Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 1

Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Fox Hunting on Long Island

By

Judith A. Tabler

The Roosevelts and the Meadow Brook Hunt1 set down roots on Long Island at about the same time – the late 1870s. They were not alone. Before the Civil War, Long Island farmland provided wagonloads of poultry, vegetables, and fruit to feed the residents of New York City.

The high-fenced fields penned in sheep and cattle that yielded wool, meat, and dairy products.

The milk from Westbury dairies was famous for its sweetness, which came from “the richness of the pastures.”2

After the Civil War, New York City attracted a great number of people, many of them wealthy. The city’s population almost doubled between 1870 and 1890.3 A booming economy created a moneyed upper class with many idle sons and daughters. In 1873, Mark Twain and Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 2 Charles Dudley Warner’s novel, The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today gave the era its poignant name.

With money in their pockets and time on their hands, many young New Yorkers headed to Long Island to build their country estates. In the years 1875 to 1900, farm acreage in Queens

County dropped from 90,738 to 69,357.4 The wheat and corn production dwindled and the local gristmills were idled. Farmers found stronger markets for flowers and ornamental trees. The town of Hinsdale provided so many floral seeds that it was renamed Floral Park. Hicks and Sons nursery in Westbury became famous for its supply of specialty trees, vines, and fruits, which soon decorated the estates of Long Island millionaires—an area that would become known as the

“Gold Coast.”5 Newspaper columnists, familiar with the moniker “Newport colony” for the social elites in that section of Rhode Island, dubbed the hunting area in the Hempstead Plains the

“Meadow Brook colony.”6

Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 3 The two Roosevelt boys, Theodore and Elliott, had been coming to Oyster Bay, Long

Island since childhood. For several summers in the mid-1870s, their parents rented a large house they called “Tranquility” in Oyster Bay. Like many New Yorkers, the family sought healthy fresh air and outdoor activities to strengthen their children’s constitutions.

Concurrently, four other young men, Belmont Purdy, Robert Center, William E. Peet, and

Frank Gray Griswold, were exploring Long Island. They were determined to organize a new foxhunt.7 They had been riding “to the hounds” with a disorganized hunt in New Jersey, and they wished to establish a “proper” subscription hunt on the Hempstead Plains. They rented a farmhouse with stables and kennels on the A. T. Stewart property in East Meadow near Garden

City. The country had few foxes so it was decided that they would be a “drag” hunt. With this sort of hunt, a member drags an anise-seed scented bag over the trail they want the hounds to follow. This ensures a fast run over many preselected, high jumps.8 Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 4 The opening hunt was held Wednesday, October 3, 1877, at one o’clock on the grounds of the Garden City Hotel, where spectators gathered on the piazza to wave as the riders headed out. Local newspaper reporters covered the historic event. Several observers saw humor in the sport of drag hunting. One reporter suggested dragging a bag of catnip instead of anise-seed so that the horsemen on Long Island could follow a pack of cats.9 The New York Times published a long article entitled “Hunting the Anise-Seed Bag,” in which the writer mocked the “brave” riders who pursue the vicious anise-seed critter which inhabits the Hempstead Plains.10

The next week, on October 10, the hunt met at the kennels in East Meadow Brook and set out after a live fox, which had probably been imported. A “bagged” fox is released shortly before the hounds, and since it is unfamiliar with the territory, the fox usually runs a fast and straight line.11 The newspapers reported that Elliott Roosevelt rode a black mare and took a “cropper” (a fall), but he remounted and finished the hunt. This was the first mention of the Roosevelts foxhunting on Long Island. Sixteen-year-old Elliott was probably seeking some excitement. He was living with his family in New York City, having recently returned from a lengthy trip to

Texas with his 23-year-old cousin, John Roosevelt. Elliott had withdrawn from St. Paul’s School the year before due to poor health. His older brother, Theodore, was away at Harvard.

