William Dummer
Portrait created in 1886 by Frederic Porter Vinton based on an earlier painting
Acting Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay
In office January 2, 1723 – July 19, 1728
Preceded by	Samuel Shute
Succeeded by	William Burnet
In office September 10, 1729 – June 11, 1730
Preceded by	William Burnet
Succeeded by	William Tailer (acting)
Personal details
Born	October 10, 1677 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	October 10, 1761(1761-10-10) (aged 84) Newbury, Massachusetts

William Dummer (October 10, 1677 – October 10, 1761) was a politician in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. He served as its lieutenant governor for fourteen years (1716–1730), including an extended period from 1723 to 1728 when acted as governor. He is remembered for his role in leading the colony during what is sometimes called Dummer's War, which was fought between the British colonies of northeastern North America and a coalition of native tribes in what is now New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

A proponent of education, he bequeathed funds for the establishment of a preparatory school in Massachusetts. For many years it was known as either the Dummer Academy or the Governor Dummer Academy, but is now called The Governor's Academy.

Early life[link]

Dummer was born in Boston, the capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, to Jeremiah Dummer, the first American born silversmith, and Anna Atwater.^[1] His grandfather was Richard Dummer, an early Massachusetts settler and one of the colony's wealthiest men, and he was also related to the magistrate Samuel Sewall.^[2][3]

Little is known of William's early years. Given the family's wealth, he probably attended the Boston Latin School. His younger brother Jeremiah was educated at Harvard and then at Leiden and Utrecht. Details are not known, but the family wealth and William's later interest in education suggest that he was also well educated.

In 1702 Dummer was elected to the membership of Boston's Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.^[4] He went to England, most likely in the early 1700s, where he joined the family's merchant business. He returned to Massachusetts in 1712.^[5] He married Katherine Dudley, daughter of Massachusetts Governor Joseph Dudley, on April 26, 1714.^[6] In a gift that may have been made in anticipation of his wedding, his father in November 1712 gave him a substantial tract of land in the Byfield section of Newbury. The property became the couple's country home. Dummer divided his time between the Newbury property and the family home in Boston.^[7]

Upon the death of Queen Anne in 1714, commissions issued during her reign were set to expire. This resulted in a political scramble for appointments to the leadership of Massachusetts between Dudley's supporters and proponents of a land bank proposal intended to deal with inflationary issuance of colonial currency.^[8] Dummer's brother Jeremiah was in London representing the Dudley faction. Although he was unable to secure Dudley's reappointment, he and Jonathan Belcher were able to bribe the successor chosen by the land bank faction, Elizeus Burgess, to give up his commission. The commission for governor was finally issued in June 1716 to Samuel Shute, a land bank opponent, with William Dummer as lieutenant governor.^[6][9] Shute arrived in the colony the following October, at which time both assumed their offices.^[6]

Acting governor[link]

Dummer's role during Governor Shute's turbulent administration is not well documented. Shute had a difficult relationship with the provincial assembly, which refused to pay crown officials a regular salary, and objected to other policies Shute was instructed to implement.^[10] In 1720, during these ongoing disputes, the assembly reduced the grant it made to the lieutenant governor from £50 to £35. Dummer returned the funds, observing that his out-of-pocket expenses for his office even exceeded the £50 amount.^[4]

The assembly also complicated his negotiations with the restive Abenaki, who occupied lands on the province's eastern borders (now in the state of Maine) and objected to the encroachment of settlers on their lands. Even though there was some desire on the part of the French and the Abenaki for a peaceful resolution to the dispute, the Massachusetts assembly, over Shute's objections, took a hard line, cutting off trade with the Abenaki, and authorizing a militia expedition against Norridgewock, one of the main Abenaki towns.^[11] Relations deteriorated into open warfare in 1722, and Shute declared war on the Abenaki that July.^[12] Because of the ongoing disputes with the assembly, Shute abruptly left the province for London on January 1, 1723, leaving Dummer to act as governor and commander-in-chief. Prosecution of the conflict was left to Dummer, and it has since become known as Dummer's War (among other names).^[13]

Dummer's direction of the war effort included the establishment of fortifications along the province's northern and western frontiers, which then extended into areas west of the Merrimack River that are now parts of New Hampshire and Vermont. In order to provide for the defense of settlers in the Connecticut River valley, Dummer ordered the construction of a fort at what is now Brattleboro, Vermont that was called Fort Dummer in his honor. It was the first permanent European settlement in what is now Vermont territory.

