19 Purchase Rushmore Family Collection, 1811-1997 Special Collections Department/Long Island Studies Institute Contact Information: Special Collections Department Axinn Library, Room 032 123 Hofstra University Hempstead, NY 11549 Phone: (516) 463-6411, or 463-6404 Fax: (516) 463-6442 E-mail:
[email protected] http://www.hofstra.edu/Libraries/SpecialCollections Compiled by: [M. O’Connor] Last updated by: Date Completed: [Nov. 17, 2009] [M.O’Connor] [May 17, 2010] TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTENT PAGE(S) Description of collection 1-3 Subject headings 3-4 Index of individuals represented in the collection 5-30 Series arrangement and description 31-33 Box and folder listings 34-91 References 92 Rushmore Family Collection, 1811-1997 10 cubic ft. Thomas Rushmore (died c.1682), a Quaker, arrived on Long Island from Wales in 1658. He joined four Englishman and three Dutchmen in making an alliance for land with five Long Island Native American tribes. He married Martha Hicks in Hempstead, N.Y., in 1659 and started a dairy farm near the intersection of Old Westbury Road and Whitney Lane in Old Westbury, N.Y. Five subsequent generations of Rushmores went on to run the farm at this location. They intermarried with members of some of Long Island’s most notable families, including the Townsend, Hicks, Titus, Valentine, Post, Willets, and Willits families. When the Long Island Rail Road branched out to Oyster Bay, N.Y., the Rushmores decided to sell the Old Westbury farm and buy land closer to the railroad. (This would make it easier for them to ship their product to market.) In 1845, Thomas Rushmore (1799-1878) and Jane (Valentine) Rushmore (1806-1896) bought 150 acres of land in Roslyn, N.Y.