The following February, in 1878, Theodore Roosevelt, Sr. died; his death greatly impacted his sons. Elliott embarked on a lengthy trip to India, where he hunted big game and probably learned to play polo. Theodore resumed his studies at Harvard and found solace in his courtship of Alice Hathaway Lee, in nearby Chestnut Hill. The couple was engaged on February

14, 1880. The following June, Theodore graduated, and that fall, they married, on October 27,

Theodore’s twenty-second birthday. Elliott had returned from his exotic travels in time to be his brother’s best man. Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 5 Theodore and Alice settled in New York City, but Theodore longed to live in the country.

He purchased 155 acres in Oyster Bay, to build a future family compound. While planning his country estate, Theodore attended Columbia Law School, which he abandoned when he was elected to the New York Assembly.

Elliott, also lived in the city, where he was embraced by the social elites. His name regularly appeared on the society pages. He attended many parties with members of the Queen’s

County Drag Hounds.

Life among the founders of the Queens County Drag Hounds was in turmoil. After a falling out, Frank Griswold packed up his hounds and formed competing hunt. New hounds were soon imported the hunt was reorganized on May 27, 1881, as the Meadow Brook Club.

Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 6

A photograph of the early members of Meadow Brook Club shows Elliott, with his hat tipped at a jaunty angle, staring at the camera. Also in the photograph are Elliott’s two proposers to the Meadow Brook Club, Stanley Mortimer and H.B. Richardson. (Two of gentlemen in the photograph would later become Elliott’s brother-in-laws. Stanley Mortimer marries Elliott’s wife’s sister and Douglas Robinson marries Elliott’s sister, Corinne.) This was a heady time for young Roosevelt. At age twenty-one, he was partying hard and drinking too much. But he seems to have still been admired. James and Sarah Delano Roosevelt asked him to be the godfather to their son, Franklin Delano (the future president). Elliott served as best man for one friend and as an usher in several other weddings. He delighted both friends and family when he became engaged to a popular debutante, Anna Hall, on Memorial Day, 1883. A week later, on June 7,

Elliott was elected to membership at Meadow Brook.12 He and Anna married on December 1,

1883. The couple moved into a fashionable brownstone in the city. Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 7

The following February 14, 1884, marked the death of Theodore and Elliott’s mother and

Theodore’s wife following the birth of their daughter, Alice. In response, Theodore withdrew from New York and traveled to the North Dakota Badlands.

Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 8 Elliott and his young wife remained in New York City over the next several years, where he worked in his in-law’s real estate firm, and Anna gave birth to their daughter, Anna “Eleanor”

Roosevelt. It was during this time that Elliott became more and more involved with the Meadow

Brook Club. The Club provided stables for members’ horses and housing for grooms to live on the grounds. Meadow Brook Members stayed overnight in the clubhouse whenever they wished, and for many young men it became a second home. Newspaper articles often mentioned Elliott playing polo or being in the hunt “field,” which is the foxhunting term to describe those riding with a hunt.

Elliott achieved recognition by the Meadow Brook members, and he accepted positions on the stable, polo, and house committees. He was elected to the board as a “steward,” the

Meadow Brook term used in place of governor. He became the Club’s honorary secretary and was in charge of the minutes and all correspondence.13 Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 9 In the fall of 1885, Theodore returned to Oyster Bay and also joined the Meadow Brook

Club. He hosted the hunt at Sagamore Hill on October 26th. The New York Times reported the event with a tabloid headline: “MR. ROOSEVELT IN AT THE DEATH: HE RIDES TWO MILES WITH A

BROKEN ARM IN PURSUIT OF A FOX.”14

The article stated that forty riders were in the field, including “the Hon. Theodore

Roosevelt, August Belmont, Jr., Alfred Morgan, Stanley Mortimer, and Belmont Purdy.” There was no mention of Elliott. The reporter assured the reader that each rider was on the best horse Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 10 and the country was “the ‘stiffest’ to be hunted over on either side of the Atlantic.”15 The real excitement occurred when Mr. Roosevelt’s thoroughbred horse, Frank, went lame. Undeterred,

Roosevelt spurred the horse toward a five-foot high fence. The horse tripped at the fence, and both the horse and rider fell onto a pile of stones. Roosevelt rose with a bloodied face and broken arm, but the “plucky” Ex-Assemblyman remounted Frank and continued for two more miles where the fox ran into its den, ending the hunt. When asked about his wounds, Mr. Roosevelt declared, “‘It’s a mere trifle.’”16 17

Theodore was so inspired by this foxhunt that he composed a 5000-word article on the subject that he sent it off for publication to Century Magazine. A few weeks later, Theodore proposed marriage to a childhood girlfriend, Edith Carew. The two became secretly engaged and would marry the following year.

