William Francis Sumner - Who Were The Children of Francis Sumner? When were they born?

Started by Private User on Wednesday, July 11, 2018
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Private User
7/11/2018 at 8:52 AM

Legal Age in Colonial America
Legal age in colonial America is a subject that tends to be incompletely understood by many genealogists. Under British common law, full majority was reached at the age of 21. Anyone under 21 was legally an infant. Only persons who had reached majority could perform certain legal actions.
Some legal actions did not require that a person be 21. For some legal actions, the law merely required that the person be judged capable of discretion. The age of 14 was generally accepted under common law as the age of discretion, and in rare individual cases (particularly females) it could be even lower.
The particular case of land transactions deserves special attention. Minors could be landowners, since they could acquire land by gift or inheritance. Land was never without title, so a father’s will giving land to a minor resulted in the minor’s immediate ownership regardless of age. Likewise, the land of an intestate person fell immediately to a specific heir, even if a minor, under the law of succession.
For a detailed discussion of legal age, see Blackstone, Sir William, Commentaries on The Laws of England, Book 1, Chapter 17. Note that specific actions by minors could be altered by colonial legislatures, based on local needs.

Death of Francis Sumner
Francis Sumner of Onslow died intestate about June 1756. The Onslow County Court minutes docket mentions his several orphans all under age 21, but not one of them is named. The reason is that the Court maintained a separate Orphans Record Book which kept good records of each orphan. Unfortunately, the Orphan Record Book is apparently lost.
Francis’s evident widow, Sophia, qualified as administrator of the estate and made guardian of the orphans.
On 27 September 2000, genealogist Julian Anderson posted information to the “Sumner_L mailing list” [?] from Onslow County Court Records: Onslow County Court Minutes 1755 - 1765 Vol 3, pages 13 & 14. "At a Court Began and Held in the North East of New River in and for the County of Onslow the First Tuesday in July 1756." (First Tuesday was 6 July 1756). Item 9. "Sophia Sumner relict to Francis Sumner dec'd moves for letters of administration of the estate of sd. Summer, granted she giving bond and security in the sum of 100 pds. proc. money. Ordered that she have letters of administration." Same Court - October 1757: Item 2. "Sophia Sumner admin. and widow to Francis Sumner dec'd. comes into court and gives security for the children's part of the sd. estate being 5 pds., 18 shillings proc to each of the seven orphans. Ordered the clerk see that the bonds are executed and filed."
Julian Anderson further commented on the identity of the orphans as follows: Joseph, Ezikeal, George (a TORY later on!!!!), Hezukiah, Samuel, Benjamin and Francis Jr.
However, there is no document(s) which verifies the name and date of birth for the orphans.
The assumed age of the orphans in July 1756 is under 21 years of age. Clearly, this would place their birth between 1735 and 1756.
Various family tree contributors show the children of Francis as:
1. Joseph, born about 1718. If DOB is accurate and Francis DOB is accurate then Francis was 16 years old when Joseph was born.
2. Richard, born about 1723.
3. Samuel, born about 1725.
4. George, born about 1726.
5. Ezekiel, born about 1740.
6. Benjamin, born about 1742.
7. Francis Jr., born about 1745.
8. Hezekiah, born about 1744.
These birth dates are not consistent with the number of minors cited in the above court minutes.

7/11/2018 at 10:26 AM

Good find. You should go ahead and adjust the children’s dates of birth. I copied your notes into the profile “about” also.

2/26/2023 at 12:48 AM

I am not seeing any documentation regarding Francis' supposed marital connection to Hannah Clark, as so many contemporary websites claim. I am only finding the same court record that is written in the notes and above by Wayne Sumner above that clearly states Francis' widow was named Sophia.

Does anyone have information that can point to Hannah Clark? If not, how do we go about getting this information updated on Geni. I am finding a large amount of erroneous connections that run through the Hannah Clark line. It would be good to get it either documented, or corrected.

Any suggestions?

2/26/2023 at 1:04 AM

Sophia Summer Had had her identity over written Hannah Sylvia Clark. She had started profile life as “Sophia unknown”. So, she’s back to that, and locked in.

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