In 1725 and 1726 Dummer, New Hampshire's Acting Governor John Wentworth, and Nova Scotia's military commander Paul Mascarene successfully concluded peace agreements with the Abenaki. In 1728, William Burnet became governor, with Dummer continuing as lieutenant governor. When Burnet died suddenly of a stroke on September 7, 1729, Dummer resumed acting as governor and commander-in-chief. He remained in office until June 11, 1730, when he retired at the age of 53.

He remained, apparently quietly, in private life for many years until his death in 1761. He died at his home in Newbury on October 10, 1761, and was interred in Boston's Granary Burying Ground six days later.^[14][15]

Legacy[link]

Dummer made several charitable bequests in his will. He gave £200 to Harvard College, as well as a £50 grant for the purchase of books, and partially endowed two professorial chairs. His single largest gift was the grant of his Newbury property for a preparatory school. First called the Dummer Charity School, it opened on February 27, 1763.^[16] In its later history it was known as Dummer Academy, and until recently, Governor Dummer Academy.^[17] In July 2006 it changed to The Governor's Academy (the benefactor's surname sounded uncomfortably like "dumber," it was decided, and thus elicited predictable taunts during sport meets).^[18] Dummer's Georgian mansion remains a central feature of the school campus, now serving as the headmaster's residence.

The towns of Dummer, New Hampshire and Dummerston, Vermont were also named in his honor.^[19][20]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Batinski, Michael (1996). Jonathan Belcher, Colonial Governor. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky. ISBN 978-0-8131-1946-5. OCLC 243843478. 
• Currier, John James (1895). Ould Newbury: Historical and Biographical Sketches. Boston: Damrell and Upham. OCLC 2482841. http://books.google.com/books?id=vws1AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA317#v=onepage&f=false. 
• Duffy, John; Hand, Samuel; Orth, Ralph (2003). The Vermont Encyclopedia. Hanover, NH: University Press of New England. ISBN 978-1-58465-086-7. OCLC 52251135. 
• Doyle, John Andrew (1907). English Colonies in America, Volume 5. New York: Henry Holt. OCLC 2453886. http://books.google.com/books?id=nI0ZAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA86#v=onepage&f=false. 
• Hart, Albert Bushnell (ed) (1927). Commonwealth History of Massachusetts. New York: The States History Company. OCLC 1543273.  Five-volume history of Massachusetts to the early 20th century.
• Hunt, Elmer (1971). New Hampshire Town Names and Whence They Came. Peterborough, NH: Noone House. ISBN 978-0-87233-009-2. OCLC 123133109. 
• Morison, Samuel Eliot (1995) [1955]. The Founding of Harvard College. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-31451-1. OCLC 185403584. 
• Morrison, Kenneth (1984). The Embattled Northeast : the Elusive Ideal of Alliance in Abenaki-Euramerican Relations. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-05126-3. OCLC 10072696. 
• Roberts, Oliver (1895). History of the Military Company of the Massachusetts, now called the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company of Massachusetts. Boston: A. Mudge & Son. OCLC 14364228. http://books.google.com/books?id=36pNAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA337#v=onepage&f=false. 
• Woods, Amy. "Dummer Academy". The New England Magazine (March–August 1905): pp. 680–691. http://books.google.com/books?id=268VAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA680#v=onepage&f=false. 

External links[link]

• Official Massachusetts Governor biography
• Governor William Dummer of Massachusetts
• The Family of Dummer of British Origin

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