1812–1882

Introduction

Born: Oc­to­ber 10, 1812, Isle of Pur­beck, Dor­set, Eng­land.

Died: May 6, 1882, Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see.

Buried: Mount Ol­iv­et Ce­me­te­ry, Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see.

Biography

Thomas was the son of James Sum­mers, and hus­band of Nar­sil­la Bru­tan Sex­ton.

After em­i­grat­ing to Am­er­ica, he was ad­mit­ted to the Me­tho­dist Bal­ti­more [Ma­ry­land] Con­fer­ence in 1835.

From 1840–43 he was a mis­sion­ary in Tex­as, where he found­ed a Me­tho­dist com­mu­ni­ty on Gal­ve­ston Is­land. He moved to Tus­ca­loo­sa, Ala­ba­ma, in 1844, and Charles­ton, South Ca­ro­li­na, in 1846.

From 1845 he was sec­re­ta­ry of the Con­fer­ence of the Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, South, and was al­so a book ed­it­or.

Subsequently, he was Pro­fess­or of Theo­lo­gy and pas­tor at Van­der­bilt Uni­ver­si­ty, Nash­ville, Ten­nes­see.

He was chair­man of the Hymn Book Com­mit­tee of the Me­tho­dist Epis­co­pal Church, and ed­it­ed the Songs of Zi­on, 1851, and the Wes­ley­an Psal­ter, 1855.

Sources

Lyrics

Help Needed

If you know where to get a good pho­to of Sum­mers (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),