Thomas’s Children

As many as twenty-nine children have been claimed for Thomas (born c1784) and Priscilla (born c1780) Summers, of Franklin Co, Illinois, in some of the numerous trees appearing on the internet (almost 1700 trees total on Ancestry alone). The problem is that not a single reliable record is provided for any of the named children, only other trees. Based on birthplace, birth year, association with other people, and residence, I have come up with thirteen reasonable candidates. All of these are commonly designated by others as Thomas’s children. And descendants of all of these show autosomal DNA matches with a known descendant of Thomas and Priscilla. Of course, since most or all of the 19^th-century Franklin Co Summerses were related, autosomal DNA provides rather poor evidence.

Reliable records (i.e., records other than trees) showing the names of children of Thomas and Priscilla are unknown except for a single item that has been ignored or overlooked—the Affidavit of Decease record in Thomas’s Franklin County probate file. That document names only William, Harper, Alexander, Thomas, and B. P. (Braxton Parrish) as his children. Perhaps James was omitted because he was the signatory. John’s name is struck out, as might be expected since he was likely deceased by the date of Thomas’s death. And there appears to have been a “Samuel,” who’s name is also struck out but about whom nothing is known. Missing are Robert, Noah, Nancy, Joseph, and Peter, all good candidates for being Thomas’s children, candidates who were still living at the time of his death. Are these five people (six if we include James) not Thomas’s children? A huge number of family historians believe otherwise. And the 1830 census indicates that Thomas had many more children (possibly twelve) than just the six (including crossed-out John) listed in the Affidavit of Death. But all may not have been his. He could have taken in children from deceased relatives. And, of course, many children may have died before being named in later records. As one Illinois historian has written, on the 19^th-century Illinois frontier

Death was a constant, if unwelcome, companion.

Affidavit of Decease with names of children for Thomas Summers. Missing are Robert, Noah, Nancy, Joseph, Peter, and James
(Patricia Terwilliger collection.)

Among the missing five, Joseph is the only one who served in the Civil War (despite erroneous claims made for others based on name only) and he has a National Archives pension file that has now been obtained in hopes that it would reveal his origins. It didn't. It did provide his date of death (28 Jan 1896 near Greenbrier, Arkansas), some highly variable dates of birth (c1818, calculated from ages in various documents), and details on his military service and married life, but it provided nothing about who his parents may have been.

We are stuck. Is the Affidavit of Death correct, and if so who were the parents of Robert, Noah, Nancy, Joseph, and Peter Summers? We even have doubts about James. And our doubts increase when we find that a pension application affidavit by James Summers states that Noah Summers, who fought in the Black Hawk War, was his brother. If Noah was not a son of Thomas, neither was James. But, on the other hand, why would someone other than a son, of which Thomas had many, be a signatory?

A DNA match between a GG granddaughter of Robert Summers Sr. and my wife, a GG granddaughter of William K. Summers, indicates a 5th to 7th cousin relationship. But if Robert and William were indeed siblings, the relationship should be 4th cousins. Perhaps Robert, who is not seen in the Affidavit of Decease, is not a child of Thomas Sr. With a lot of effort, we might find sufficient DNA data of this kind to allow an estimation of the Affidavit of Decease accuracy. Unfortunately, at age 86, I don't have time for a lot of effort.

If any of you would like a free no-strings-attached copy of Joseph Summers's  National Archive file just click on the link below. You don’t need the Dropbox app. If you get a "Log in or Sign Up" message just ignore it. Press the download button at the top right of the web page. You will then get (another) "Log in or Sign Up" message. Just click "Or continue with dropdown only" at the bottom of that message. You need not log in or sign up. It is not necessary to be a Dropbox user. Leave a comment or send me an email if you have problems.

Pension File Download