Descendants of Nicholas SUMMERBELL
Of Northumberland County, England and Shrub Oak, Westchester County, New York

Fourth Generation

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29. Mary Elizabeth HITCHCOCK (Ann Matilda SUMMERBELL , James , Nicholas ) was born about 1832 in New York. She probably died between 1900 and 1906.

Mary Summerbell ShafferFrom “The Summerbell Family” by Rev. Martyn Summerbell, D.D. 1, p. 25-26.

"Mrs. Hitchcock's daughter Mary studied music, in which art she became very proficient. She taught music, both instrumental and vocal, and was herself an accomplished singer. She married Benjamin F. Shaffer, a manufacturer of men's and boy's clothing. The husband and wife were leading members in the Suffolk Street Christian church of New York and later in the Church of the Evangel in Brooklyn.  Mrs. Shaffer was conductor of the choir of the latter church for a number of years, and her husband was deacon and president of the trustees."

According to the 1900 census, 2 of her 3 children died before 1900.  No New York City death record has been found.. Presumably pre-deceased her husband.

The photograph at right, provided by Brian Bing,, and found at the Whitford House in Nile, New York, identifies the  subject as "Cousin Mary Summerbell Shaffer. Daughter of Benjamin Summerbell."  However, Benjami Summerbells's daughter was Mary Summerbell Hawkins.. Click to  enlarge.

Mary married Benjamin F. SHAFFER. Benjamin was born in Jan 1826 in Rhinebeck-on-the-Hudson, Dutchess County, New York. He died on 25 Jan 1907 in Hempstead, Nassau County, New York.

He was a manufacturer of men's and boys' clothing.  From the New York Times, January 27, 1907:
"Benjamin F. Shaffer, who had lived in Brooklyn for many years, died on Friday [25 Jan 1907] at the home of his daughter, 116 Fulton Avenue, Hempstead. He was born in Rhinebeck-on-the-Hudson 81 years ago, and was one of the founders of the Christian Church of the Evangelist, in Leonard Street, Brooklyn."

They had the following children:

+ 72 M i Frank S. SHAFFER was born about 1855. He died btwn 1892-1900.
  73 M ii Benjamin SHAFFER was born about 1856 in New York. He died before 1900.
  74 F iii Annie SHAFFER was born about 1858 in New York.
She was living in Hempstead, Long Island, New York in 1907. Name of spouse unknown.

32. Mary Catherine (Mary Kate) SUMMERBELL (Joseph Ferris , James , Nicholas ) was born in 1837/1838 in Westchester County, New York.  She died on 31 May 1874 in Greenpoint (Brooklyn), Kings County, New York.  She was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery,  Sleepy Hollow, Westchester County, New York,

Death notice in the New-York Herald Tribune, 2 June 1874,, p. 5,
"BIRD--On Sunday, May 31, 1874, Mary Kate Summerbell, wife of Edmund R. Bird, aged 36 years.
Relatives and friends are respectfully invited to attend the funeral  at her late residence , No. 126 Noble-st., Greenpoint, L.I., on Wednesday, June  3, at 4 o'clock p.m."

Find-A-Grave Memorial #60603781

Mary married Edmund R. BIRD, son of John Bird and Mary Van Wert, on 27 Nov 1861 in Tarrytown, Westchester County, New York. Edmund was born about 1835 in New York.

