#52 Ancestors 2024 Week 41 Most: JK Summers' Fifteen Children

 Many of my ancestors had large families, but I think the largest was that of my great-grandparents, John Kostka Summers (about whom I have previously written) and Regina Ann Hill.

Twenty-two-year-old John and twenty-year-old Regina Ann were married at Holy Rosary Church in Cheltenham, Prince George's County MD on 28 October 1878. In their long marriage, they had fifteen children, all born at the family home--Pine Hill, Westwood, in the Nottingham District of Prince George's County. 

Their first child, John Lamar Summers, was born 20 August 1879. Sadly, John drowned in the Patuxent River in 1899 at the age of 20. 

A second son--John Kostka Summers Jr-- was born 13 November 1880.  John married Benedicta Gannon, the daughter of Frank Gannon and Marietta Burrows, in Manhattan NY 9 January 1906.  John worked as a district manager for the Vulcan Portland Cement Company.  John and Benedicta had one daughter, Benedicta.  John died at his home in Manhattan 21 June 1943. 

The first daughter in the family, Emily Louise Summers, was born 17 June 1882.  Sadly, Emily contracted typhoid on a visit to her aunt Emily Hill Young in Milwaukee WI. She died at age 16 on 1 May 1898 and is buried at Calvary Cemetery in Milwaukee.  

Alexander Hill Summers, named for his paternal grandfather, was born 23 September 1883. He died in 1918 in the Spanish Flu epidemic.  He never married. He worked as an insurance agent for Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. 

Joseph Mary Summers and Mary Joseph Summers--twins--were born 26 November 1885. Joseph worked on the family farm and never married.  Toward the end of his life, he lived with his brother, my grandfather, and I knew him as an old man. He died 28 February 1963 and is buried at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf. 

Mary Joseph Summers entered the Sisters of the Holy Cross and was professed in 1913 as Sister Mary Ange.  She died at South Bend IN 1 October 1954 and is buried at Our Lady of Peace Cemetery there. 

Eliza Mary Summers was born 14 January 1888. She married William August Dorr 29 June 1909 and had ten children with him: Mary Angela, Regina Summers, William August, John Kostka, Joseph Heath, Francis Paul, Marie Therese, Winifred Ann, Mary Rita and Elizabeth June.  My mother stayed close to her Dorr cousins who lived near us in Anne Arundel County.  Eliza Summers Dorr died 10 October 1980 and is buried with her husband at Our Lady of the Fields in Millersville MD. 

Regina Agnes Summers was born 9 March 1889.  She married Edward Payson Springer in June 1912 and had four children with him: Edward Payson Jr., Norman Wendall, Robert Hill, and David W. She died in Fairfax County VA 14 January 1968. 

Gretchen Summers was born 13 February 1891.  She married Joseph Summerfield Perrie, a Prince George's County farmer, 19 January 1910 and had four children with him: Mary Imogene, Dorothy, Joseph Summerfield Jr., and Gretchen Lamar. Gretchen Summers Perrie died 25 October 1953 and is buried with her husband at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf. 

Mildren & Bernard Kummer

Mildred Elizabeth Summers was born 23 May 1892. She married Bernard Aloysius Kummer at St. Peter's Church in Waldorf 16 June 1917.  They had three children: Bernard Hill, Rita Elizabeth, and James Aloysius. Mildred was a registered nurse.  Bernard managed furniture stores in the District of Columbia and later in Bristol TN.  Mildred died 6 January 1980 in Columbia SC.  She is buried in St. Anne's Cemetery, Bristol TN.

Dorothy Lucile Summers was born 23 March 1894. Her marriage at age 19 in 1913 to a widowed 68-year-old War Department staffer, James Heath Dodge, was considered somewhat scandalous at the time. Dodge supposedly met Dorothy while on a hunting trip in Maryland. Dodge died a few years after the marriage. Dorothy graduated from Georgetown's Nursing School in 1927.  Dorothy died in Manhattan NY 12 March 1945 and is buried at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf.

