Officer in the Militia, the Minute Men, the Continental Line.  A Justice of the Peace and a High Sheriff.  Member, Bute County, NC, Committee of Safety.  Active Mason in the Blandford Bute Lodge.  Husband, Father, Businessman.  First President of the North Carolina Society of the Cincinnati.  The following inscription appears on his grave at Guilford Battle Ground, Guilford County, NC.

Grandson of William Sumner, Freeholder, Nansemond County, VA, 1691.  Son of Jethro and Margaret Sullivan Sumner, Nansemond County, VA.  Married Mary, daughter of William and Christian McKinne Hurst, Granville County, NC.  Three children, but no grandchildren.  Fought variously at Lower Cape Fear, Charlestowne, Brandywine, and Germantown.  Wintered over at Valley Forge, fought again at Stone Ferry, Eutaw Springs, and in defense of southern North Carolina.  Commanded NC military forces for the remainder of the war.