SOMERS FAMILY'S GENEALOGY
FIRST GENERATION
Prepared by: Etta HAYWOOD-FAULKNER
February 2003
George Alistair SOMERS
1. William #1 Edgar[1] SOMERS 1st.
Born, 1817, in New Brunswick.
Died, 1887, in New Brunswick.
Baptism: 14 Jul 1817.
Occupation: farmer teacher.
Individual flags: *ANC, bowel.
(For other SOMERS notes, see SOMERS1.doc below)
Father and mother of William Edgar Somers are unknown.
It is said that he was an only child, perhaps an orphan.
Ref: Baptisms, Anglican Church, Woodstock 1791-1838:
"Page 68 SUMMERS (spelled thus) William Edgar,
baptized 14 July 1817;
Parents
(?), North Hampton (?) (#1011)"
Marriage record:
SUMMERS William E. - Kent to
CURRIE Hannah -Kent 6 May 1851 by G. Estabrooks witnesses:
Nelson TURNEY,Thomas T. ESTABROOKS recorded 18 July 1851 by Wetmore
V1 p350
(1) Census 1851 Psh Kent, Carleton Country. page 4 of original
census (south of Victoria County, on east side of St. John River)
SUMMERS William age 34 b 1816 in New Brunswick teacher, lame
Hannah. age 26 born 1825 (not correct) in born New Brunswick
(2) Census 1861 Psh Wakefield, Carleton Country New Brunswick film
M-809 reel C-1000; #558 shows William E. Summers improved; cash value
property $500., cash value machinery $16; had 2 horses, 4 milch cows,
8 other cows, 5 swine. Slaughtered 200 lbs pork.
Also in household 1861 was LORAM Julia - servant.
SUMMERS William E. m head 44
1816 New Brunswick native farmer/school teacher
SUMMERS Hannah Slipp f wife 30 1832
SUMMERS David Edgar m son. 09 1853
SUMMERS Elizabeth "Jennie" f dau 05 1856
SUMMERS Henrietta f dau 03 1859
SUMMERS James H. m son 08 mo 1861 twin
SUMMERS Massie/Mary f dau 08 mo 1861 twin
1861 census shows SUMMERS (Somers)
William male 34 yrs (1816) teacher,
lame born New Brunswick had 60 acres improved and 140 acres not
improved;
cash value property $500., cash value machinery $16., had 2 horses,
4 milch cows, 8 other cows, 5 swine; slaughtered 200 lbs pork.
Also in same household were:
LORAM Julia f 31
born New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish servant
LORAM Alberta f 4/12 Dec born New Brunswick F.Baptist
BORCKWICK Christopher m 23
born New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish servant
(3) Census 1871 Psh Wakefield, Carleton County New Brunswick
reel M-792 #181 184
SUMMER William E m 55 1816 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish;
school teacher
SUMMER Hannah f 39 1832 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER David E. m 18 1853 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER Elizabeth Jennie f 15 1856 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER Henrietta f 12 1859 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER James H. (twin) m 10 1861 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER Massie/Mary (twin) f 10 1861 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER Stephen Currie * m 07 1864 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER William#2 J. m 06 1865 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER George Allister m 03 1867 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
*died young of diphtheria; also a twin brother died young diphtheria.
Hannah age 26 born 1825 but this is correct. Does not say where born
but 1832 is correct.
(4) 1881 Census, Psh Wicklow, Carleton County, New Brunswick
microfilm C-13182 # 61,63:
SOMERS William E. m 66 1815 born New Brunswick F.C.Bapt. merchant
SOMERS Hannah S. f 49 1832 born New Brunswick F.C.Bapt. married
SOMERS Stephen C. m 16 1865 born New Brunswick F.C.Bapt. shoemaker
SOMERS George A. m 13 1867 born New Brunswick F.C.Bapt.
We first find William Edgar SOMERS in Parish of Kent, teacher, 1851,
married. Ten years later he has moved to Parish of Wakefield, a teacher and
farmer with 5 children 1861. In 1871 he is still in Parish of Wakefield, a
school teacher, F.Baptist, Irish and now has 8 children and apparently the
twin boy of William's has died. In household are two servants and an infant
of Julia Loram's. In 1881 family moved to Psh. Wicklow, and now shows not
Irish but English background and is a merchant, with only Stephen and
George in this household (William Jr. must have died). In the next
generation it appears that George married and started his family in Wicklow
but moved c1901 to Victoria Corner, where his father had had a farm located
what in the 1970's would be farms belonging to George Farnham and Tibbitts.
McAlpine's Maritime Provinces Directory for 1870-71, pub. by David
McAlpine, Halifax: "William SOMERS, farmer at Victoria Corner.
"Grant Connexion" page 50:"In the Anglican Register a baptism is
recorded for another of these Grants, namely William Edgar SUMMERS
GRANT,
born February 15, 1815,
baptized 14 July 1817, as "the natural son of Mrs. Grant,
Northampton." There is no further record of this William Grant."
Could this be Etta's "William Edgar Somers" born 1815/1816
(was he an orphan?) "Apparently
Abigail was the only Mrs. Grant of Northampton in 1815, other than
Mrs. William Grant, whose daughter, Julianne, was born in August that same
year. The conclusion is therefore drawn that Abigail was probably the
"natural mother" of these other Grants, except David Lawrence Grant, who,
it appears, was a mulatto son of Capt. Grant."