Meanwhile Elliott was hard at work with official matters at Meadow Brook. August

“Augie” Belmont Jr. had been appointed acting Master of Foxhounds (M.F.H.) while the regular

M.F.H. was in Europe. Thirty-one-year-old Belmont had joined the Meadow Brook Club in his twenties, and he played polo, rode in amateur horse races, and fox hunted regularly. He was a Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 11 natural choice for acting Master. Belmont seems to have greatly enjoyed his brief reign. He commissioned a local artist, Gustav Muss-Arnolt, to paint “The Meadow Brook Hounds Meet at the Old Westbury Pond on Long Island.” This work shows Belmont as M.F.H., and the huntsman, staff, hounds and field, including both Theodore and Elliott Roosevelt.

On national election days, the Meadow Brook Club traditionally held a special foxhunt and supper. 18 In 1885, for the first time, they invited women to dine with them. About twenty men and six women attended, including Mrs. August Belmont Jr. When the men decided it was time for the women to withdraw to a separate room after the meal, as was the custom, several members began to sing a well-known tune, “Goodnight Ladies.” Augie Belmont flew into a rage, claiming the song was an insult to the female guests. The language became heated, and Belmont stomped out of the room. The remaining members believed that their honors have been attacked.

A duel was proposed—first with guns, but then downgraded to a fistfight. Finally, the men cooled down, but they demanded a written apology from Belmont, which he eventually wrote.19

Just days after submitting his apology, Belmont exploded again. He complained vociferously to anyone who would listen that Frank Griswold had brought his foxhounds into Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 12 Meadow Brook territory. Griswold responded with an angry letter demanding that Belmont make these remarks to his face, rather than to others. Belmont fired off a missive detailing all of

Griswold’s offenses. The argument became nastier, and more harsh words were exchanged. The

Meadow Brook stewards attempted to intervene, but that further outraged Belmont. He again submitted his resignation. The Meadow Brook stewards enlisted Elliott Roosevelt, someone they considered level-headed, to mollify the irascible Belmont. Using his charm, Elliott calmed

Belmont down and convinced him to write a second apology. Belmont complied and was reinstated.20 Years later, Belmont would be elected president of the Club, but he was never asked to be Master of Foxhounds again.

The following winter, on February 10, 1886, a tragedy occurred at Meadow Brook.

According to newspaper reports and entries in the Club stewards’ records, Meadow Brook had at least two stables for the horses used for hunting, polo, and general transportation. The upstairs of the larger stable contained rooms for the stableboys and kennel helpers. Nearby were several other wooden buildings: the clubhouse, a smaller stable, the kennel-man’s house, the kennel, and perhaps a carriage house. The stable boys were awakened at 2:30 A.M. by the noise the horses were making.21 The main stable was on fire. Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 13 The boys ran for help and alerted several Club members who were staying either at the clubhouse or lived nearby. The men managed to open one stable door, and Elliott Roosevelt’s horse, Mohawk, galloped out.

The Club stable was soon fully engulfed in flames. The men doused the ground and sides of the buildings with water while the stableboys threw snowballs on the roofs, successfully extinguishing the sparks that landed there. A shift in the wind helped to finally contain the blaze.

Twenty-four horses died that night; Mohawk was the sole survivor from the large stable.

It was surmised that someone had not fastened the stall door properly, and that the mistake saved the horse’s life.

