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Jim wrote, ...age 19. That year he ran off with a woman. He married her, but
they divorced 3 years later.  He then shipped out as a common sailor on the
China trade...

Trevor wrote,
> I wonder. It would have been unthinkable for a graduate of Oxford or
> Cambridge to ship as a common seaman in that era.
> Was Sumner disgraced by his divorce, so that he had to leave polite
> Boston society? He might then have dropped to the social nadir of a
> forecastle berth, only to work his way back

Trevor, Richardson's thought was that he was disgraced by his first
marriage, let alone the subsequent divorce.  Maybe he was a bit of a rebel
in his youth?  Could be that time on the ships straightened him out,
perhaps.  Richardson tracked down some distant family members, but there is
precious little documented information about Sumner's life.  Rumour has it
that he had a checkered beginning.  Marvin Sebourn posted this on the
Navigation-L email list: "I pursued some details on his life several years
ago...I was surprised that I was able to receive some information from his
college (Harvard, I believe) about him, and still have the Xeroxed copies of
a sheet or two on him, particularly relating to his "rustication" (being
sent to the country, I believe, maybe others can enlarge upon this
punishment) for some acts of mischief - I believe it was for breaking some
windows of a townsperson or business. (could be wrong here).  Years ago, I
found an an interesting article on the net saying that he was poorly
recognized in the US, and that there was a statue or bust of him in Hamburg
Germany. (Naval College there?).  Also, his death is sometimes reported
nearly 20 or 30 years early, not acknowledging his institutionalization."

Jim

   

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