GRANT Peter b1772, d 1852, m 1794 Abigail LOCKWOOD and they had son
John, daus Sarah and Sophia.
Date? Victoria Corner: HAYWOOD Mark, mason; HELMS none; SUMMERS
William E (spelled thus) school teacher
..........OTHER SOMERS..........
note that in 1825 Michael #1 SUMMERS was given a military grant in
Victoria County. (WE LIVED page 133 by Cleadie Barnett "private
Michael SUMMERS of 98th Regiment drew lot #73 in 1818 of the Military
Settlement in the Parish of Kent, on the River Saint John. July 1822)
(Note that this shows Parish of Kent, and not Andover County as 1851
census Car. Co. indicates) It shows no women or children arriving when
he arrived. See above - military settlers took up lands and in 1821
Parish of Kent was created; thus shows 1822 as Psh. Kent.
Marriage 17 Jun 1847 by J. McGivern:
COREY Hannah - Wicklow to
KILCOLLINS Abraham - Wicklow
Witnesses: William E. SUMMERS and Thomas COREY
(recorded 17 Aug. 1848 by A. Wetmore V1 p290
Marriage 27 May 1841 by Geo JOHNSON:
BRITTON William - Woodstock to
SHAW Jane
Witnesses: Henry SIPRECE(?) and William E. SUMMERS - recorded 30
Dec 1841 by A K S WETMORE V1 p150
SUMMERFIELD is a native farming settlement, founded by expansion from
the St. John about 1807 (Ganong).
Ref. "Planters and Pioneers" by Dr. E. C. Wright page 284:
SOMER Isaac...Yarmouth, b1707,
died before 1773 married 1st ?;
married 2nd Lydia THORNDYKE, m (2) Benjamin REDDING. Ch: Eunice
SOMERS Matthias #1 (SUMMERS) to Moncton 1766 from Pennsylvania;
died before 1783;
married (1) Beza Delano;
married (2) Christina HULL
when Matthias died his widow married Jacob RICKER before 1783..
Children:
(1) Rachel,
(2) Andrew #1 - m ? Children: (1) Mathias #2 born during
Children: 1813 on thru
a.Andrew #2 1831
b Henry
c Malcolm
d Charles
e Jacob
(2) Martin
Children:
a.Lafayette
b.Ornan
c.Shepard
d.Theodore
e.Marvin James
(3) and 8 daughters
(3) Sarah,
(4) Deborah, and 3 more daus (ref: Leela Marriott's information
shows that Deborah was Andrew's daughter. She was married Charles
Jones 19 Nov. 1815. If Matthias also had a daughter named Deborah, do
you have her birthdate and husband. I have that Benjamin Allen was born
in Norwich, New London, Conn. 9 Aug. 1734. The IGI shows that he was
born in Windham, pomfret, Mass.")
(5) Anna Cathrina b 10 Oct 1750 in Philadelphia married 21 March 1768
Eliphalet CHAPPEL
(6) Eva Magdalena b 6 Feb 1753 in Philadelphia
(7) Christina Ann b 1755; d 5 Nov 1837 in Point de Bute,
Westmorland, New Brunswick
(8) Sophia d Dec 1843; m Josiah STILES
There were other Somers in the Philadelphia area - there was Hans
George, Daniel and Johannes all of whom were having babies baptized at
St. Michaelis-Zion Church about the same time. It is very possible
that some of these men went to New Brunswick, too. There are also
other Somers in the New Brunswick censuses - a Samuel born in 1836,
who is he? (Betty Hopkins of Bear River, Nova Scotia is doing SOMERS,
too.)
SOMERS Henry - Point du Chene, New Brunswick (E.C.W.) dau Emma SOMERS
married Robert BRYDES or BRYDGES and their son Charles b 1880.
________
Box 1163
Woodstock New Brunswick EOJ 2BO 4 Nov 1989
Mary G. Neumaier (Mrs. Roman E.)
1633 Wiltshire Blve
Biloxi, Mississippi 39531 USA
Dear Friend of Genealogy (I stole your phrase):
Replying to your letter of 20 May 1989,
1) your mother was SOMERS ______ d/o Clifford Martin, son of
Lafayette, who emigrated to South Dakota Territory in 1876. Lafayette
descends from Martin who was son of Andrew, son of Mathias who came to
New Brunswick from Pennsylvania in 1766.
I do know that Mathias Somers probably settled in Albert County, south
eastern part of New Brunswick. There are Somers mentioned in Dr. Esther
Clark Wright's STEEVES FAMILY. The headquarters for the Steeves Genealogy
is in Hillsborough, New Brunswick EOA 1XO. My son, Richard Faulkner, lives
in Hillsborough. We haven't been able to get back to these people in my
research. My earliest Somers is William Edgar Somers b 1816 in New
Brunswick. I do not know if he had any brothers or sisters nor do I know
who his parents are.
I enclose Family Group Sheet and my direct lineage to him.
TRAVIS - I enclose Family Group Sheet of David and Eunice TRAVIS -
the only ones I have.
I would be most interested to receive any information you have on
SOMERS and TRAVIS families and perhaps will be able to piece together some
missing links.
I enclose my family group sheet as well.