Paul & Evalina Summers

Paul Francis Summers (my grandfather) was born 11 September 1895.  He married Theresa Evalina Sasscer, the daughter of Thomas Reverdy Sasscer and Theresa Evalina Wallis, at St. Mary's Church in Upper Marlboro 26 April 1924. Paul was a tobacco farmer and one of the founders of the Marlboro Tobacco Market. Paul and Evalina had nine children: Anne Theresa (my mother), Paul Francis, Mary Evalina, Edwin Hill, Patricia Lee, John Kostka, Mildren Louise, Thomas Reverdy, and Robert Joseph.  Paul died 16 September 1970 and is buried with his wife at Mt. Carmel Cemetery in Upper Marlboro.

Olin Jerome Summers was born 19 December 1897 and died shortly after his first birthday in December 1898.

Emily Ruth Summers was born 23 September 1899.  She married Charles Henry Adams McPherson, a farmer from Aquasco, 22 February 1922 in Washington DC. They had eleven children: Charles Henry Adams Jr., Ruth, Evelyn, John, Dorothy Dodge, Margaret, Joseph, Nancy, Julia, Robert Kevin, and Regina. Emily Ruth McPherson died 18 April 1996 and is buried at St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf. 

Michael Jerome Summers was born 12 April 1903. In the 1930 and 1940 Censuses, Michael is living at the Mount Hope Asylum in Baltimore.  In 1950, he is at Spring Grove Asylum.  He never married. Michael died 31 August 1967 and is buried at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf. 

The picture below shows the family about 1905 at the family home, Pine Hill.  In the back row are: Joseph Mary, Regina, Alexander, Mary Joseph, and John Kostka Jr. Regina Hill and John Kostka Sr are in the center. At the bottom are Michael Jerome, Gretchen, Mildred, Paul Francis, Dorothy, Eliza Mary and Emily Ruth.  

#52 Ancestors 2023 Week 4 Education: John Kostka Summers, Supporter of Education in Prince George's County MD

 

My great-grandfather, John Kostka Summers, was not only an educated man himself (somewhat unusual for his circumstances), but also devoted himself to supporting education for others as a trustee and supervisor of schools in Prince George's County MD, where he lived. 

John Kostka Summers, the oldest of nine children of John Francis Summers and Eliza Gwynn, was born 3 November 1855 at the family home in Westwood, Prince George's County MD. The picture at the left shows him at about age 50. The family has had many discussions about the origin of his middle name, which was certainly not in the family before him.  The Summers were devout Catholics, though, and our speculation was that it was related to the 16th-century Polish saint, Stanislaus Kostka, although we are unclear why this particular saint would have appealed to his parents. Maybe the parish priest gave a particularly rousing sermon on St. Kostka?

In any case, John was followed by 

• Eugene Summers 1858 (died as an infant)
• William Aubrey Summers 1859-1928 m. Martha Burch
• Marie Louise Summers 1861-1953 m. Claude Jarboe
• Ella Summers 1863-1923 Sr. Mary Rosa of the Holy Cross
• Edwin Gwynn Summers 1863 (twin)-1922 m. Annie Mace
• Joseph Alton Summers 1868-1954 m. Mary Rosalie Burch, sister of Martha above
• Jacobus Sydney Summers 1869-1872 
• Cora Agnes Summers 1874-1961 m. Frank Thomas Mace, brother of Annie above

Too young to be called up for service in the Civil War, John Kostka was sent to Rock Hill College in Ellicott City MD, a boarding school run by the Christian Brothers, to receive an education. The school advertised a curriculum based on physical education, sciences, and classical studies. The large building shown in the image below was completed in 1865, based on a design by Baltimore architect George A. Frederick, who also designed Baltimore's City Hall.  During the Civil War, which is likely when John Kostka was studying there, the basement of the building was used as a hospital for both Union and Confederate soldiers. As far as I know, John was the only one of the children who went on to further education. Possibly his parents made a special effort for their oldest son. Later census records show that John Kostka completed two years of college.

