Frank Chester Sumner
financier, public official
The name of Sumner is a well-known one in history of the United States. The Massachusetts and Connecticut branches of this famous old family have furnished long lines of patriots, diplomats and statesman. In Revolutionary times they fought to win the independence of our country, and in the Civil War gave their services to preserve the Union in which their fathers have fought to establish. In times of peace they have been leaders in the van of the nation's progress and in all fields of endeavor. Members of the family have been prominent and active in all the professions, in business and in finance. Frank Chester Sumner, Treasurer of the Hartford Trust Co., is a worthy scion of this family in the ninth generation. He was born Canton, Connecticut, June 8, 1850, son of John Wesley and Mary (Gleason) Sumner.
(I) The Connecticut family of Sumners traces back to Roger Sumner, a husbandman of Bicester, Oxfordshire, England. On the second day of December, 1601, he married Joane Franklin. Roger Sumner died December 3, 1608.

(II) Their son, William Sumner, was born at Bicester in 1605. On Nov. 22, 1625, he married Mary West. He settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, in 1636, but still continued to own land at Bicester until the year 1650. He was made a freeman of the Colony on May 17, 1637, and became a selectmen of Dorchester in the same year, acting in that capacity for 20 years. From 1663 to 1680 he was one of the feofees of the school land, and from 1663 to 1671 he was one of the commissioners to try and issue small causes. In 1663 he was chosen clerk of the train band. He was deputy to the General Court in the years, 1658., 1666, 1670, 1672, 1678, 1681, 1683, 1686. His wife died at Dorchester, June 7, 1676, and his death occurred on Dec. 9, 1688.
(III) Their son, William (2) Sumner, was born at Bicester, Oxfordshire, England, and came to America with his parents, in 1636. He settled in Dorchester where he married Elisabeth, daughter of Augustine Clement, of Dorchester. He was a mariner, and died in February, 1675. His widow died before 1687.
(IV) Their son, Clement Sumner, the ninth child in a family of 10, was born at Boston, Massachusetts, Sept. 6, 1671. On May 18, 1698, he married Margaret Harris.
(V) Their son, Dr. William (3) Sumner, the first child in a family of seven, was born March 18, 1699. On Oct. 11, 1721, he married Hannah, daughter of Thomas Hunt, of Lebanon, Connecticut. In 1732 they were dismissed from the Second Church, Boston, to the church at Hebron, Connecticut. He was a physician and practiced his profession in Hebron until 1767, when he removed to Claremont, New Hampshire. There he died, March 4, 1778. His widow died April 2, 1781
(VI) Their son, Ruben Sumner, the third of nine children, was born in Hebron, May 29, 1727. On March 6, 1754, he married Elisabeth Mack, of Hebron, she died there, Aug. 10, 1805. He died April 2, 1807.
(VII) Their son, Rev. Henry Peterson Sumner, grandfather of the subject, was born June 10, 1773, the ninth child in a family of 11 children. On Oct. 11, 1796, he married Jerusha, daughter of Solomon Perin, of Hebron. They had one daughter Jerusha, born Jan. 22, 1798, who married David Porter. Mrs. Sumner died February 4, 1798, and on Sept. 11, 1798, Mr. Sumner married Mary S., daughter of Timothy Goslee, of Glastonbury. Rev. Sumner was a clergyman of the Methodist Episcopal church, and was an itinerant preacher of the old school. He traveled his circuit on horseback, fulfilling with no regard to his personal desires the multifarious demands of his calling, in a time when roads were little more than poorly beaten pass, and the distance from sentiment to settlement of very great length. He held religious services very often in the houses of church members. He was a prominent member of the conference. Rev. Sumner died Jan. 18, 1838, and his widow passed away at Bolton, August 9, 1875.
(VIII) Their son, John Wesley Sumner, father of the subject of this sketch, was the eighth of 11 children of the second marriage. He was born Sept. 16, 1812. He resided at Bolton, and represented that town in the General Assembly 1877 and 1878. On Nov. 23, 1836, he married Mary, daughter of George Gleason, of Glastonbury. Their children: I. Henry Peterson, born January 21, 1838, died August 29, 1873. 2. Mary Elisabeth, died in infancy. 3. George Gleason, born Jan. 14, 1842; he became a well-known lawyer and and able orator; he was a recognized leader and the Democratic Party in Connecticut; he held various local offices in Hartford where he was mayor; he served in both branches of the Legislature and was elected lieutenant governor in 1883; his death occurred Sept. 8, 1906. 4. Mary Ella, born April 24, 1848, the wife of Jabez L. White, of Bolton, died Oct. 6, 1876. 5. Frank Chester, mentioned below.
(IX) Frank Chester Sumner received his early education in the public schools of Bolton and Hartford, and began his business career as messenger for the Hartford Trust Company on Feb. 1, 1871. Mr. Sumner found banking and finance congenial to his tastes and he bent every effort to the mastering of its intricate details and phases, ambitious to achieve a position of prominence in that field. He learned every duty which devolved upon himself and upon others, handling such work as came within the range of his responsibilities with intelligence and care. He was gradually advanced to posts of increasing importance, until in 1886 he was made treasurer of the Company and a member of the Board of Trustees, and honor and success which was achieved by no other means than his own unswerving persistency and devotion to duty, high ambition and indomitable will. The 14th anniversary of his entering the employee of the Hartford Trust Company was made the occasion of a celebration, during which he was presented with a loving cup by the officials and employees with whom he is associated, and in whose estimations his place is deservedly high. Mr. Sumner is also a trustee of the Mechanics' Savings Bank, and a director of the Gray Pay Telephone Stations Company.
On June 17, 1896, Mr. Sumner married Mary L. Catlin, daughter of George S. Catlin, of Hartford.
Like his father and brother, Mr. Sumner has always taken a keen active interest in public affairs, and is a member of the Democratic Party. He served as a member of the Board of Health from 1888 to 1900. In the spring of 1905 he became a member of the City Water Board. He has also served in the Common Council. For many years Mr. Sumner devoted much time to educational matters as a member of the Brown school district committee. He has been a jury commissioner in Hartford since the time that the office was established. In 1905 he served as a member of the Connecticut -- Massachusetts boundary commission, and since June, 1899, he has been a commissioner of the Connecticut river, bridge and highway commission, under whose direction the magnificent bridge that crosses the river at Hartford was constructed. He has for years been deeply interested in prison reform and has been a director of the State Prison since 1893. For more than 30 years he is worked to improve conditions on the "East Side" of Hartford, bringing to bear upon his work every resource, mental and material, which he could command. All his activities have been totally free from taint of self seeking, and have sprung from purely altruisic motives. Despite the cynicism and unbelief which is universally rampant in regard to it, altruism rarely fails to gain recognition and the honor and respect which it deserves. Mr. Sumner's sacrifice of personal interests, comfort and convenience to his high ethical ideals, and his unswerving loyalty to his purpose have won for him the esteem of a very wide circle of steadfast friends, in every walk of life. Mr. Sumner is a member of the Hartford Club, the Hartford Golf Club, the Farmington Country Club, and the City Club of Hartford. He is a director in the following institutions: Connecticut State Prison; the Connecticut Humane Society; Peck, Stow and Wilcox Company;Gray Pay Telephone Stations Company; the Plimpton Manufacturing Company, the Farmington River Power Company, the Hartford City Gas Light Company, the Hartford Free Dispensery, the Hartford Chamber of Commerce, the Hartford Hospital, and the Hartford Cedar Hill Cemetery.