Sincerely,
Etta Haywood-Faulkner
___
In Jones Book in Provincial Archives, Fredericton - SOMERS
1 SOMERS Matthias
m
?_____? Mariah
came to New Brunswick from Penn. in 1765 as widow M. Jacob Ricker
11 SOMERS Rachel b 31 Jan 1764
m c1780
STEEVES Frederick
12 SOMERS Sarah
m 1 Jan 1771
ALLEN Benjamin born 1735 at Cumberland
Child: ALLEN George born 1782 in Baie Verte, New Brunswick
married 1806 in Westmorland, New Brunswick
THOMPSON, Letitia
13 SOMERS Catherine
m 21 Mar 1768
CHAPPELL Eliphalet Bay Verte Westmorland Parish
14 SOMERS Christina b 1755 d 1837
m (1) FALES Nathaniel
m (2) 27 Mar 1780 DOBSON George b 1752 d 1809
15 SOMERS Sophie
m
STILES Josiah
Is doing Somers: Cindy Bartlett (from Southampton, York County.,
New Brunswick), c/o
Clarence D. Swan, Harvey Station New Brunswick Canada EOH 1HO
"The Loyalists of New Jersey" by E. Alfred Jones code 0-51 Pg 213:
Philip Summers, a baker, of Bound Brook, New Jersey, who served in the
New Jersey Volunteers under Colonel Isaac Allen for seven years. He
was at Maugerville, Province of New Brunswick in 1787. (A.O. 12:16, ff,
287-9;
A.O. 12:63, f.92). 40 pounds was allowed him from his claim of 100
pounds (A.O. 12:109)
_____________
P O Box 1163
Woodstock New Brunswick EOJ 2BO
19 Feb. 1991
Mrs. Leila J. Marriott
15 Carter Cres
Regina, Sask. S4X 2C8
Replying to your letter of 1 Nov. 1989 - I cannot connect your SOMERS
with mine but you will note that I do have some information on your
Sarah Somers.
Etta Faulkner
Letter from Leela Marriott 26 Feb 1991:
Thank you for all the information. I was able to use some of it.
Perhaps I can be of some help to you.
According to the IGI, Matthia Somers wife was Christine Hull
Ref: Vital Stats #51 of D.F.Johnson #1727 SOMERS - Moncton -
marriage 26 Jan 1880 (would not be ours)
Father and mother of William Edgar Somers are unknown. It is said that
he was an only child, perhaps an orphan.
_
Ref: Baptisms, Anglican Church, Woodstock 1791-1838:
"P. 68 SUMMERS (spelled thus) William Edgar,
baptized 14 July 1817;
Parents (?), North Hampton (?) (#1011)"
_
Marriage record:
SUMMERS William E. - Kent to
CURRIE Hannah -Kent 6 May 1851 by G. Estabrooks witnesses:
Nelson TURNEY,
Thomas T. ESTABROOKS recorded 18 July 1851 by Wetmore V1 p350
(1) Census 1851 Psh Kent, Carleton County. pg 4 of original census
(south of Victoria County, on east side of St. John River)
SUMMERS William age 34 b 1816 in New Brunswick teacher, lame
________Hannah. age 26 b 1825 (not correct) in born New Brunswick
_
(2) Census 1861 Psh Wakefield, Carleton County. New Brunswick film M-809
reel C-1000;
#558 shows William E.
.u
Summers
.r had 60 acres improved and 140 acres not
improved; cash value property $500., cash value machinery $16; had 2
horses, 4 milch cows, 8 other cows, 5 swine. Slaughtered 200 lbs pork.
Also in household 1861 was LORAM Julia -servant.
SUMMERS William E. _____________m head 44____1816
New Brunswick native farmer/school teacher
SUMMERS Hannah Slipp____________f wife 30____1832
SUMMERS David Edgar_____________m son 09____1853
SUMMERS Elizabeth "Jennie"______f dau 05____1856
SUMMERS Henrietta_______________f dau 03____1859
SUMMERS James H.________________m son 08 mo 1861 twin
SUMMERS Massie/Mary____________ f dau 08 mo 1861 twin
_
1861 census shows SUMMERS (Somers) William male 34 yrs (1816)
teacher, lame born New Brunswick had 60 acres improved and 140 acres not
improved;
cash value property $500., cash value machinery $16., had 2 horses,
4 milch cows, 8 other cows, 5 swine; slaughtered 200 lbs pork.
Also in same household were:
LORAM Julia _________ f 31 ___ born New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish servant
LORAM Alberta _______ f 4/12 Dec born New Brunswick F.Baptist
BORCKWICK Christopher_ m 23 __ born New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish servant
(3) Census 1871 Psh Wakefield, Carleton County New Brunswick
reel M-792 #181 184
SUMMER William E ________________m ___ 55 1816 New Brunswick
F.Baptist Irish;
school teacher
SUMMER Hannah ______________f ___ 39 1832 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER David E._____________m ___ 18 1853 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER Elizabeth Jennie ____f ___ 15 1856 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER Henrietta ___________f ___ 12 1859 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER James H. ___(twin) __m ___ 10 1861 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER Massie/Mary (twin) _ f ___ 10 1861 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER Stephen Currie *____ m ___ 07 1864 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER William#2 J. _______ m ___ 06 1865 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
SUMMER George Allister ____ m ___ 03 1867 New Brunswick F.Baptist Irish
*died young of diphtheria; also a twin brother died young diphtheria.