John Kostka's father, John Francis Summers, died in 1875 at age 51, shortly after the birth of his youngest child.  The house at Westwood had been destroyed in a fire, and Eliza Summers and her children moved in with her elderly in-laws, John Gwynn Summers and Ann Dyer Summers, at the old family home near Baden. This death would certainly have made it very difficult for the family to afford an education for any of the younger children.

In 1878, John Kostka married 20-year-old Mary Regina Ann Hill (for whom I am named), the daughter of Captain Alexander Penn Hill and Mary Elizabeth Childs.  The 1880 Census shows John (a farmer) and Regina living in Nottingham with their infant son, John Lamar Summers. After his marriage, John contracted with the Wyvill brothers to build a new home, which he called Pine Hill, near the site of the burned-out home.  He and Regina raised their family of 15 children there. 

• John Lamar Summers 1879-drowned 1896, unmarried
• John Kostka Summers Jr. 1880-1943 m. Benedicta Gannon of New York
• Emily Louise Summers 1882-1898, unmarried, died in Milwaukee WI of typhoid fever. Likely she was there visiting her maternal aunt, Emily Hill Young. 
• Alexander Hill Summers 1883-1918, unmarried, died in Spanish Flu epidemic
• Joseph Mary Summers 1885-1963, unmarried
• Mary Joseph Summers 1885-1965, twin, Sr. Mary Ange of the Holy Cross, followed her aunt into the order
• Eliza Mary Summers 1888-1980, married William August Dorr
• Regina Agnes Summers 1889-1968, married Edwin Payson Springer
• Gretchen Summers 1891-1953, married Joseph Summerfield Perrie
• Mildred Elizabeth Summers 1892-1980, married Bernard Aloysius Kummer
• Dorothy Lucile Summers 1894-1945, married James Heath Dodge
• Paul Francis Summers (my grandfather) 1895-1970, married Theresa Evalina Sasscer
• Olin Jerome Summers 1897-1898
• Emily Ruth Summers 1898-1996, married Charles Henry Adams McPherson
• Michael Jerome Summers 1902-1967, unmarried (confined to Mt. Hope Retreat/Hospital)

The photograph below shows the family about 1905 at their home in Westwood, Pine Hill. My grandfather, Paul, is in the center between his parents. 

As early as 1897, John Kostka served as a school trustee for the public schools in the Nottingham District of Prince George's County. He was still serving in that role in 1906. In 1914, he was appointed as a trustee for the newly opened Baden Agricultural High School, which my grandfather and his younger sister Ruth attended and where Paul most likely met his future wife who was also a student there. As a trustee of these schools, John Kostka would have help to oversee the finances and policies of the institutions, similar to what a school board would do now.

Census records show that almost all of John's children got a high school education, a tribute to his dedication to the value of learning. I don't have records of where his older children went to school, but it is likely that some of them at least attended the Marlboro Academy, established by the legislature in 1835, the precursor to Marlboro High School. Otherwise, many children at the time attended small, one-room schools that dotted the county. Another of my great-grandmothers, Theresa Evalina Wallis, taught in one of these in Prince George's County, and her daughters attended a one-room school near their home before going on to higher learning institutions. One of her sons attended Charlotte Hall Military Academy.  

In 1910, the Census for the Nottingham District of Prince George's County shows John Summers, farmer, age 54, living with his wife Mary and seven of their unmarried children. In 1920, John is shown with his wife and three sons, along with his 69-year-old widowed brother-in-law, Joseph Benedict Hill.

In the same year, John's mother, Eliza Gwynn Summers was living with her son Edwin at Baden.  She died there in 1914 and is buried beside her husband at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf. 

In 1928, John and Regina celebrated their golden wedding anniversary with their family.  I am very fortunate to have a picture from this occasion. 

John Kostka and Regina are seated in the center.  My grandfather Paul is standing just behind Sr. Ange with my uncle Paul Jr. on his shoulder.  My grandmother is standing next to him. But my favorite part of this photo is my mother, three-year-old Anne, in the front row, just to the left of her grandfather, and in front of the young man with the tie, looking thoroughly unhappy to be there. 

By 1930, only their unmarried son Joseph was still living at home with his parents, managing their farm, along with Regina's unmarried brother, Robert E. Lee Hill. 

