Charles Burt Sumner

Charles Burt Sumner (August 17, 1837 – July 11, 1927) was a minister in the Congregational church and a founding trustee of Pomona College who served as its de facto first president.[3][4][5]

Charles Burt Sumner
Financial Agent with Supervisory Authority of Pomona College
In office
1888–1890
Preceded byOffice established
Succeeded byCyrus G. Baldwin (as president of Pomona College)
Personal details
Born(1837-08-17)August 17, 1837
Southbridge, Massachusetts, United States
DiedJuly 11, 1927(1927-07-11) (aged 89)
Claremont, California, United States
Spouse(s)
    Mary Louisa Stedman
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1869; died 1893)​
    [1][2]
      Maria Frost Cole
      ​
      ​
      (m. 1904; died 1905)​
      [2]
      Children2
      Alma materYale University
      ProfessionAcademic

      Life and career

      Sumner was born on August 17, 1837, in Southbridge, Massachusetts, to George and Julia Sumner.[6] He went to Southbridge Academy and Williston Seminary, and then attended Yale University, graduating in 1862.[6]

      During the Civil War, he fought for the Union for nine months as a sergeant in the 45th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment.[7][2]

      He later graduated from the Andover Theological Seminary, and held pastorates in Monson, Massachusetts (at Monson Academy), West Somerville, Massachusetts, Tucson, Arizona, Pomona, California, and Claremont, California.[8]

      In 1888, he left the Pilgrim Congregational Church in Pomona to become Pomona College's "financial agent with supervisory authority", a position in which he assumed the duties of a college president.[3] During his tenure, the college began teaching its first classes in Ayer Cottage and acquired 120 acres (49 ha) of land in Piedmont Mesa north of Pomona for a planned permanent campus.[3] In October 1888, the college acquired an unfinished hotel in Claremont (today's Sumner Hall) and moved there in the following months.[3] In 1890, he helped recruit Pomona's first official president, Cyrus G. Baldwin.[3]

      Sumner remained a Pomona College trustee until his retirement in 1924. He also taught biblical literature at the college between 1888 and 1899.[2] In 1892, he opposed the college's decision to make Claremont its permanent home, but he later relocated his house to Claremont in 1901, living in it during the six-week move.[9] In 1910, Pomona gave him the college's first honorary doctorate, a Legum Doctor degree.[10][2] In 1914, he published a comprehensive history of the college.[10]

      Sumner was also involved in the development of citrus fruit marketing cooperatives,[7] and served as the president of the Indian Hill Citrus Association and San Dimas Orange Association, and the director of the San Dimas Lemon Association.[2]

      He died on July 11, 1927, of pneumonia.[8]

      Legacy

      Sumner's daughter, Helen, and son, George, both graduated from Pomona's first class of students in 1894.[8] George later taught economics at Pomona and became its controller in 1923.[9] His grandson, George Charles Sumner Benson, became the founding president of Claremont McKenna College.[11]

      Sumner's house was occupied by his son and grandson, and later rented to faculty and used as a dormitory for vegetarian students. It has served as the college's guest house since 1992.[9][12]

      Pomona's first building, Sumner Hall, was named for his wife, Mary Louisa Stedman Sumner, in 1893.[13] It serves as the college's office of admissions today.

      Publications
      • The Story of Pomona College. Pilgrim Press. 1914.

      References
      1. Blaisdell, James S. "In Memoriam: Charles Burt Sumner". Pomona College Quarterly Magazine. 16 (October 1927–January 1928): 7. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
      2. "Obituary Record of Yale Graduates 1927–1928". Bulletin of Yale University. September 15, 1928. pp. 16–18. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
      3. "1888". Pomona College Timeline. November 7, 2014. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
      4. Brackett, Frank P.; Miller, Evylena Nunn (1944). Granite and sagebrush; reminiscences of the first fifty years of Pomona College. Los Angeles, California: Ward Ritchie Press. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
      5. Lyon, E. Wilson (1977). The History of Pomona College, 1887-1969. The Castle Press.
      6. Blaisdell, James S. "In Memoriam: Charles Burt Sumner". Pomona College Quarterly Magazine. 16 (October 1927–January 1928): 6. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
      7. "Death Takes Claremont Educator". Pomona Progress-Bulletin. July 12, 1927. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
      8. "Pomona College Founder is Dead". Chino Champion. July 15, 1927. p. 1. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
      9. "1901". Pomona College Timeline. Pomona College. November 7, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
      10. Churchill, M. E. (1927). "Charles Burt Sumner". Retrieved September 17, 2020.
      11. Honan, William H. (March 25, 1999). "George Benson, 91, A College Founder And Nixon Official". The New York Times. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
      12. Allen, David (January 19, 2019). "Host was part of the charm at Claremont's 1887 Sumner House". Inland Valley Daily Bulletin. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
      13. "1893". Pomona College Timeline. Pomona College. November 7, 2014. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
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