Elliott Roosevelt lost two other horses that night, but Mohawk seems to have been a favorite. This was the horse he bestrode when posing for a formal hunting photograph. And in

1893, shortly before his death, when Elliott took his daughter Eleanor (the future Mrs. Franklin

D. Roosevelt) for a carriage ride in Central Park, he selected Mohawk to pull them along. Elliott bragged that “if he just says ‘Hoopla’ to Mohawk, the horse will try to jump over all the carts Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 14 around us.” Eleanor remembered that “I tried to hide my fears as I murmured, ‘I hope you won’t say it.’”22

After the stable fire, Elliott Roosevelt continued to bask in the acceptance and respect he found in the “Meadow Brook colony.” He was so content there that he purchased ten acres of land near the clubhouse and began construction of his house. Impatient to reside in the area, he rented a house in Hempstead while his home was underway. Elliott was fully committed to the

Meadow Brook life, where the parties were frequent, and the alcohol flowed freely.

In July 1886, Theodore’s “Riding to Hounds on Long Island” article appeared in Century

Magazine.23 Roosevelt states that “My own hunting has been done with the Meadowbrook hounds, in the northern part of Long Island” and foxhunting is “the most exciting and perhaps also the manliest kind of amusement to be found east of the Mississippi River.”24 He estimates that on a good day the hunt will race at a “rattling” good pace across ten miles and jump at least sixty difficult fences that vary between four and five feet high. There is but one lady who can keep up with the men. He lists the injuries that occur on a single day: someone dislocated knee, another person broke two ribs, and the author himself broke his arm. However, he still finds the Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 15 experience as joyous as a day’s battle, where accidents are to be expected. He tells the reader that one can fox hunt without so much danger by not riding at the front of the hunt and by avoiding poorly trained or fatigued horses. “But it would be very unfair to think the sport especially dangerous on account of the occasional accidents that happen. . . . Most falls, however, do no harm whatever to either horse or rider, and after they have picked themselves up and shaken themselves, the couple ought to be able to go on just as well as ever.”25

Not everyone agreed with Roosevelt. A few years later, in 1892, the front page of the

New York Times screams, “Time to Call a Halt: Danger in Reckless Riding to Hounds.” The article cites disgust among members of the Union, Knickerbocker, and Calumet clubs about the

Meadow Brook Hunt. It is “high time for the hunting set” to stop the wild riding over rough and unsuitable country.

Meadow Brook members countered that there had only been two deaths in the Club’s eleven-year history. But, the opponents pointed out, there have been no fatalities with the

Rockaway, Richmond, or Essex Hunts. It was not only the deaths that give cause for concern.

Within the last few weeks, four men have each received severe injuries. Whenever anyone Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 16 arrives at his club limping or bandaged, all he has to do is mutter is “The Meadow Brook Hunt” in lieu of an explanation. The article ended with this: “It seems such a crying sin that a brave young life should be taken away in pursuit of what even the most amateurish sportsman cannot help but feel is, to a certain extent, a childish and foolish pastime.”26

However, in the Century Magazine article Roosevelt extols the physical and mental challenges of the sport as beneficial for military training. “It is the perfect sport to foster bravery in men even when it is not wartime. He mentions two war heroes, Ulric Dahlgren27 or young

Cushing,28 who in times of peace are “apt to go to the bad merely from the revolt against the decorous tameness of their life, find in hunting an outlet for their superabundant energies.” He declares that if “in 1860 riding to hounds had been at the North, as it was at the South, a national pastime, it would not have taken us until well on towards the middle of the war before we were able to develop a cavalry capable of withstanding the shock of the Southern horsemen.”29 Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 17 Years later, when the sinking of the Maine in Havana Harbor triggered America’s declaration of war against Spain on April 25, 1898, Roosevelt resigned as assistant secretary of the Navy. He announced the formation of a cavalry unit—the Rough Riders.