They had the following children:

  75 F i Matilda (Tillie) Summerbell BIRD was born in March 1864 in New York (probably in Westchester County). She died after 1920 (place unknown).
She was 10 years old when her mother died.  In 1880 and 1890 she was living in Brooklyn in the household of her aunt and uncle, Horace and Eliza (Summerbell) Hutchinson. She married in Brooklyn. A daigjhter was was born in 1895 in Monmouth County, New Jersey.  In 1900, she and her husband, married 9 years, were hotel lodgers at 14 High St. in Worcester, Massachusetts. Not found in the 1910 census, and may have separated by then.. In 1920, Tillie, age 55 and divorced, was a patient in the Oak Forest Institution in Bremen, Cook County, Illinois, which was an infirmary for the county's poor or mentally ill, as well as a sanitarium for tuberculosis patients. She is not listed in the Cook County Death Index, 1908-1988, however, so she may have died elsewhere.
        Matilda married Winant V.P. GUSH, son of Herbert James Gush and Sarah Olmstead Pearce on 16 Oct 1890 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York.. He was born in June 1864 in New York. He died on 14 June, 1924 in Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. The marriage ended in divorce or separation before 1920.
Full name was Winant Vizant Pearce Gush. His father was from Middlesex, England, his mother from New York. He was a resident of Brooklyn and a graduate of Columbia University (listed in its alumni catalog.). He enlisted in the army on 4 Jan. 1886 at age 21.  He was a bookkeeper at the time of his marriage (1890). He was in Monmouth County, New Jersey circa 1895. By 1900, he had relocated to Worcester, Massachusetts, where he worked as a cash register salesman.. He returned to Brooklyn before his death at age 60.  He may have remarried; his death certificate states he was married at the time of his death, though we can find no record of it. He was a descendant of the English portrait painter William Gush, whose biography can be found at the Institute of Heraldry and Genealogical Studies.. (Link courtesy of the author, Dee Helmore.)

Children: The couple had  two children who both died before 1900.  One of them was a daughter Karthryne GUSH, born on 28 April 1895 in Monmouth County, New Jersey.

Sources:
1880 Census, Brooklyn, Kings County, New York, Roll  T9-0853 Page 145B.
U.S. Army, Register of Enlistments, 
1798-1914 /
Kings County, New York marriage certificate for Tillie S. Bird and W. Gush, Oct 16 1890, certificate  #4123.
New Jersey Births and Christenings, 1660-1980. Familysearch.org Record Search pilot..
1900 Census, Worcester, Massachusetts, Enumeration District 1776, Roll T623_697 Page: 7A.
1920 Census, Bremen, Cook County, Illinois, Enumeration Disdtict 26, Roll T625_359; Page: 3B.
Kings County, New York death certificate for Wyant Gush, June 14, 1924, certificate # 12136.
Mrs. Dee Helmore, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England.

33. Ann Matilda (Tillie) SUMMERBELL (Joseph Ferris , James , Nicholas ) was born in 1839 in Westchester County, New York. She died on 23 Apr 1911 in Bronx, New York. She was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx, New York.

She lived for a time in Manhattan with her aunt, Ann Matilda (Summerbell) Hitchcock (1850 census) and her cousin Mary Elizabeth (Hitchcock) Shaffer (1860 census).

New York Times, Apr 24, 1911, p. 9.
"BURNS - On Sunday, April 23, 1911, suddenly, at her late residence 1;210 [sic] Simpson St., Bronx, Tillie Summerbell, beloved wife of Charles De F. Burns. Funeral private on Tuesday, April 25th, Interment Woodlawn Cemetery."

Additional Source: Descendant Dick Burns.

Ann Matilda married Charles De Forest BURNS, son of David R. and Helen A. Burns, on 16 May 1860 in New York City. Charles was born in Aug 1841 in New York. He died on 12 Dec 1911 in Bronx, New York.

Death notice, New York Times, Dec 15, 1911, p. 13.
"Charles De Forest Burns, who has just died in his home, 1,437 Vyse Avenue, was widely known as an authority on autographs and old prints. He had made a business of collecting for half a century, and was known to the dealers in this country and Europe. Many years ago he was the secretary of the Park Board.
"

He was a Fire Department clerk for 16 years before being appointed secretary to the Commissioner of Public Parks in 1885. He was accused of corruption and resigned from his post in 1895. At the same time, he was a collector of books, engravings and autographs.  An 1890 New York City directory lists a Charles DeF. Burns, book