Family/Spouse: Jane Marie BELL. Jane was born on 05 Jul 1825 in Dorchester, Ontario, Canada; died on 28 Oct 1890 in Metcalf, Ontario; was buried in Strathroy Cemetery, Strathroy, Middlesex, Ontario. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. Sarah SUMNER was born in 1850 in Westminister, Middlesex, Ontario; was buried in Strathroy Cemetery, Strathroy, Middlesex, Ontario.
2. Augustus SUMNER was born on 23 Mar 1852 in Westminister, Middlesex, Ontario; died on 17 Oct 1918 in Middlesex, Ontario; was buried in Strathroy Cemetery, Strathroy, Middlesex, Ontario.
3. John SUMNER was born in 1854 in Westminister, Middlesex, Ontario; died in 1855 in Westminister, Middlesex, Ontario.
4. Seth SUMNER was born in 1858 in Westminister, Middlesex, Ontario; died in 1899 in Ridgetown, Elgin West, Ontario; was buried in Greenwood cemetery, Ridgetown, Kent County, Ontario.
5. SamuelJr Lockhart SUMNER was born on 23 Jul 1861 in Westminister, Middlesex, Ontario; died after 1901 in Petrolia, Lambton County, Ontario; was buried in West Bothwell, Kent County, Ontario.
6. Nancy SUMNER was born on 24 Dec 1864 in Westminister, Middlesex, Ontario.
7. Lucy SUMNER was born in 1867 in Westminister, Middlesex, Ontario; died in 1947; was buried in Strathroy Cemetery, Strathroy, Middlesex, Ontario.

Notes:

NOTE 1./ Samuel came to Canada in l819. He was one of the original Patentees. He was a farmer and also took a great interest in military matters and held the position of Captain in the militia. He was a prominent Mason and a member of old Mt. Moriah Lodge, the first in the county. He held the office of constable in Westminister Township. He died in September of 1877

Samuel married UNKNOWN. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Samuel married Sarah TYLER on 23 Jan 1793 in Bristol, Addison, Vermont. Sarah (daughter of Col Benjamin TYLER and Mehetable ANDREWS) was born in 1768 in Claremont, New Hampshire; died in 1865. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

NOTE 1./ Historical Note: The Year Was 1789

The year was 1789 and in the U.S. a young government was beginning to take shape. In its first nationwide election, the popular Revolutionary War general, George Washington, became the country's first president and was sworn in at the first capitol of the United States, Federal Hall in New York City.

In France, a rebellion was underway and with the storming of the Bastille prison, the French Revolution began. In its reporting on the subject, The Times of London, England had the following to say of the conflict:

The spirit of liberty which so long lay in a state of death, oppressed by the hand of power, received its first spark of returning animation, by the incautious and impolitic assistance afforded to America. The French soldier on his return from that emancipated continent, told a glorious tale to his countrymen--"That the arms of France had given freedome to thirteen United States, and planted the standard of liberty on the battlements of New York and Philadelphia." The idea of such a noble deed became a general object of admiration, the [facets?] of a similar state were eagerly longed for by all ranks of people, and the vox populi had this force of argument--"If France gave freedom to America, why should she not unchain the arbitrary fetters which bind her own people.

Later that year, the Marquis de Lafayette, with the advice of Thomas Jefferson who was at the time the American ambassador to France, drafted the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen. It was adopted by France's National Assembly in August and ratified by Louis XVI in October.

There was unrest in other parts of the world as well. Sweden and Russia were at war, and briefly, Norway had joined the conflict, although a peace treaty was signed in July 1789.

In a smaller, but well-known conflict, the mutiny on the H.M.S. Bounty was also in the year 1789. On April 28, part of the crew of the Bounty, led by Fletcher Christian, mutinied and set Captain William Bligh and eighteen crewmembers adrift. Bligh managed to get the boat some 3,600 miles to Timor. Some of the mutineers were captured and prosecuted--three were hanged, while others, including Fletcher Christian ended up on Pitcairn Island, where some of their descendants live to this day.

In 1789, there was an epidemic of influenza in New England, New York, and Nova Scotia, which resulted in many deaths due to secondary cases of pneumonia. The new president was among those who fell ill. He caught a cold while visiting Boston, and later, was affected more seriously with influenza, which was dubbed Washington Influenza.

RS married Rebecca DOWNER on 07 Jun 1761 in Hebron, Tolland, Vermont. Rebecca was born on 04 Feb 1739 in Sunderland, Massachusetts; died about 1783 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Col married Mehetable ANDREWS. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]