This volunteer troop was characterized by “cowboys” from states such as Montana and

Wyoming, “society boys” from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and “clubmen” from the Somerset in

Boston, Knickerbocker in New York, and Meadow Brook on Long Island. Meadow Brook’s

Woodbury “Woody” Kane, at age thirty-nine, was one of the most senior volunteers and someone with whom Roosevelt frequently rode when foxhunting.30 Kane rose to the rank of

Captain and became the leader of Troop K. Two other Meadow Brook members also joined

Troop K: William “Willie” Tiffany and Henry W. Bull, who achieved the rank of Sergeant. The

Kane and Tiffany families independently funded two $10,000 machine guns, the “Tiffany guns”, for the expedition. Roosevelt wrote his sister, Anna Roosevelt Cowles, on July 28, 1898: “Kane,

Tiffany and Bull and the rest, have turned out particularly well.”31 The three Meadow Brook

Hunt members survived the battles, but Willie Tiffany died in Boston from diseases contracted in Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 18 Cuba. The United States government provided no money to aid wounded veterans and military widows, so Meadow Brook members created a fund in Willie Tiffany’s memory to provide monetary assistance.

Roosevelt concludes his Century Magazine article with two main defenses of foxhunting.

First, “[i]t is really an essentially democratic amusement, where everyone stands on the same plane.” This is especially true with drag-hunting because the predetermined course means the hunt is short so that working men can participate even on a weekday. Roosevelt discusses how one need not wear the expensive clothes to be accepted by fellow foxhunters. Nor does the rider have to be an excellent equestrian to enjoy the sport. One can ride near the back of the field and still have a great day. A fantastically expensive horse is also not necessary. Roosevelt knows of many horses imported from England who are not as good hunting horses as those found in

America. Even some carriage horses can perform admirably in the hunting field.32 He then digresses into a comparison of the different styles of riding: Western versus Eastern. He declares them equal, and each well-suited for their tasks. Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 19 Finally, Roosevelt reaches his second point. He disagrees with the sentiment that the sport is too English. “To object to hunting because they hunt in England is about as sensible as to object to lacrosse because the Indians play it. . . . It goes without saying that the man who takes to hunting, not because it is a manly sport, but because it is done abroad, is a foolish snob; but, after all, he stands about on the same intellectual level with the man who refuses to take it up because it happens to be liked on the other side of the water.” He reminds the reader that the

Roosevelts are proud of their southern roots. “To say the sport is un-American seems particularly absurd to such of us as happen to be in part of Southern blood, and whose fore-fathers, in

Virginia, Georgia, or the Carolinas, have for six generations followed the fox with horse and hound.”33

There is no record of Elliott’s reaction to his brother’s Century article. Certainly, the piece praised his passion and endorsed his lifestyle. The following year, the Elliott Roosevelt family took up residence in their new house, named Half Way Nirvana.34 The house was the site of frequent parties. Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 20

One Thanksgiving, Mr. and Mrs. Elliott Roosevelt hosted a post-hunt luncheon at Half

Way Nirvana to celebrate the hunt’s new Master of Hounds, Mr. Thomas Hitchcock. The meal was followed by a gallop back to the Meadow Brook clubhouse for an unusual race.

The names of twenty-six types of animals were printed on slips of paper, which were randomly drawn by the guests. Each guest was given a ribbon and a stick that was used to pull, guide, or prod his or her animal over a one hundred-yard racecourse marked out on the polo field. The animal assortment included pigs, calves, monkeys, sheep, chickens, roosters, turkeys, ducks, geese, guinea hens, parrots, cockatoos, poodles, goats, and peacocks. The spectators cheered on their favorites and feigned shock at the bawdy vocabulary exhibited by the parrot, who disliked being out in the cold and damp.35 Such were the entertainments of the Meadow

Brook colony set.

Theodore Roosevelt’s attitude toward foxhunting changed as Elliott became more immersed in the Meadow Brook Club. In 1888, Theodore wrote to their sister, Anna, that he is worried about their brother. “I do hate his Hempstead life. . . . It is certainly unhealthy, and leads to nothing.”36 Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 21 Shortly after, Theodore delivered the same message in “The American Boy.”

There is, of course, always the risk of thus mistaking means for ends. Fox-hunting is a

first-class sport; but one of the most absurd things in real life is to note the bated breath

with which certain excellent fox-hunters, otherwise of quite healthy minds, speak of this

admirable but not over-important pastime. They tend to make it almost as much of a

fetish as, in the last century, the French and German nobles made of the chase of the stag,

when they carried hunting and game-preserving to a point which was ruinous to the

national live. Fox-hunting is very good as a pastime, but it is about as poor a business as

can be followed by any man of intelligence. . . . Of course, in reality the chief serious use

of fox-hunting is to encourage manliness and vigor, and to keep men hardy, so that at

need they can show themselves fit to take part in work or strife for their native land.

