloman, Julian Anderson, Betty Sumner Helms, Karen D. Leggett, Charles D. Sumner, Phyllis Gault, Dr. Morris Sumner, Karyn Burke, Donna Sumner, Rosalyn Sumner and The Sumner Family Association (1998). Clearly there is much more that is unknown about John Sumner of London than is known. Furthermore, research and opinions do not always agree. Still, I consider the available information to be consistent enough to provide a fleeting glimpse of John Sumner of London (1618-1670).
A specific record of John Sumner’s birth probably does not exist. Certainly no one has found any record. According to Charles Holloman, John Sumner was born about 1618 in London. I estimate that his opinion is accurate to within one or two years. His birth occurred during the reign of King James I of the House of Stuart (1603-1625) successor to Queen Elizabeth I.
A thesis published by Phyllis Gault in 2016 provides perspicacious and instructive information about John Sumner. I copied heavily from her text in this paper. The title of Ms. Gault’s Thesis is “William Somner of Canterbury is Neither the Father, nor the Brother of John Sumner”, by Phyllis Davis Gault. Ms. Gault’s Thesis discounts the assertion by some that William Somner of Canterbury, who is the Author of Domesday Antiquities; was the father of John Sumner. It also demonstrates that William Somner of Canterbury cannot be the brother of John Sumner.
Ms. Gault’s argument is compelling. Given that there is no other reasonable evidence to support the parentage of John Sumner and considering the circumstances of his youth prior to arriving at Bridewell in London, I am convinced that his ancestry will never be known. The well-researched Gault Thesis allows the possibility that the father of John Sumner was named William Sumner but persuasively disproves any assertion that there is any link to William Somner of Canterbury.
Putting John Sumner’s early life into perspective requires a brief look into England’s history in the times of the Stuart Kings James I and his successor Charles I.
England struggled with intense political, social and economic problems during the reign of James I and Charles I. These problems produced many negative factors including civil war, poverty, vagrancy and the execution, in 1649, of the Monarch, Charles I. Additionally, religious intolerance, division, and conflict aggravated social tension. Furthermore, there was a widening gap between the poor and the wealthy. In the City of London, conditions were generally overcrowded and unsanitary. For many, life was very harsh, unpleasant and short in terms of years alive. Importantly, James I’s reign also saw the founding of the first permanent English colony in the Americas.
In 1607 the Virginia Company of London established Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. Initially, the colonists of Jamestown struggled to survive. Many factors contributed to Jamestown’s problems. The Virginia Company’s colonial economic structure apparently had a negative impact on productivity. Additionally, mortality was very high at Jamestown itself due to disease and starvation, with over 80 percent of the colonists perishing in 1609. War with Native Americans persisted. Nevertheless, after 1610, conditions in the Virginia colony began to improve.
One of the factors that contributed to improving conditions was the introduction of tobacco. Tobacco created an export economy that required land and labor. Virginians sent the first shipload to England in 1617. The tobacco brought high prices. In fact, tobacco was so valuable that it was sometimes used as money. However, tobacco was labor intensive to produce. Farmers required a constant supply of young laborers to cultivate their crops and provide useful skills on the plantation. As tobacco plantations grew, the economy of Jamestown began to expand.
By 1618 circumstances in the Virginia Colony were improving markedly. However, improving conditions and the viability of marketable tobacco resulted in severe labor shortages. One of several measures proposed by the Virginia Company and approved by governmental officials to address the labor shortage was the forced emigration of abandoned, illegitimate, poverty-stricken and delinquent children.
Child migration has a long and checkered history surrounded with controversy and marred by scandal. It was, actually, never a single policy pursued continuously: rather it was a complex tangle of competing private schemes, government initiatives, charismatic personalities, muddled priorities and confused agendas. It was critically affected by the economic, political and social pressures of particular times.
In 1618, The Virginia Company successfully urged the mayor of London to send these disadvantaged children to the Colony. Children under age 14 constituted at least one-third of the total population. Many of these children were poor and orphaned. The first 100 children – ‘vagrants’ – were sent from the London area to Virginia in 1618. Later in that year, the Virginia Company requested a second consignment of ‘vagrant’ children. However, many of the children did not wish to go and under challenge it became clear that the first group had been dispatched illegally. Government officials subsequently legalized forced emigration in 1620 and directed constables to arrest vagrant children and place them in Bridewell, a collection center, until ships were ready for their departure. This practice continued until 1645 when Parliament passed a strongly worded law against forced emigration of children.
Source:
Acts of the Privy Council of James I, Vol. 2, London, 1925, p. 23; Acts of the Privy Council of James I, Vol. 5, London, 1930, p. 53.
P W Coldham, 'The spiriting of London children to Virginia, 1648–1685', Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 83, No. 3, July 1975, p. 280 and pp. 118–9.
B M Coldrey, ‘A Thriving and Ugly Trade: The First Phase of Child Migration, 1617–1757’, Tamanaraik Press, Melbourne, 1995.
