Should be:
hugo new site mynewsite
cd mynewsite/
git init
git submodule add https://github.com/zerostaticthemes/hugo-serif-theme.git themes/hugo-serif-theme
rm -f hugo.toml
cp -a themes/hugo-serif-theme/exampleSite/. .
hugo server
Or, you could rename the config file in the example site from config.toml to hugo.toml.
Should be:
Or, you could rename the config file in the example site from
config.tomltohugo.toml.