When a man so far confuses ends and means as to think that fox-hunting, or polo, or foot-

ball, or whatever else the sport may be, is to be itself taken as the end, instead of as the

mere means of preparation to do work that counts when the time arises, when the

occasion calls—why, that man had better abandon sport altogether.37

Theodore Roosevelt might have been addressing his brother.

Elliott’s life spiraled downward with his use of drugs and alcohol. He died at age thirty- four on August 14, 1894. Chip Bishop, the author of two books on the Roosevelt family, died before he completed his third work – a biography of Elliott. Bishop told me that he believed a severe injury Elliott sustained while participating in an amateur circus in May 188938 and use of follow-on pain medications contributed greatly to Elliott’s deterioration. However, if asked the Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 22 cause of his brother’s troubles, Theodore Roosevelt might have simply said, “The Meadow

Brook Hunt.”

Cited Works:

Appleton Family Papers, Trustees of Reservations, Sharon, MA.

Black, David. The King of Fifth Avenue: The Fortunes of August Belmont. New York: Dial,

1981.

Boston Post (1831-1922-Current file). Boston Public Library, Historical Newspapers.

Griswold, F. Gray. 1926. Horses and Hounds, Recollections of Frank Gray Griswold. New

York: Dutton.

Higginson, A. Henry, and Julian Ingersoll Chamberlain. 1908. The Hunts of the United States

and Canada; Their Masters, Hounds and Histories. Boston: F.L. Wills. Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 23 Meadow Brook Club. Annual Reports and Steward’s Reports, and Minutes of Meetings. Jericho,

New York.

New York Times (1857-Current file). Historical Newspapers. Proquest.

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Planchyk, Richard. 2007. A History of Westbury, Long Island. Charleston, SC: This History.

Roosevelt, Theodore, 1924. Letters from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, 1870-

1918 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1924), 222.

Roosevelt, Theodore. 1886. “Riding to Hounds on Long Island.” Century Magazine, July 1: 335-

341.

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Charleston: CreateSpace, 2014.

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Saint Paul Daily Globe (1884-1896). Historic American Newspapers, Library of Congress.

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County, New York, 1899 to 1974. Syosset, N.Y.: Friends of the Nassau County Museum.

Tabler, Judith. 2016. Foxhunting with Meadow Brook. Lanham, Maryland: Derrydale Press.

United States Census Bureau, 1998. https://www.census.gov/.

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Books.

