Summers served as the pastor at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in San Francisco, California at the end of the 19th century.

[2] He was forced by his enslaver to serve as his "servant" for the Confederate States Army during the American Civil War.

[4] From 1891 to 1894, he served as the pastor at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church in San Francisco, California.

[13] In 2003–2004, Dennis Evanosky, an Oakland writer, and historian, worked together with Summers' great granddaughter, Myra Adams, to provide him a proper burial.

[13] Summers received a new headstone from the U.S. federal government, and it was placed in the Grand Army of the Republic plot reserved for Civil War veterans.