• Born in Claremont, New Hampshire
• Graduated from Harvard College with a Bachelor of Arts, 1803
• Admitted to practice before the Louisiana Supreme Court, December 2, 1813
• Private, Captain Peter V. Ogden’s Company of Orleans Dragoons, Battle of New Orleans, 1814-1815 (December 20, 1814 – March 14, 1815)
• After the Battle of New Orleans, Sumner remained in New Orleans, practicing law until his death on September 3, 1819, at the age of 37, probably of yellow fever
• Sumner left no direct descendants, leaving his estate to two “beloved nephews”
• Sumner’s will is dated January 2, 1819, eight months before his untimely death. His will begins: “I Frederick H. Sumner knowing that life is uncertain and that death is inevitable and wishing to dispose of my property after death in the manner following do make and ordain this as my last olographic will and testament...”
Left image: Free Press, published as The Free Press, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, October 14, 1819. Sumner died two days before the September 5, 1819 letter discussing the yellow fever epidemic in New Orleans.
Right image: Frederick Sumner’s will. Courtesy of the New Orleans Public Library, Louisiana Division, City Archives, Special Collections.