Hannah age 26 born 1825 but this is correct. Does not say where born
but 1832 is correct.
_
(4) 1881 Census, Psh Wicklow, Carleton County., New Brunswick microfilm
C-13182 #61,63:
SOMERS William E. m 66 1815 born New Brunswick F.C.Bapt. merchant
SOMERS Hannah S. _f 49 1832 born New Brunswick F.C.Bapt. married
SOMERS Stephen C. m 16 1865 born New Brunswick F.C.Bapt. shoemaker
SOMERS George A. m 13 1867 born New Brunswick F.C.Bapt.
_
We first find William Edgar SOMERS in Parish of Kent, teacher, 1851,
married. Ten years later he has moved to Parish of Wakefield, a teacher
and farmer with 5 children 1861. In 1871 he is still in Parish of
Wakefield, a school teacher, F.Baptist, Irish and now has 8 children and
apparently the twin boy of William's has died. In household are two
servants and an infant of Julia Loram's. In 1881 family moved to Psh.
Wicklow, and now shows not Irish but English background and is a merchant,
with only Stephen and George in this household (William Jr. must have died).
In the next generation it appears that George married and started his
family in Wicklow but moved c1901 to Victoria Corner, where his father had
had a farm located what in the 1970's would be farms belonging to George
Farnham and Tibbitts.
_
McAlpine's Maritime Provinces Directory for 1870-71, pub. by David
McAlpine, Halifax: "William SOMERS, farmer at Victoria Corner.
"Grant Connexion" page 50:"In the Anglican Register a baptism is
recorded for another of these Grants, namely William Edgar SUMMERS GRANT,
born February 15, 1815, and baptized 14 July 1817, as "the natural son of
Mrs. Grant, Northampton." There is no further record of this William
Grant." Could this be Etta's "William Edgar Somers" born 1815/1816 (was he
an orphan?) "Apparently Abigail was the only Mrs. Grant of Northampton in
1815, other than Mrs. William Grant, whose daughter, Julianne, was born in
August that same year. The conclusion is therefore drawn that Abigail was
probably the "natural mother" of these other Grants, except David Lawrence
Grant, who, it appears, was a mulatto son of Capt. Grant."
GRANT Peter b1772, d 1852, m 1794 Abigail LOCKWOOD and they had son
John,
daus Sarah and Sophia.
Date? Victoria Corner: HAYWOOD Mark, mason; HELMS none;
SUMMERS William E
(spelled thus) school teacher
__
He married Hannah Slipp CURRIE,
daughter of Stephen #1 CURRY and Jane TITUS, 6 May 1851,
in Parish of Kent.
Born, 1832.
Died, 1885.
Individual flags: *ANC. Children:
i. David Edgar[2] SOMERS.
Born, 1853, in New Brunswick.
- was a wrestler;
died a young man.
ii. Elizabeth "Jennie" SOMERS.
Born, 1856. Died, 1876.
Individual flags: eyes. died age 20 of tuberculosis
iii. Henrietta SOMERS.
Born, 1859, in Bath New Brunswick.
Died, Jan 1941, in Chicago IL.
Occupation: clothing.
She married, first, George Burns.
She married, second, Sanford.
Married and divorced George BURNS. They had no children.
Henrietta (Etta) was in California during the earthquake of
1923, and because of family problems she thought she wouldn't
let her family know that she was alive, but later she contacted
them. She had a corselette business in California before she
came to live with her brother, Steve Somers, in Chicago.
Henrietta visited the SOMERS/HAYWOOD families at Victoria
Corner in mid 1930's. At this time she went to Woodstock to
have the a tooth extracted. It was the first tooth that she had
to have pulled and the dentist did not use anesthetic so he gave
her a drink of strong liquour. Etta was quite disgusted, having
lived 70 years without having ever tasted liquour before.
OBITUARY: "BATH NATIVE PASSES AWAY IN CHICAGO, ILL.
Word received by relatives at Victoria of Death of Mrs.
Henrietta Sanford, 83. (January, 1941) the death of Mrs.
Henrietta SANFORD occurred recently at the home of her nephew
and his wife, Mr. and Mrs. Willie E. Somers, 6456 Minerva Ave.,
Chicago, Ill., with whom she lived.
The deceased was 83 years of age and is survived by two
brothers, Stephen of Chicago, Ill., and George A. Somers of
Victoria. She was born at Bath, New Brunswick, and lived at
Victoria during her girlhood days. She moved to Lowell, Mass.,
* where
she married and lived many years. Later in life she spent some
years in Florida. She had a voice of rare sweetness and for
years sang at funerals and at evangelistic services.
About twenty years ago she owned a business of her own in
Los Angeles, California. Her brother Stephen and his wife
visited her and urged her to give up her business and go to
Chicago to live, which she did. She spent the summers of '35 and
'38 at Victoria visiting her brother George and niece Mrs.
William J. Heywood. While there she made many new friends and
met some of those of her childhood days.
Page 4
She was an earnest Christian and enjoyed good in all
denominations. She was of a sunny and kindly disposition.
During the last two years of her life she sang over the radio in
a program sponsored by one of Chicago's leading business houses
in a contest, winning the prize. The song was entitled "Growing
Old Gracefully". The funeral was held at Chicago."
*If she lived in Lowell, that could be the reason Will
Haywood worked there some.
iv. James SOMERS. Born, 1861.
v. Massie SOMERS. Born, 1861.