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1 The Meadow Brook Club is formed in 1881. The following year, the Club adds lawn tennis courts and secured twenty acres for polo fields and pigeon shooting. To differentiate the activities, the hunting branch of the Club is referred to as the Meadow Brook Hunt or the Meadow Brook Hounds. Foxhunters prefer Meadow Brook Hounds. The actual name would not be clarified for many years. To add to the confusion, the proper format of the name is always two words: Meadow Brook, never Meadowbrook. This detail escapes the attention of many newspaper and magazine editors. Even some of the members of the hunt (including Theodore Roosevelt) write it incorrectly in their memoirs. When the inaccurate spelling of Meadow Brook appears as Meadowbrook in a quotation reproduced in this book, it is not noted. The error is simply too common. 2 Richard Panchyk, A History of Westbury, Long Island (Charleston, SC: This History, 2007), 34. 3 U.S. Census Bureau. 1998. 4 Edward J. Smits, Nassau, Suburbia, U.S.A.: The First Seventy-Five Years of Nassau County, New York, 1899 to 1974 (Syosset, NY: Friends of the Nassau County Museum, 1974), 13. 5 Ibid. 6 “Mrs. H.B. Duryea Injured. Well-known Member of Meadow Brook Colony,” New York Times, May 22, 1898. 7 A. Henry Higginson and Julian Ingersoll Chamberlain, The Hunts of the United States and Canada: Their Masters, Hounds, and Histories (Boston: Frank L. Wiles, 1908), 73. 8 Griswold, Horses and Hounds, 4–5. 9 “Hunting Animals,” New York Times, September 28, 1880. 10 “Hunting the Anise-Seed Bag,” New York Times, October 5, 1877. 11 Importing “bagged” foxes to Long Island is declared unlawful in 1890. 12 Elliott’s proposer is Stanley Mortimer, who becomes Elliott’s brother-in-law in 1890, when he marries Elizabeth Hall, Anna Hall Roosevelt’s sister. Meadow Brook Club, Stewards’ Minutes, 1883. 13 Elliott Roosevelt was never elected to serve as Master of Foxhounds (M.F.H.) as stated inaccurately in several biographies. 14 “Mr. Roosevelt In at the Death,” New York Times, October 27, 1885. 15 Ibid. 16 Ibid. 17 Author’s note: The reporter makes no comment of the lack of concern “plucky” Roosevelt shows for Frank’s lameness. Nor is there any explanation of the article’s title: “Mr. Roosevelt in at the Death.” There is no death. The fox runs into its den. 18 The M.F.H. is the CEO of the hunt. 19 “Goodnight, Ladies,” Boston Post, November 20, 1885. 20 Black, King of Fifth Avenue, 691–92. 21 Meadow Brook Club, Stewards’ Minutes, Special Meeting, 10 February 1886. 22 Blanche Wiesen Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, vol. 1, 1884–1933 (New York: Penguin Books, 1993), 86–87. 23 Theodore Roosevelt, “Riding to Hounds on Long Island,” Century Magazine, July 1886, 335–41. The original manuscript for this article is housed at the National Sporting Library and Museum, Middleburg, VA. 24 Ibid., 338-339. 25 Ibid., 226-336. 26 “Time to Call a Halt,” New York Times, October 15, 1892. 27 Ulric Dahlgren was a Union hero in the Civil War. He was killed outside of Richmond, Virginia while attempting to free captured Union prisoners. Controversial (forged?) papers were said to be found (planted?) on his body revealing a plot to kill Confederate President Jefferson Davis. This supposed plot was used to justify Confederate counter plots to assassinate 28 Alonzo Hereford Cushing a hero at the Battle of Gettysburg. He led the unit that repulsed Pickett’s Charge. He was killed near the end of that battle. President Obama awarded him the Medal of Honor in 2014. 29 Theodore Roosevelt, “Riding to Hounds on Long Island,” Century Magazine, July 1886, 342. 30 Theodore Roosevelt, The Rough Riders (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1899; repr. Charleston, SC: CreateSpace, 2014), 20. 31 Roosevelt, Theodore, Letters from Theodore Roosevelt to Anna Roosevelt Cowles, 1870-1918 (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1924), 222. 32 Author’s note: It would have been relatively easy for someone living in the country to have access to a horse in 1885. Horse ownership then would not have the elitism attached to it as it does today. Theodore Roosevelt Conflicted: Foxhunting on Long Island, October 28, 2019 25

33 Theodore Roosevelt, “Riding to Hounds on Long Island,” Century Magazine, July 1886, 342. 34 The name of the house appears in various spellings: Half Way Nirvana or Halfway Nirvana or Half-Way Nirvana. The house has long since been torn down and the acreage dissected for housing developments, but the town of Hempstead designated the location of Eleanor Roosevelt’s childhood home a historic landmark in 2014. “Grants Landmark Status to Site of Eleanor Roosevelt’s Childhood Home,” Hempstead Town Board Meeting, Hempstead, NY, April 30, 2014. The location is the corner of Salisbury Park Drive and Valentines Road, Westbury. Students at the Woodland Middle School in East Meadow assisted in locating the homestead. 35 “A Lively Five-Minute Race,” New York Sun, November 29, 1889. 36 Cook, Eleanor Roosevelt, 1:50. 37 Theodore Roosevelt, Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses (Mineola, NY: Dover, 2009), 74. 38 “In Spangled Tights,” The Saint Paul Daily Globe, Morning Edition, May 5, 1889.