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"Increase Sumner (1746-1799) was a U.S. political figure.
He served as the first Federalist Governor of Massachusetts from 1797 to
1799. The Sumner Tunnel, which connects Boston Proper to East Boston, is
named in honor of his son, Judge William H. Sumner.
Increase Sumner had graduated from Harvard with
distinction in 1767, and beginning in 1776, served three terms in the
Massachusetts General Court (House of Representatives), as well as two terms
in the Senate from 1780. He was a member of the Constitutional Convention of
1779-80, as also later of the convention that accepted the federal
constitution.
In August 1782, he was appointed an associate justice of
the Supreme Judicial Court, and in January 1785, was added to the committee
to revise the Massachusetts State laws. In 1796, though averse to being a
candidate, he was elected governor, and was three times reelected by great
majorities. He died before the beginning of his last term.
The inscription on his tomb indicates that Sumner was a
trusted and beloved governor. His remains were interred with military honors
at the public expense, with the funeral procession extending from Roxbury to
the State House. The inscription on his marker is as follows:
Here repose the remains of
INCREASE SUMNER,
Born at Roxbury
Nov. 27, 1746,
Died at same place
June 7,1790.
He was for some time a practitioner at the Bar;
And for fifteen years an Associate Justice
of the Supreme Judicial Court;
Was thrice elected
GOVERNOR OF MASSACHUSETTS
in which office he died.
As a Lawyer, he was faithful and able;
As a Judge, patient, impartial and decisive
As a Chief Magistrate
accessible frank and independent
In the vigour of intellectual attainments
and in the midst of usefulness
he was called by Divine Providence
to rest with his fathers,
he went down to the chambers of death,
in the full belief, that the grave
is the pathway to future existence.
As in life he secured the suffrages of the free,
And was blessed with the approbation of the wise,
So in death be was honoured by the tears of the patriotic
And is held in sweet remembrance
by a discerning
and affectionate people.
In private life,
He was affectionate and mild;
In public life,
He was dignified and firm,
Party feuds were allayed
by the correctness of his conduct,
Calumny was silenced
by the weight of his virtues,
And rancour softened
by the amenity of his manners.
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