She married, first, John Maxfield.
She married, second, Dell Wilson. May or Mary?
vi. Stephen Currie SOMERS/SUMNER.
Born, 9 Sep 1864, in Victoria New Brunswick.
Died, Apr 1946, in Chicago IL. Death(2): 5 Mar 1946,
in Chicago IL.
Occupation: union organizer. He married Clara Farris.
(See also "steve1.doc" for better print-out of
"Steve"s Battle for the Union")
As a young boy living in Victoria Corner, Steve was
attacked by a swarm of bees, which nearly cost him his life.
Stephen Currie SOMERS married Clara FARRIS. Probably she
was from Ohio and had a brother, Bobo. Steve had a big farm
in Napoleon, Ohio.
Steve's great-nephew, Don, says that the reason Steve
changed his name from SOMERS to SUMNER was because he did not
want his wife-to-be, Clara Farris, to know that he had been in
penitentiary. See the other version of why he changed his name
in article by his great-niece, Mabelle, which was that when
Steve Somers was involved with the Milk Union in Chicago
against the Al Capone gang, Steve was afraid that the gangsters
would harm his family - his brother, George Allister Somers,
who was then working in Detroit but was from Victoria Corner,
New Brunswick. Steve asked George to change his name and when
George would not do so, then Steve SOMERS changed his own name
to SUMNER to protect his family from possible retaliation from
Al Capone.
Mabelle has given her niece, Etta Haywood Faulkner,
permission to include this work in her SOMERS Family Tree.
Steve Somers
c1927: Steve and George and Etta and Billie Somers,
Rose Giberson, Joe Lige Alma Allan Holmes who married Harriet's Ruth,
c1927 in Detroit: Steve and Bill Somers, Lydia Giberson-Walters
(Mrs. Frank Sr),son 'Bud' Frank Walters Jr., Emery, Ruth Walters-Britton,
??, Allan Holmes
Roy and Will Haywood, Frank Albright Sr, Allan Holmes, Reg Britton,
Ruth Walters-Britton, __ , Lydia Giberson-Walters, __Emery, __baby
1927: Roy Heywood Royal Oak 1927
Roy Heywood boarded here in Ferndale between Detroit-Royal Oak,
Michigan 1927. Lydia Giberson-Walters had a boarding house corner Troy
and Lincoln in Royal Oak, Michigan 1927.
Walters - Reg and Ruth - had a grist mill and saw mill at River de Chute.
"Steve's Battle for the Union"
by Mabelle G. Sparkes
Historical Method and Bibliography,
Dr. Snowbarager, May 5, 1960
"STEVE'S BATTLE FOR THE UNION (Outline)
Controlling Purpose:
This paper is to give a brief history of Milk Wagon Drivers' Local 753
and to show how one man kept it from becoming gangsterized.
I. Milk Wagon Drivers' Local was organized in 1903.
A. Before the union the drivers worked eighty hours in
the winter and one hundred hours in the summer.
B. After unionizing deliveries were made from eight to five.
C. Afternoon deliveries were abolished during the summer months.
II. In 1928 the Capone mob started to move in.
A. Big Tim Murphy put the bite on Steve.
B. George (Red) Barker kidnapped the union president.
1. $50,000 was paid for his safe return.
III. Union troubles began in earnest in 1932.
A. Steve was visited by Murry (The Camel) Humphreys.
1. Steve was offered $100,000. in cash to step down.
2. Refusal meant a declaration of war.
B. The police and union prepared to fight.
1. Special police headquarters were set up
2. Union headquarters were made bullet proof.
3. Steve's home was fortified.
4. Samuel Insull's armoured car was purchased.
IV. During the next eight years Steve was protected 24 hours a day.
A. He travelled 134,000 miles by armoured car.
B. In 1939 he lost re-election by a five-vote margin.
C. Steve donated the armoured car to the scrap pile
during World War II.
V. Steve passed away on March 5, 1946.
STEVE'S BATTLE FOR THE UNION
Prohibition, Chicato gangsters figured, was on the way
out. Breaking the prohibition law had enriched them perhaps
beyond the dreams of any previous bandits or pirates in all
human history. Al Capone was head of an organization of
professional bootleggers covering 20,000 spots in Chicago. They
sold 25,000,000 pints of beer a week. It cost Al Capone $3.00 a
barrel to make it as he owned his own breweries, etc., and sold
it for $55.000 a barrel. The closest estimate of his payroll
came to 2,000 and he sold an average of 100,000 barrels a week,
or $2,000,000 worth every seven days.
What would they do after prohibition was repealed? The
idea of the syndicate was to obtain some continued source of
revenue, such as booze had proved to be.
"Get hold of the labor unions." That was the idea which the
wise men of the syndicate devised. And that is the idea
they started putting into force. They used gunmen, kidnapping,
bombs, and threats against unions and industry in Chicago just
as desperately as they had used these tools in dealing with
each other during the beer wars.
In 1928 the Capone mob had taken over many organizations.
A detailed account of this was given by the late Roger Touhy in
a Federal Court in September, 1952 when he testified before the
late Federal Judge John P. Barnes, while making his plea for
freedom from the penitentiary in Joliet.
During this same year the Capone mob began to cast
covetous eyes on the Milk Wagon Driver's Union, which had a
membership of 7,200, a treasury of $1,000,000. and an annual
income of $935,000.