B M Coldrey, Good British Stock: Child and Youth Migration to Australia, Published by the National Archives of Australia, 1999.
C H Firth and R S Rait (eds), Acts and Ordinances of the Interregnum, Vol. 1, London, 1911, p. 98.
Bridewell began its existence as a palace in London around 1515 for King Henry VIII. It was one of his residences early in his reign for eight years. In 1553, Edward VI gave the palace over to the City of London for the housing of homeless children and for the punishment of "disorderly women". The City took full possession in 1556 and turned the site into a prison, hospital, orphanage and workrooms. In the 1600s, it appears that Bridewell was also a collection center for children awaiting embarkation to Virginia.
Source: Wikipedia
B M Coldrey, "...A Place to which Idle Vagrants May Be Sent." The First Phase of Child Migration During the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries, Children & Society, v13 n1 p32-47 Feb 1999
It is Bridewell prison, hospital, and collection center that we now find John Sumner, probably around 1630 or 1631.
An excerpt from English Historical Linguistics, Volume 1, Edited by Alexander Berg, page 693, states that Constable Cleworth [Clewoerty] transported boys from Langborne Ward, London, England to Bridewell to be held until they could be transported. (Bridewell Court Minute book fo. 238, 26 August 1631, London Guildhall Library, MS Minutes of the Court of Governors of Bridewell and Bethlem: Microfilm Reels MS33011/7, 1 March 1626-7 May 1634).
Ms. Gault offers that the work Early Child Immigrants to Virginia, by Robert Hume, states that the vagrant boys were transported per Police Chief Clewoety from Ward Langborne, London, England, and number 393 is John Sumner.
Information extracted from microfilms of Bridewell Royal Hospital records kept at Bridewell/Royal Bethlem Hospital Joint Archives in Beckenham, Kent, demonstrate that a child, by the name of John Sumner was brought to Bridewell Hospital to remain until he could be transported to the intended destination, Virginia.
On September 2, 1631, the following boys were taken by a merchant for transportation to Virginia presumably to become indentured servants: Edward Smith, John Sumner, Peter Epes, Edward Burnell, Nicholas Moore, Roger Hearne, Nathaniel Cares. (Bridewell).
Source: Gault Thesis which cites Robert Hume. ‘Early Child Immigrants to Virginia, 1618-1642’, Contains a list of children residing in London between 1618 and 1642 who were sent to Virginia by the Virginia Company as apprentices to be given land and freedom on reaching maturity. The collection center before embarkation was the Bridewell Royal Hospital located in London at that time; now located at Witley in Surrey, England. Copied from the Records of Bridewell Royal Hospital. Baltimore: Magna Carta Book Co., 1986. 52p. Page: 36.
P W Coldham. ‘The Complete Book of Emigrants: A Comprehensive Listing Compiled from English Public
Records of Those Who Took Ship to the Americas for Political, Religious, and Economic Reasons; of Those Who Were Deported for Vagrancy, Roguery, or Non-Conformity; and of Those Who Were Sold to Labor in the New Colonies. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co. 1607-1660. 1987. 600p. Place: Virginia; Year: 1631; Page Number: 96
Martha W. McCartney. Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635: A Biographical Dictionary Genealogical Publishing Com, 2007 - History - 833 pages. Page 678.
It is possible then that John Sumner arrived in Virginia in late 1631 or early 1632 assuming that the voyage took six to ten weeks. Several ships departed England for Virginia in November and December of 1631. They include Exchange, Gift, Seraphim, Delight,
Eagle, and Pleasure. Additionally, Friendship, departed at an unknow date arriving in Virginia in 1631. However, I cannot find John Sumner’s name on any of the available ship manifests.
Indentured servants were mostly young men between the ages of 15 and 25 years, who voluntarily signed contracts in England to work in the colonies without wages. Up to 75 percent of all the individuals who came off the transatlantic ships in the 17th century were indentured servants. During Jamestown's first 20 years, the majority of the women who arrived, and they were few, were indentured servants. Once a servant arrived, a colonist would reimburse the contracting company for the individual's voyage expenses and would then put the man or woman to work without pay for a fixed number of years. The servant's master provided food and lodging, as stipulated in the indented contract. After they had completed their service, the servants were provided land, tools, clothing, or money by the former master. For many, signing on as an indentured servant was the only way to emigrate and improve their position in life. Others, such as vagrant children or criminals did not choose for themselves life in the colony.
Source: Article from Smithsonian Natural Museum of History
(https://anthropology.si.edu/writteninbone/comic/activity/pdf/Condit...)
John Sumner at age about 13 arrived in Virginia as an involuntary indentured servant. The merchant that took him from Bridewell probably “sold” him to a colonist who became his master. There are no records or evidence to corroborate the name of his colonial master or his life as an indentured servant. It is possible, but unlikely, in my opinion that that he could have been freed from his service after four years at age 17, about 1636. More likely, but no proof, he was freed when he reached the age of 21 in 1639.