(An aside, Joseph later went to live with my grandfather, and I can remember meeting Uncle Joe at Pa Summers' home as a young girl. Of the other siblings, Aunt Elizabeth Dorr lived close to my family, and my mother stayed in fairly close contact with her Dorr cousins. Aunt Ruth McPherson was famous in the family for her bread rolls.  My mother kept that recipe in her recipe file, and I can remember sampling them at some family gatherings. There was a very good reason Aunt Ruth was famous for these.)

Mary Regina Ann Hill Summers (who seemed to rotate through those various names at different points in her life) died at Pine Hill 6 June 1932. She is buried at Old St. Peter's Cemetery in Waldorf MD. Although I never met my namesake great-grandmother, I do have an inheritance from her, courtesy of my grandmother.  When I got married, I was gifted a beautiful set of four wineglasses that belonged to Regina. 

In 1940, 84-year-old John Kostka is still living on the Pine Hill farm with his son Joseph and a housekeeper.  Joseph owned the home, valued at $3000. John Kostka died at his home the following year and is buried at Old St. Peter's beside his wife and his parents. 

Obituary: John Kostka Summers

John Kostka Summers, husband of the late Regina Hill Summers, died at his home near Westwood MD on Sunday, March 2, 1941, at the age of 85. Following a short illness, he passed peacefully away during his sleep.

Funeral services were held on Wednesday, March 5 with a Requiem Mass at St. Michael's Church, Baden with Rev. Harrington O'Neil, pastor, officiating and Rev. F.J. Loughran of Upper Marlboro assisting. Interment was in the family lot at St. Peter's, Waldorf. Six grandsons acted as pallbearers and four other grandsons served the Mass, one of whom was Robert Springer, S.J., a student at Woodstock College.

He was born November 3, 1855 at the old homestead near Baden, the son of the late Eliza Gwynn and John Francis Summers and spent his entire life in this community.

He is survived by a large and devoted family: two sisters, Mrs. Claude Jarboe of Washington DC, Mrs. Frank Mace of Baltimore, one brother Mr. Alton Summers of Waldorf MD; the following children: Sister M. Ange of the Order of the Holy Cross in Baltimore; Kostka Summers of New York City; Mrs. E.P. Springer and Mrs. Dorothy Dodge of Washington DC; Mrs. B.A. Kummer of Bristol TN; M. Jerome Summers of Baltimore; Paul Summers of Upper Marlboro; Mrs. Henry McPherson of Aquasco and Mrs. J.S. Perrie and Joseph M. Summers of Westwood and also by forty-one grandchildren and twenty-two great-grandchildren.

#52 Ancestors 2019 Week 8: Family Photo Two Views of the John Kostka Summers Family

#52 Ancestors 2019  Week 8: Family Photo Two Views of the John Kostka Summers Family

I am lucky to have not one but two photographs of my great-grandparents and their family.

The first, shown below, was taken in the early 1900's, I'm guessing about 1905, judging by the approximate age of my grandfather in this picture. He was born in 1895 and I'm guessing he is about 10 years old in this picture. That's him, Paul Francis Summers, right in the middle of the picture, between his parents, the 12th of 15 children of Regina Ann Hill and John Kostka Summers.

This picture was taken in front of the family home at Westwood, Prince George's County MD.

Even more fortunate for me, between my grandmother and my mother, I was able to identify all the people in the picture.

But what makes this a real treasure is that I also have a picture of this family group taken about 25 years later at the celebration of the Summers' Golden Wedding Anniversary in October 1928.

Obviously, the family has grown in the intervening years!  But it is fascinating to be able to match up the people who appear in both photos.

For example, here are my great-grandparents in the two photos: (I love how Great-Grandfather Summers is still sporting that great mustache!)

And here is my grandfather in the two pictures:

But perhaps my very favorite image is the one of my mother, age about three, in the front row of the second picture, looking none too happy to be participating in the great occasion!

I cherish these pictures for the fascinating glimpse of my extended family, most of whom I never had the chance to meet in person.