The Milk Wagon Drivers' Local 753, however, proved to be
too much for Capone and his mob. This was largely due to one man,
the late Steve Sumner, business agent and secretary-treasurer of
the union since he organized it in 1902.
Steve Sumner was born September 9, 1864, in the little
village of Victoria, New Brunswick, Canada. At the age of
twenty-three he left the village to seek his fortune, sailing
down the St. John River on a raft for 150 miles he landed at
the city of Saint John. From there he soon travelled across the
border into the State of Maine. After working for several
months as a cobbler he made his way to Chicago by horse and
buggy, selling patent medicines along the way.
Steve's first business venture in Chicago was the operation
of a street corner fruit stand which ended abruptly when
a chilly breeze from Lake Michigan froze his stock,
representing his entire capitol.
His rise in Chicago labor unions was spectacular. He attended
night school and acquired a mastery of language. His first
speech was made from a soap box and his co-workers said he
looked so young he was wasting his breath. He added seventeen
years to his age and this stuck with him until his death,
Chicago papers giving his age as 96 instead of 79.
For several years Steve drove a milk wagon seven days a week
for the miserable wage of $12.00 per week. The working week
for the milk driver in the winter averaged 80 hours per week,
and in the summer 100 hours per week.
Steve began to wonder what would happen when he would
eventually slow down and be discarded by his employers. There
were no pensions and no social security. In 1901 Steve began
preaching unionism to his fellow milk wagon drivers. He quit
his job to talk, to argue, to canvass, but he was told he was
foolish. Still he kept preaching that organization meant better
wages, better hours, benefits, and savings.
In the summer of 1902 with his own savings wiped out by a
year of unpaid evangelism among his fellow workers Steve had
seventy-eight signatures to his application with the American
Federation of Labor for permission to form a union. The charter
was granted and Steve became the union's business agent, and
secretary-treasurer. The dairy-men laughed, "If Steve and his men
started any trouble, out they would go. Plenty of labor was
available, milk delivery didn't call for brains. To hell with
Steve and his crazy union."
A few weeks after the charter had been granted, early one
morning Steve passed a saloon outside of which stood a
dejected-looking horse, attached to a loaded milk-wagon. Steve
went inside, ordered a glass of milk and looked around. There
was the driver of the wagon, drunk; he was not a union member.
"There are women and children waiting for that load of yours,"
said Steve, walking up to the drunken driver, "You are laying
down on them, and what's more, you aren't fit to deliver. Get
to hell out of here."
The driver's reply was abusive. Steve, broad-shouldered,
amazingly husky, grabbed the man and heaved him into the street.
Then he climbed aboard the milk-wagon, checked the delivery
book, made the rounds, and drove back to the dairy.
"I made the delivery your driver was too drunk to make,"
he told the astonished dairy man, "I'm the business agent of
the new union. What you do with him is none of our business now
but I tell you that when the time comes for him to join up, as
it will for all your help, he'll find it tough sledding if he
hasn't changed his ways."
That story circulated through the dairies and among the
drivers, too. Service was far from perfect; improvement meant
better prices and more business for employers. If Steve Sumner
was going to make the milk drivers behave, better men deserved
better wages. It got around that Steve touched no liquor, nor
even tea or coffee, nothing but buttermilk or sweet milk.
"Buttermilk Steve" they soon began to call him.
Within a few months after this incident the Union's membership
had grown to about 700. Then one day Steve went into a saloon
just outside the gates of a big dairy. This was a hangout for
drivers before they started on their rounds. A score of them
were taking their bourbon when Steve and two others walked in.
Armed with sledge hammers, they smashed the bar and the bottles.
"Liquor and milk don't mix," roared Steve, as he herded the
drivers out of the wrecked saloon.
The union prospered exceedingly. Its fixed rule of no
drinking commended it to employers, for drunken drivers were
their biggest headache. Steve, moreover, was a stickler for
good behavior on duty in other respects as well. He demanded
courtesy, service and promptness. The delivery hours were now
fixed from eight to five during the winter months, and during the
summer the afternoon delivery was abolished. No wagon was
allowed on the streets after one in the afternoon during the
summer months. A dozen years after its charter the union could
boast one hundred percent membership.
For twenty-five years the union ran smoothly. Steve
believed that the real job of a union was not to fight with
employers but to come to satisfactory and permanent terms with
them, and that is what they did. The drivers were happy and
contented men. In 1928 most of them were making fifty dollars a
week. The delivery of milk in Chicago was completely unionized.
Each member paid into the treasury six dollars a month or
seventy-two dollars a year. Out of the fund the union paid
benefits for sickness, unemployment, and other troubles that
came to working people. In 1928 Steve was signing cheques for
over ten thousand dollars a month for members who were in
trouble.
In the meantime, two other union leaders were killed by
gangsters. William Rooney, who had organized the building
service employees, was killed on the street in March, 1931.
Also Patrick Burrell, who had the office on the floor
above Steve, and who was vice-president of the Teamster's Union,
was taken for a ride and shot to death.
Then "Red" Barker tried other tactics. He kidnapped the
president of the union, Bob Fitchie, who was Steve's closest
friend. "Send us fifty thousand dollars," said the kidnappers.
Steve notified the police and members of the Chicago vigilante
Secret Six which was headed by Colonel Robert Ishan Randolph. A
night meeting was held with various representatives of the
vigilante bodies in the city, together with police officials.
