Richard Dummer was an unusual man. Manifesting no resentment at his treatment, two years afterwards, when Winthrop, owing to his impoverishment, called for contributions, Dummer gave one hundred pounds,—more than one-fifth of that contributed in the colony. Two of his sons, Richard and Jeremiah, became very prominent, the former living on the farm by the falls and the latter becoming a judge. It was this Jeremiah who was the father of the governor, William Dummer, and also of Jeremiah, Jr., who was graduated from Harvard in 1699.
At this period the names of the students were arranged in the catalogue in rank of family, and Jeremiah's headed the list. He was also the first scholar in his class and was spoken of by President Mather as the best scholar ever at the college. He was very prominent all his life. Bancroft, speaking of him, said: "His writings were the fruit of loyal colonial liberties and contained the seed of American independence."
In 1687 his brother William was born in Boston. William was not a student, being educated simply at the Boston Grammar School. Enlisting in the Artillery Company in 1702, he rose to its captaincy. England was his residence for several years prior to his marriage in 1714 to Katherine, daughter of Joseph Dudley, then governor of the province and son of Thomas Dudley, one of the early governors of the colony. In 1716 Governor Dudley refused re-appointment, and Colonel Samuel Shute was appointed in his place by the Crown, who under the Province Charter reserved the right to appoint governor, lieutenant-governor, and secretary. This was a time of continual conflicts in the colony through disagreements in appointments, so that the province governors enjoyed little ease.
After an uneasy administration of six years, Governor Shute left in 1723 in disgust, remaining in England until the arrival of his successor, William Burnett, in 1728. This left Dummer in the gubernatorial chair for nearly six years.
Governor Dummer was placed in a very trying position. The Administration made it practically impossible for him to render strict and impartial judgment and give satisfaction to the people. His alliance with Dudley and Shute, however, proved no obstacle to his influence with them, for Governor Dummer was born in the province, and his education, his experience, and his family traditions were with the people. It is said of him, too, that during the critical period of his administration, his wisdom and impartiality, as well as his kind, conciliatory spirit brought about the confidence and respect of all who were thrown in contact with him.
The office of lieutenant-governor was his until 1730, when he was succeeded by Lieutenant-governor Tailer. The house in Newbury was only a summer estate, for he occupied in winter a brick house on School Street in Boston, bounded northerly on Province Street, and being separated from the Province House estate by a six-foot passageway.
Governor Dummer was a very religious man, attending the Hollis Street Church and presenting it with an imperial folio Bible in two volumes, richly bound in rich crimson Levant morocco, splendidly gilt on the edges and elaborately tooled by the bookbinders. It was presented on condition that it should be read as a part of the Divine service, and at the present day retains its former richness of color and gilding. The paper is rich and smooth and creamy as though just made, while the size and clearness of type are a comfort to any minister's eyes. After Dummer's death he was buried in the Granary Burying Ground on Tremont Street, Boston.
Governor Dummer was a man of great firmness, strict integrity, and warm benevolence. In civil and administrative affairs he showed a rare combination of qualities, leading his administration to be spoken of by Dudley as the "wise administration of Dummer."
