Pg 826
Ambrose Summers, farmer, was born in Eastern Township in 1842, the next youngest of sixteen children-all but one of whom lived to have families-of Alex and Clarissa H. (Lilly) Summers. The father, a native of Sumner County, Tenn., was reared and married there, then after a year in Franklin County, and about a year back in Sumner County, they settled in Franklin County. The first trip, one horse and pack-saddle, held all they owned, and the next time one horse and cart. They were influential pioneers and substantial people of the county. He was a soldier of the Black Hawk war and the war of 1812. He died in 1866. The mother, born in Tennessee, died in 1885. Our subject was educated in the country schools, and on March 1, 1861, married Sarah, daughter of David and Mary A. Rouintree, a native of Pennsylvania. Their children are Clarissa Alice (wife of J. D. Allen), Mary A., Charles, Matilda, Milton, Martha J., Flora and Alfred. Pearly is deceased. He has always resided in the vicinity of his birth, now on a farm of 140 acres five miles from Thompsonville, most of which land is tbe result of his own efforts in acquiring property. In the autumn of 1882 he enlisted in Company K, One Hundred and Tenth Illinois Infantry, was afterward transferred to the First United States Engineers, and was at Murfreesboro, Chattanooga, Chickamauga and numerous severe skirmishes, serving three years. He was township commissioner one year. He is a Republican, first voting for Grant. He is a member of the F. & A. M., G. A. R. and F. M. B. A. organizations, and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.