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. (Today, most of this land is part of the grounds of the Roslyn Country Club in Roslyn Heights, N.Y.) On a portion of this land they built several farm buildings and a farm house, which in the early 1900s became one of the first homes on Long Island to have an indoor bathroom with running water. The Rushmores dairy farmed on this land until the late 1800s when, due to a number of factors (i.e., labor costs competition from upstate New York farms, etc.), their business started to decline. It was at this point in time that they decided to switch to growing potatoes, sweet corn, and root crops. In the early 20th century, Leon A. Rushmore Sr. (1883-1976) worked the farm with his father and brothers, and later ran it with his brother Halstead Rushmore (1881-1929). Eventually, the farm came entirely under Leon Sr.’s leadership. He lived with his wife, Mary Willets Seaman (1881-1969), and their two sons, Leon A. Rushmore Jr. (1910-2001) and Robert S. Rushmore (b.1914), in a house that he built on Roslyn Road. in Roslyn Heights. Like Leon Sr., Mary was a graduate of Friends Academy in Locust Valley, N.Y. Included among the well known Long Island families she descended from are the Jacksons and the Underhills. She was also a direct descendant of notable Long Islanders Capt. John Seaman and Quaker preacher Elias Hicks. Several generations of her Seaman family ancestors lived in Jericho, N.Y., in a house that was a stop on the Underground Railroad and that later became the Maine Maid Inn. Mary and her family lived in Jericho until 1890 when they moved to Glen Cove, N.Y. As a result of a real estate boom in the 1920s, western Nassau County entered a period of population growth that would last for quite some time and that lead to an increase in land values and a corresponding rise in property taxes. These increases resulted in a cut to the farmers’ profits and very few of them wound up surviving the Great Depression. In an effort to keep their business viable, Leon Sr. and his sons came up with the idea of selling produce directly to the public at retail, but still at a cost slightly below that of area supermarkets. They opened three farm stands, known as Rushmore Farms, and they were able to save their farm and operate it profitably for many years. In 1931, Leon A. Rushmore Jr. married his Swarthmore College sweetheart, Caroline A. “Carly” Jackson (1909-2007), of Philadelphia, PA. They moved into the farm house in Roslyn 1 Heights in 1932, it having been unoccupied since Leon Jr.’s grandfather, Stephen T. Rushmore, died in 1926. With the birth of their three children, Mary Lee (1934- ), Carly (Rushmore) Hellen, (1935- ), and Stephen (1945- ), the farm house sprang back to life. Leon Jr. and his family would continue living at the farm house until the property was sold to Levitt & Sons in the late 1940s. Levitt & Sons were land developers who became famous for quickly and inexpensively meeting the housing needs of G.I’s returning from World War II. After the farm was sold, Leon Jr. moved his family to nearby East Williston, N.Y. He continued working at the Long Island Lighting Company (LILCO), as he done all the while he was helping to operate the family farm. He was promoted to vice president of corporate services in 1966, and later retired in 1975 after 44 years of service. (By this time he and his wife, Carly, were living in Flower Hill, N.Y.) Besides working at LILCO, Leon Jr. gave freely of his time to numerous groups and organizations, including the Westbury Monthly Meeting (Society of Friends), Westbury Friends School, Planned Parenthood, Nassau-Suffolk Hospital Council, Friends for Long Island’s Heritage, and Winthrop University Hospital (formerly Nassau Hospital). In 1994, Winthrop University Hospital dedicated the Leon A. Rushmore Jr. Bridge in his honor. He died in December 2001 at the age of 91. Caroline A. “Carly” (Jackson) Rushmore was also extremely generous with her time. Among other things, she served on the East Williston Public School Board and the board of Friends Academy; she was president of the Nassau Tuberculosis & Respiratory Disease Association; she served as a board member of the American Lung Association of Nassau-Suffolk (formerly the TB Association); and she volunteered with the Nassau Heart Association. She passed away in April 2007 at age 97. Leon Rushmore Sr. remained living in his house on Roslyn Road with his wife, Mary. He continued to work at Roslyn Savings Bank where he had worked while also operating the family farm. He was a vice president when he was elected trustee emeritus in 1973; he retired in 1974 after 52 years of service. Aside from operating the farm and working at the bank, Leon Sr. also served on the East Williston Board of Education; was one of the founders of the Nassau Farm and Home Bureau and Four H Clubs; and was an influential member of the Long Island Farmer’s Club. Without the support of the Long Island Farmer’s Club, the struggling agricultural college at Farmingdale (now known as Farmingdale State) might not have survived the 1920s. Leon Sr. died in 1976 at the age of 93, his wife having pre-deceased him in 1969. This collection spans the years 1811-1997, and includes account books, autograph books, genealogies, guest books, letters, manuscripts, maps, news clippings, notebooks, notes, photo albums (including cartes de visite albums), photographs, postcards, printed materials, publications, school papers, scrapbooks, typescripts, and videotapes. Particularly noteworthy is the large collection of photographs, the majority of which are portraits of individual family members. Along with documenting family history, many of these photographs are interesting in that they represent a number of different early photographic formats, including ambrotypes, cabinet cards, cartes de visite, daguerreotypes, and tintypes. There are also a number of interesting “farm photographs” taken by Clarence A. Purchase, a 2 professional photographer. Purchase took these photos and sold them to farm journals to use as cover pictures. Also worthy of mention is a photograph of the locomotive that pulled the first passenger train into the Oyster Bay train station in 1889. The photo was taken on that first day by Robert Seaman, who was a passenger on the train. Other notable materials include the genealogical information compiled by Samuel J. Seaman Sr., and a small group of poignant letters written to Mary Willets (Seaman) Rushmore from Anna Smith, whose son, Morrell, had stayed with the Rushmores at one time. Morrell Smith was listed as “missing in action” during World War I, and later was presumed to have been killed by German troops. (Source: Rushmore, Stephen. 1990. “Rushmore Farms: The Roots of the Roslyn Country Club.” The Rancher, Official Publication of the Roslyn Country Club Civic Association.) SUBJECTS Names: Hellen Family. Hicks Family. Jackson Family. Post Family. Rushmore Family. Seaman Family. Townsend Family. Underhill Family. Willets Family. Willits Family. Friends Academy. Rushmore Farms. Swarthmore College. Hellen, Caroline J. (Rushmore), 1935- Hicks, Elias, 1748-1830. Purchase, Clarence A., 1877-1965. Rushmore, Caroline A. (Jackson), 1909-2007. Rushmore, Leon A., Sr., 1883-1976. Rushmore, Leon A., Jr., 1910-2001. Rushmore, Mary Lee, 1934- Rushmore, Mary Willets (Seaman), 1881-1969. Rushmore, Stephen, 1945- Rushmore, Thomas (died c.1682) Seaman, Samuel J., Sr., 1857-1954. Subjects: Farming Glen Cove (N.Y.)--History. Jericho (N.Y.)--History. Long Island--History. 3 Quakers. Roslyn Heights (N.Y.)--History. Society of Friends--New York (State)--Westbury. Underground Railroad--New York (State)--Jericho. Places: Glen Cove (N.Y.). Jericho (N.Y.) Roslyn Heights (N.Y.) Form and Genre Terms: Account books. Ambrotypes. Autograph books. Cabinet cards. Cartes de visite. Daguerreotypes. Genealogies. Guest books. Letters. Manuscripts. Maps. News clippings. Notebooks. Notes. Photo albums. Photographs. Postcards. Printed materials.