Researches hypothesize that his first child, also named John Sumner, was born in 1640. If this child’s date of birth is accurate, it would support the theory that John Sumner was free of his indentured service about 1639.
There is a gap of 25 years between John Sumner’s removal from Bridewell and the next provable event in his life in 1656. On January 6, 1642 the Colonial Government granted William Brooks 300 acres on the “Southward Branch of the Nansemond River on the Westward side…opposite to the land of Mr. Thomas Drew.” By 1656 the land was in the possession of John Ridding. John Sumner purchased 78 acres of the land in April 1656.
The facts of John Sumner’s marriages are an enigma. Particularly perplexing is the identity of his wives and timing of marriages. According to genealogists Holloman and Helms he married two times. First to Elizabeth, about 1639, and second to an unidentified woman, about 1640. Anderson offers that John Sumner married Elizabeth Thompson in 1639. Anderson theorizes that Elizabeth Thompson died in 1640. However, there is no evidence of any kind found or presented to authenticate these relationships.
From research of genealogist Julian Anderson in possession of notes of genealogist Charles Holloman:
“John's only child by Elizabeth Thompson (his first wife) was John's eldest son, John Sumner, born 1640 and died without issue in 1695.”
“John married the 2nd time in 1640. (Holloman). The name of the 2nd wife is not known. Holloman had a name but left it out with plans to "enter when verified". By this 2nd wife, John Sumner had four other sons:
(1) Joseph Sumner born about 1641 (settled in Stafford County, Virginia.... had issue and descendants).
(2) Richard Sumner, born about 1643 (settled in Nansemond Co. where he is on the 1704 quitrent rolls. Late in life he moved to Bertie County, NC where his will was probated and is preserved. ... had issue and descendants).
(3) Francis Sumner, born about 1644, died July 4, 1676 in Surry Co., Va. According to genealogist Julian Anderson his death was reported July 4, 1676, in Surry County Court Minutes. Died intestate and well-to-do; not rich. He resided in Lower Chipoats Parish and was survived by wife Ann Manfield and children; son Francis and son John. His widow next married William Edwards and they eventually moved to Middlesex Co., VA where his son John Sumner grew up, married and had children.
[Note by Wayne Sumner: Francis Sumner is also a forefather of the Sumners of Emanuel County, Georgia. However, it appears to me that the connection between John Sumner and this Francis Sumner is tenuous at best.]
(4) William Sumner, born about 1645, youngest son of his father. Appears to be the last surviving son of his immigrant father. A militia captain and Justice in Nansemond Co. (1704 quitrent rolls). His will is extant in NC records. Had issue and descendants.”
John Sumner died in 1670. Genealogist Julian Anderson reported the following:
“According to Holloman, his will was made March 7, 1670, and probated in Nansemond Co., Virginia in 1670, so he obviously died sometime after March 7 and the end of the year in 1670 since it was probated that same year. The Nansemond Courthouse burning in March [April?] 1734 seems to have burned the only whole copy of the will; but portions of it were previously extracted to file in a legal proceeding [in April 1695] elsewhere and have been preserved."
Actually, Nansemond Court records were destroyed in three separate fires: the earliest consumed the house of the court clerk in April 1734 (where the records were kept at that time), the second was set by British troops in 1779, and the last occurred on February 7, 1866.
The Library of Virginia online catalog contains on microfilm an image of a land grant dated
April 21, 1695. This grant of 110 acres to William Sumner, John’s youngest son, contains information extracted from the will of John Sumner dated March 7, 1670.
“…and the said John Sumner did by his last will and testament give and bequeath the said seventy eight acres of land to his eldest son John Sumner and to his heirs male, but in case of his said sons lack? or want of such heirs then he did give the said seventy eight of land to his youngest son the aforesaid William Sumner to his heirs as by the will dated the seventh of March 1670 may appear, and the aforesaid John Sumner being dead without any children the aforesaid William Sumner is now in possession of the aforesaid land by virtue of the aforesaid will…”
10
Source: Library of Virginia Online Catalog http://image.lva.virginia.gov/cgi-bin/drawer?retrieve_image=LONN&am...=
In conclusion, I am reminded of a quote*, “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” John Sumner of London and Virginia, born about 1618, died in 1670, clearly had to overcome powerful adverse forces. Many unfortunate children did not survive the adverse conditions on the streets of London, the voyage to Colonial Virginia or the hardship of an indentured servant’s life. The fact that he survived and prospered suggests a strong character, resilience and an unwillingness to give in to misfortune. He persevered, gained social standing and built a successful life. John Sumner is an ancestor to be greatly admired and respected. Perhaps the future will yield additional information about John Sumner. But I am not optimistic.
*Quote and variations attributed to many sources, earliest known is Mrs. Cora L. V. Hatch, 1859.