This decision was reached: "These fellows are not bluffing. The
Milk Wagon Drivers' had better pay the fifty thousand dollars."
Steve dickered with the kidnappers and followed their
instructions. This is what happened:
Steve put a package of fifty thousand dollars in bills on
the back seat of his car, covering it with a cloth. The hour
was about 3:30 in the afternoon. As he left the union
headquarters, three strange cars followed him, for the
kidnappers, in the negotiations, had promised him they would
"protect" the money from other thieves from the time it left
headquarters until it fell into their hands. Steve got a signal
from the following car to stop directly in front of a public
school. It was closing hour. Children were pouring out through
the doors, across the schoolyard and along the sidewalks. Steve
got out of his car and walked away from it. School children were
all about him. The three cars stopped and a man got out of each
car. Two of the men were carrying banjos (sub-machine guns).
The third man went to Steve's car, opened the rear door, took
the package of money and they went back into their cars and
hurried away. All this was done in the midst of hundreds of
school children. A shot could not have been fired without killing
some child.
The union president was returned to his home that night,
unharmed, but a shaken man. Although Steve yielded to extortion
to save his friend from harm, he nevertheless had held the
gangsters at bay. Barker was mowed down by machine guns a few
weeks after he presumably received his share of the ransom.
The Chicago mob kept after Steve and finally in the summer
of 1932 they decided to defeather the old man for all time.
Capone had gone to prison leaving Frank (The Enforcer) Nitti and
Murry (The Camel) Humphreys to share overlordship. Prohibition
was doomed and the boys needed a new source of profit. The rich
Milk Wagon Drivers' Local 753 stood at the top of the list of
prospects.
Steve noticed that all of a sudden outsiders were mixing
in among their men at headquarters. One day he counted as many
as nine men known to be gangsters in the building at one time.
And then one day a delegation of hoodlums descended on union
headquarters at 220 South Ashland, a solid old brick mansion
said to have been built by Long John Wentworth, one of the
city's earliest mayors. Humphreys had a notable list of killers
with him, "Three-finger" Jack White, "Klondike" Mike O'Donnell,
Frankie Diamond (Capone's brother-in-law), James "Fur" Salmon,
and Marcus "Studs" Looney. Steve wasn't there when they threw
open the door and confronted Ray Bryant, the union cashier.
You tell that old so-and-so," announced "The Camel"
Humphreys, "that next time we come loaded for bear; we're
taking over this joint."
The next time they came Steve was waiting for them. The
following is how he told the story under oath in a federal
court:
Two men were waiting to see me. One was Murray (The
Camel) Humphreys and the other Frankie Diamond. I could see their
guns protruding from under their shoulder blades. Humphreys
started off and made me several propositions. First off, he
wanted to take into the union a dairy the boys were operating
themselves (the Meadowmoor Dairy). He went on to say that the
boys all knew they would be out of luck when prohibition was
gone and legal beer back and that they needed steady income.
He said he didn't see why the dairy business couldn't pay almost
as much as the old beer business. I told him I wasn't interested.
I said I wouldn't supply union drivers for hoodlums and that he
was wasting his breath talking to me. Then he said he would cut
me in for a share of all the profits if I would go along.
Then he said he would run the drivers' union along with
the mob. I said I would not. "Don't you shake down the dairy
companies?" he asked. I said of course not, nor would I have
anything to do with such a course.
In 1939, believing Steve to be eight-nine years of age,
(he was actually seventy-two), the union voted a younger man
into office. Steve lost by a five vote margin. For the next few
years he was an organizer and lecturer and acted on mediation
boards.
Steve kept his little picked army of expert marksmen
until the Second World War came along. In November, 1942 he
donated his armoured car to a scrap pile. "Melt it down into
bullets," he said, "and use it on hoodlums who no matter how
bad they may be will at least stand up to you and fight."
When Steve retired he handed over to honest, competent
men, one of the wealthiest unions in the country and one which
through him had done as much for the working men as any other
organization of its kind. When he passed away on March 5, 1946,
policemen had to stay at his home for ten days to move the line
of sympathizers.
Steve was a soft touch, and may have been a rich man if he
had been more thrifty or if he had been just a wee bit corrupt,
but he wasn't that type. What money he made over living costs
for himself, his wife and daughter was either spent on union
business or loaned out or given to anyone who needed it or said
he needed it. He often loaned money to people he hardly knew,
anyone with a hardluck story, especially if it involved
children. Ninety per cent of these loans, officials of the
union say, were unpaid at the time of his death. His widow has
numerous notes running into thousands of dollars, all unpaid.
Steve never tried to collect, and she says she never will either.
Steve detested smoking so much that he often pulled a
cigar or a cigarette out of the mouth of a total stranger; then
he would remember to apologize and usually rip a five dollar bill
from his roll to make amends. None of his men was allowed to
smoke in his presence. Even at large union meetings where
hundreds would be in attendance smoking was not allowed at any
time.
Steve's battles were both verbal and physical, but he never
held a grudge, not even against the mob. He had no real
personal enemies although he made many business enemies. Even
these, however, remembered to write letters of condolence and
sympathy to his widow after his death. She received thousands
of letters, telling her how much they admired the old bruiser.
Steve was built like a barrel, about five feet, seven
inches tall, and always weighed around two hundred pounds. He
was as strong as a bull and when he lost his temper he could
curse better than any of his drivers.
