Benjamin Franklin Sumerow 1837-1870 (1000)

Sumrow Creek (late August 2011)

Benjamin Franklin Sumerow was born about 1837 in Double Bridges Township, Lauderdale County, Tennessee. He was the seventh child of John Henry Sumerow and Matilda T. Day. After the Germanic fashion, he was called by his middle name, Franklin. Franklin undoubtedly looked every bit the Germanic stock that he had come from. He was short in stature, but muscular in build, with cool blue eyes and very fair blond hair. We know this, because the Sumerow men for many generations have continued to exhibit these traits. It is in their genetic heritage, as it was in Franklin's.

Franklin can be found in the 1850 Census in District 6, Lauderdale County, TN living with his parents. He was 17 years old at the time. This connects him to his parents and gives us an approximate birth date of 1837. He is also listed in his father's will as Benjamin F. Sumerow. He appears as "Frank" in the Dyer County Tennessee Chancery Court case between his wife, Nancy, and her Brandon siblings. So, it is believed that this is what he was commonly called.

"Franklin Sumrow" appears in the 1850 Federal Census in the household of his father "John H. Sumrow."

A cotton field on the land where Frank lived, in Lauderdale
County TN. This is part of the property owned by his father,
and which Frank would have helped wor

Franklin married Nancy Elizabeth Brandon, whose family lived in Dyer County, just across the county border from Lauderdale County.  Other researchers have stated that they were married 23 Dec 1857, though I have yet to find a marriage record.

Franklin and Nancy Sumerow had the following children:
1) Emma Tennessee Sumerow b. 23 Jan 1859 Lauderdale TN m. Samuel A. Anthony 2 Nov 1874 Lauderdale, TN

2) James Lee Sumerow b. 8 Sep 1860 Lauderdale, TN, d. 6 Oct 1947 Altus, Jackson, OK, m. Mary Alice Woods abt 1900

3) George Franklin Sumerow b. 14 Sep 1862 Lauderdale, TN, d. 3 Jun 1933 TX, m. Lou Cates 31 Aug 1884 Denton TX

4) John Robert Sumerow b. 4 Oct 1864 Lauderdale TN, d. 31 Oct 1884, m. Jane Agnes Christopher

5) William Eugene Sumerow b. 4 Jul 1869 Lauderdale, TN, d. 23 Sep 1949, m. Ida Ophelia Gilley 3 May 1903 Ardmore, Carter, OK

"B. F. Sumro" and family in the 1860 Federal Census.

In the 1860 Federal Census he appears with his new family, with wife Nancy and little Emma just two years old. He began his new life working hard to follow in his father's footsteps as a prosperous plantation owner. He began to acquire property on a small scale, as can be seen from the deed records.

Lauderdale County TN Deeds:

Grantor	Grantee	Type	Acres	Bk	Pg
Sumerow, B. F.	J. C. Alsobrook	Deed		I	523
Sumerow, B. F.	J. D. Hafford	Deed	47a	J	164
Sumerow, B. F.	W. C. Sumerow	Deed	45a	J	605

1860 Slave Schedule shows "B.F. Sumro" had one female slave 15 years of age. The checkmark is in the column labeled "Fugitive of the State" meaning this slave had run away. This was the only slave listed for him.

Franklin owned one slave, a fifteen year old female. However, the 1860 Slave Schedule documents that this slave had run away. This means that at the time that the Civil War began, Franklin had no slaves. Since his children were still very young at the time, that would leave him to have worked the land by himself to support his family.

Shortly after Franklin had begun to purchase new property to expand his land holdings, the Civil War began. He lived too near the Union border to avoid becoming involved in the fighting. In spite of local militia efforts to keep them at bay, the Union forces invaded the Mississippi River Basin where Franklin and his family lived. The following dispatch gives some idea of what was happening at the time:

War Department, Washington, November 16, 1862.

Major-General Grant, La Grange, Tenn.:

The Secretary of War directs that you employ the refugee negroes as teamsters, laborers, &c., so far as you have use for them, in the quartermaster’s department on forts, railroads, &c.; also in picking and removing cotton, on account of the Government. So far as possible, subsist them and your army on the rebel inhabitants of Mississippi.

H.W. Halleck, General-in-Chief.

"Subsist them and your army" means that they were to steal whatever crops and animals they could find to feed and provision the army, as well as the slaves that they had "liberated" but were still using as free labor. Franklin resented not only the invasion, but the drain that these forces put on his family and neighbors. The militia took a stand just two days after the above dispatch. There was a skirmish at Double Bridges, right in Franklin's neighborhood. As part of the county militia, Franklin undoubtedly participated.

More research needs to be done to discover the particulars of his service during the war. However, we know that he served in the local militia, and when the militia was chased out of the county, he went down into Alabama and signed up for service with the 15th Confederate Calvary. 

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Confirmation of his service in the 15th Confederate Calvary from Mobile Alabama, appeared in the following historical newsletter:

Lauderdale County Historical & Genealogical Society Newsletter September 1991, "Some Lauderdale Countians in the Civil War", Compiled by Michael O. Sanders

"B. F. Sumro F & S-15th Con. Cav."

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The war devastated the economy of Lauderdale County, and set back Franklin so far that he was never able to recover. He ended up selling much of the land that he had inherited from his parents in order to try to survive. He turned over a mortgage to his mother, as a last resort. She, in turn, sold it to her son George. There was a bitter court dispute over this land, after Franklin died, when his widow tried to reclaim the land that had been mortgaged.

Double Bridges, Lauderdale County, Tennessee is indicated here with a red pin. Franklin lived just west of this, between Double Bridges and the Mississippi River. The Mississippi constitutes the western border of Tennessee.

In April of 1870, Franklin had made a payment to his brother George to try to redeem his property. His widow appeared in court on 4 May 1870 to beg the court for relief for her family. It must have been quite a struggle for Nancy, since she had five young children at home, her youngest being less than a year old at that time.

The Widows Pension from the County of Lauderdale TN, states that Nancy E. Sumerow had been approved for a widow's pension for one year after her husband's death. The letter, signed by three commissioners, was dated 4 May 1870; so, Benjamin must have died prior to this date. He had made a payment on a deed 25 Apr 1870 to his brother George. This means he died between 25 Apr and 4 May 1870. He would have been just thirty-two years of age.

He was probably buried on family property, like his father before him, but his grave has yet to be located. It's likely that his widow was too poor to be able to afford a grave marker.