Jessie Sumner

Who was Jessie Sumner?

Jessie Sumner was a U.S. Representative from Illinois.

Born in Milford, Illinois, Sumner attended the public schools. She graduated from Girton School, Winnetka, Illinois, in 1916 and Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1920. She studied law at the University of Chicago, Columbia University, New York City, and Oxford University, England. She also studied briefly at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the New York University School of Commerce in New York City.

Sumner was admitted to the bar in 1923 and practiced in Chicago, Illinois. She was employed at the Chase National Bank in New York City in 1928. She returned to Milford, Illinois, in 1932 and resumed the practice of law. She served as county judge of Iroquois County, Illinois, in 1937. She served as director of Sumner National Bank, Sheldon, Illinois.

Sumner was elected as a Republican to the Seventy-sixth and to the three succeeding Congresses. She was not a candidate for renomination in 1946. She resumed position as vice president from 1938 to 1966, and president from 1966 to 1994, of Sumner National Bank. She was a resident of Milford, Illinois, until her death in Watseka, Illinois, on August 10, 1994.