The information in this brief summary was researched, compiled, and documented by Sandralee Summers Jensen. It is contained in her books, The Somers Walkers Paschalls of N.C., Dec 15, 1997, and Descendants of Pharoah Somers, May 14, 1998.

Phary was born April 6, 1818, in Caswell County, North Carolina, the second child of Pharoah and Susan Sartin Somers. He had a brother, Zery James, who was born December 8, 1816, and a sister, Nancy, who was born in 1823. He married Elizabeth Eliza Paschall on November 5, 1841 in Caswell County, North Carolina. Zery was the witness at their marriage.

Phary became a property owner at an early age. It is known that approximately a year after his marriage, he owned land with his father, Pharoah based on a record of the sale of 77 and 8/10 acres of land from Pharoah and Phary to John Canaday for $200 in September 1842. This was also the year that his first child, Ezekiel, was born.

Five years later, his second child, Eliza, was born April 18, 1847, and two years after that, Mary was born in 1849. These would be all the chidren to be born in North Carolina. Phary next appears in the 1850 Federal Census for Jackson County, Tennessee, with his wife Eliza, and the three children. His father, Pharoah was enroute to Tennessee when he died in 1845. Parenthetical comment: Another Somers family of Caswell County, North Carolina, earleir had moved to Wison County, Tennessee, approximately forty miles further west. Another branch of this family moved to Weakley County, Tennesse, adjoined to Henry County Tennessee's western boundary. Attempts to connect that Somers family with Pharoah have thus far proved fruitless.

Phary and Eliza's fourth child, Henry F. Summers, was born in Tennessee about 1851. It is not known if he was born in Jackson County or Henry County. Between 1850 and November 1852, Phary moved to Henry County, Tennessee. He purchased 100 acres of land on November 27, 1852 for $300. The description of the land included a reference to Zery Somers' land so it is conceivable that Zery had arrived in Henry County Earlier. Soon after arriving in Tennessee, the family changed the spelling of the name from "Somers" to "Summers".

Typical farmland near Jones Mill and Jones Cemetery. The barn clustered among the trees is an example of the many tobacco drying barns that dot the countryside. Tobacco was a very important crop to the community when Phary was there.

While in Henry County, the following children were born: Thursa Frances Summers - 1852 John Stanley Summers - On July 22, 1854. Susan Chase Summers - April 14, 1857. Phary Dotson Summers - July 12, 1859. Zery D. Summers - December 24, 1861.

Phary died December 27, 1864. He is buried in the Jones Cemetery, near Jones Mill.