Many union officials saw their boss tackle much bigger
men than himself and heave them bodily out of the way. Once a
Greek wrestler, six feet two inches tall, and weighing two
hundred and thirty pounds, sent to the union headquarters by the
Capone mob to make trouble, pushed his way into the corridor
past the guards. He was shouting about what he would do if he
did not get satisfaction for an imaginary wrong. Steve came
roaring out of the office to confront the Greek, hands on hips.
The man took one look at the union boss and his determined stance
and went for his gun. Instead of diving at him, Steve threw back
his head and laughed. The Greek was dumfounded by such tactics
and as he stood there, Steve walked up to him, snatched away his
gun, picked him up bodily and threw him down the nine steps to
the street.
Steve knew just about everybody in Chicago and just about
everybody knew him, from the mayor down to the bums on west
Madison Street. Thousands knew him as "Uncle" Steve. After his
death characters from all walks of life came to tell his widow
how "Uncle" Steve had paid their doctor bills, or found them
jobs, or paid overdue rent.
Steve belonged to no church although he sometimes
attended services whenever the notion took him, then he would
march into the nearest house of prayer, regardless of the
denomination. His religion, he once told his wife, was to make
a better world for his fellow men the best way he knew how. He
certainly did all he could do to that end in the milk business.
Reminiscing before his death, he said, "There was slavery in
this sort of living before we formed the union; we worked
eighteen to twenty hours a day for twelve dollars a week. I
hopped on and off a milk wagon for more years than I care to
remember, and I used to figure on four out of every twenty-four
hours for sleep. I'm against all forms of slavery, be it the
slavery of the booze bottle or the slavery of toil.
I defy anybody to prove that I ever did any slugging
unless I was slugged first. Yes, I've beaten up milk drivers
when I found them drunk or drinking on the job. Milk is like
the mail only more important; it has gotto go through."
1. Colonel Robert Isham Randolph, "How to Wreck Capone's
Gang," Collier's, LXXXVII, (March 7, 1931), 7-9
2. Wayne Thomis, "Touhy story of union raids," The
Chicago Daily Tribune, (January 12, 1960)
3. William G. Shepherd, "If it isn't booze, it's
something else," Collier's (Nov. 26, 1932) p.7.
4. Selig Perlman, History of Labor in the U.S., p.64
5. D. S. Haywood, personal interview, Calumet City, Ill.
April 9, 1960.
6. Perlman, loc. cit.
7. W. A. S. Douglas, "Too tough for Capone," American
Mercury (Oct., 1946), pp. 456-461
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid.
10. Ibid.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid.
13. William G. Shepherd, loc. cit.
14. W.A.S. Douglas, loc. cit.
15. William G. Shepherd loc. cit.
16. Wayne Thomis loc. cit.
17. William G. Shepherd loc. cit.
18. Ibid.
19. Ibid.
20. W. A. S. Douglas loc. cit.
20. Douglas loc. cit.
21. Ibid.
22. William G. Shephard loc. cit.
23. Ibid.
24. Ibid.
25. William E. Somers, personal interview, Chicago,
27 Mar. 1960
26. W. A. S. Douglas loc. cit.
27. Ibid.
28. Shepherd, op. cit., p.7
29. Charles Allen, "Editorial, Colorful Steve Sumner
passes." The (Hartland) Observer, April 17, 1946
30. Douglas, loc. cit.
31. Ibid.
32. Ibid.
33. Ibid.
Steve Sumner
*******
Mabelle Haywood-Sparkes prepared this article at University of
Illinois when she obtained her Masters Degree. She has given her
niece, Etta Haywood Faulkner, permission to include this work in her
SOMERS Family Tree.
Steve's great-nephew, Don, says that the reason Steve changed his
name from SOMERS to SUMNER was because he did not want his wife-to-be,
Clara Farris, to know that he had been in penitentiary. See the other
version of why he changed his name in article by his great-niece,
Mabelle, which was that when Steve Somers was involved with the Milk
Union in Chicago against the Al Capone gang, Steve was afraid that the
gangsters would harm his family - his brother, George Allister Somers,
who was then working in Detroit but was from Victoria Corner, New
Brunswick. Steve asked George to change his name & when George would
not do so, then Steve SOMERS changed his own name to SUMNER to protect
his family from possible retaliation from Al Capone.
c1928: Steve Somers's 7-passanger car,
Roy Heywood was his chaufeur.
Steve bought that suit for Roy to go to school in
but Roy wouldn't stay in School
In 1935 Don, his brother Rex & daughter Etta were chauffeured
around Chicago in Steve's armoured car which had glass an inch and a
quarter thick. Steve's great-nephew, Roy Heywood, was his chauffeur
and when Steve's headquarters were under police guard, Roy walked up
to the office door but was stopped by the police. He told him Steve
was his uncle. The police escorted him up to Steve's office. Steve
roared with laughter, saying yes, this was his nephew!
STEPHEN SOMERS CONFRONTS AL CAPONE
Page 12:
vii. William #1159 J SOMERS.
Born, 1865. - died a youth of diphtheria
viii. 1168 SOMERS.
Born, 1865.
Died, 1865. #18 SOMERS (boy)
died either day he was born or died same day that his twin
brother,
William#2 J. died. NOTE; there were 2 sets of twins
2 ix. George Allister SOMERS.
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