The Summerfields helped shape Mineral County and Hawthorne in the Early Days

     Alexander Summerfield was one of the earliest settlers of Nevada, a pioneer merchant of Hawthorne who built the first store called the Summerfield Mercantile (or People’s Cash Store) and stocked it with general merchandise in May 1881.  Born in Poland in 1842, he arrived in San Francisco at fourteen years of age and began earning his own living as a clerk in a store in the old town of Shasta, California.

Hawthorne and its development were of deep interest to Alexander and for twenty-three years he ran a store in Hawthorne. Alexander was a member of the school board and was the postmaster for nine years. A member of the Republican party, he was a highly involved member of the Knights of Pythias fraternity, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He also served as the president of the local fire department and later became the treasurer.
 

     Alexander married Miss Esther Bloomfield in June 1876. Esther was a native of New York but was reared in Nevada. Her father was Elias Bloomfield, one of the brave pioneer settlers of this state. The Summerfields had 13 children but only six children lived, Solomon, Abraham, Rose (White), Hattie

(Thiessen), Myrtle (Sullivan) and Frances the youngest. Alexander remarried following Esther’s death to Lydia Jane Summerfield who was 35 years younger and had no children. Alexander is buried in the Hawthorne Cemetery.

Solomon, the oldest of the six children, stayed in Hawthorne and became active in the community. At 22 he was elected to the Nevada State Assembly and moved to Reno to work for the railroad in Sparks, later becoming the town’s first postmaster. Solomon returned to Hawthorne to take over his father’s store before moving to Mina and opening his own store called the Mina Mercantile, which he ran till the 1930’s. He was involved in mining, the fire department, the chamber of commerce, Knights of Pythias and was a Mineral County Commissioner at one time. Solomon was also the Postmaster in Mina.

     In the Mineral County Museum, we have a fantastic article on Solomon and sister Rose’s husband Jay White about a bike ride to Carson City, via Lucky Boy, Fletcher, the Elbow, Wellington and then on to Carson City in October 1896. Solomon was married to Lucille McBride and they had three daughters, Ester, Lucille (later Travelle) and Gertrude (later Hillygus). Wife Lucille died of the Spanish Flu in 1918 and Solomon died in 1935 at 58 years old, both are buried in Mina. It was said that Solomon had the largest funeral in Mina’s history.

Life was not perfect for the Summerfield family. Alexander and Ester’s son Abraham could not stay out of trouble. He was often out of work and was found guilty of several crimes including robbing a post office and spent time in both the state prison and in a federal penitentiary.

Rose Summerfield married Jay White (D.A. in Hawthorne and Secretary to Governor Belzar). She lived a full life. As it turns out, I found photos of her and Jay White in the museum with a lot of other family members that seem to go on and on. (The Parker family photos). So, if your grandfather was Fred Parker you are related to the roots of Hawthorne.

     In the 1900 census it was recorded that Hattie was 15 years old and living at home.  I found a photo of her when she was a young teen. Hattie married Albert Thiessen, a railroad worker, on August 12, 1904 and died on May 21, 1907 in San Francisco, California.

According to some of the records I found there were two Frances Summerfields, one was a female who may have died at an early age and the same name was given to male child born later. Frances Summerfield lived in Hawthorne, Esmeralda County, Nevada, United States in 1910 and Judicial Township 4, Inyo, California, United States for about 10 years. He registered for military service in 1918 and died on 21 April 1953, in Inyo, California, United States, at the age of 58, and was buried in Mount Whitney Cemetery, Lone Pine, Inyo, California, United States.

References

Findagrave.com

Mineral County Nevada by Sue Silver

https://criminalgenealogy.blogspot.com/

Hawthorne’s Cemetery book in the Mineral County Museum

Mineral County Independent News

The Parker Family Photos

Walker Lake Bulletin