SOMMERS, Charles George, clergyman, born in London, England, 4 March, 1793 ; died in New York city, 19 December, 1868. His father was a Norwegian, and the early part of the son's life was spent in Denmark, where, after attending school, he entered a mercantile house at Elsinore. He came to this country in 1808, and in 1811 entered the employ of John Jacob Astor, for whom he went to Canada on a difficult mission during the war of 1812, but he abandoned business soon afterward for the Baptist ministry. After a six years' pastorate in Troy, New York, he was called to the charge of the South Baptist church in New York city, where he remained till his retirement in 1856. He was an active worker in connection with the tract and Bible societies, and a founder of the American Baptist home mission society. In 1852 he received the degree of D. D. from Madison university. Dr. Sommers published numerous controversial articles in defence of Baptist doctrines, edited a volume of "Psalms and Hymns" (Philadelphia, 1835) and "The Baptist Library" (3 vols., Prattsville, New York, 1843), and was the author of a "Memoir of John Stanford, D. D., with Selections from his Correspondence" (New York, 1835).