Editing Sumner Welles (section)

==Early life==
Benjamin Sumner Welles was born in New York City, the son of [[Benjamin Welles|Benjamin Sumner Welles Jr.]] (1857–1935) and Frances Wyeth Swan (1863–1911).<ref>Welles's father studied at the [[Groton School]] in Groton, Massachusetts and graduated from [[Harvard University]] in 1878. His sister was Emily Frances Welles (1889–1962), who married Harry Pelham Robbins. ''The New York Times'': [https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1908/04/23/105005000.pdf "Miss Emily Welles a Bride", April 23, 1908], accessed November 8, 2010</ref> He preferred to be called Sumner after his famous relative [[Charles Sumner]], a leading Senator from Massachusetts during the [[American Civil War|Civil War]] and [[Reconstruction era of the United States|Reconstruction]]. His family was wealthy and was connected to the era's most prominent families. He was a grandnephew of [[Caroline Webster Schermerhorn Astor]], known as "''the'' Mrs. Astor". Among his ancestors were [[Thomas Welles]],<ref name=Siemiatkoski>Donna H. Siemiatkoski, ''The Descendants of Governor Thomas Welles of Connecticut, 1590–1658, and His Wife, Alice Tomes'' (Gateway Press, 1990)</ref> a colonial Governor of Connecticut, and [[Increase Sumner]], Governor of [[Massachusetts]] from 1797 to 1799.<ref name="BWObit1935">{{cite news|title=Benjamin Wells Dies of Pneumonia; Father of Assistant Secretary of State Was Descendant of Colonial Settlers.|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1935/12/27/97312299.pdf|access-date=January 14, 2018|work=[[The New York Times]]|date=December 27, 1935}}</ref>  Although the two men were occasionally mistaken for cousins, Welles was no relation to director [[Orson Welles]].<ref>''Orson Welles in Italy'' by Alberto Anile and Marcus Perryman. Indiana University Press (September 25, 2013), {{ISBN|0253010411}}, p. 26</ref>

The Welles family was also connected to the Roosevelts. A cousin of Sumner Welles married [[James "Rosy" Roosevelt, Jr.]], half-brother of future President [[Franklin D. Roosevelt]] (FDR). At the age of 10, Welles was entered in Miss Kearny's Day School for Boys in New York City. In September 1904, he entered [[Groton School]] in Massachusetts, where he remained for six years. There he roomed with [[Hall Roosevelt]], the brother of [[Eleanor Roosevelt]].<ref name="Welles2000">{{cite web|last1=Devine|first1=Michael J.|title=Welles, Sumner (14 Oct. 1892–24 Sept. 1961)|url=http://www.anb.org/articles/06/06-00696.html|website=www.anb.org|publisher=American National Biography Online|access-date=March 9, 2017|location=Oxford University Press|date=February 2000}}</ref> In March 1905 at the age of 12 Welles served as a page at Franklin D. Roosevelt's wedding to Eleanor.

Welles attended [[Harvard College]] where he studied "economics, Iberian literature and culture",<ref name=diplomat /> and graduated after three years in 1914.<ref>''Life'', April 26, 1943 [https://books.google.com/books?id=EU4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA7 available online], accessed November 8, 2010</ref>