Читать книгу History of Westchester County, New York, Volume 2 - Группа авторов - Страница 11

Few men are more widely known in Westchester county than Thomas L. Rushmore. He is the son of William and Rebecca Rushmore, and is a descendant of one of the first English families who settled in America. He was born in Brooklyn, in 1822. At twelve years of age he entered business life as a clerk, and a few years later accepted a position in the wholesale house of Gould, Germond & Company, in which firm he afterward became a partner. For fifty years he was well known in mercantile circles of New York city, being a member of the dry-goods firms of Hamlin, Rushmore & Company, and Rushmore, Cone & Company.

His public spirit was shown when, at the outbreak of the civil war, the firm of Rushmore, Cone & Company equipped sixteen of their clerks for ninety days' service, and guaranteed their salaries. In response to a call from Abraham Lincoln for sixty-day volunteers, Mr. Rushmore enlisted in the Thirty-seventh Regiment, and was made a member of Colonel Roome's staff.

In 1856 he located at Crienta Point (Mamaroneck), where for forty years he identified himself with church, municipal and educational affairs. For two years Mr. Rushmore served the town of Mamaroneck as supervisor, and was for many years a trustee of the public schools. Upon the incorporation of the village he served as president for two years, and, having reached the age limit for active service, declined a renomination. Few men have had the Sunday-school record of Mr. Rushmore. Upon his resignation, after a service of thirty-five years as superintendent, he received a handsome testimonial of respect and love. For thirty years Mr. Rushmore was president of the board of trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church. He was very active in the lay-delegation movement in that church, and one of the founders of a paper called The Methodist, of which he remained a trustee until the movement was successful. A testimonial received from the children of the Roman Catholic church in Mamaroneck is an evidence of his kindlier interest in other churches.

Mr. Rushmore was married in 1845 to Miss Eliza Vail Moser, and they have had eight children: Samuel Moser, Everett, Thomas Hoyt, Bertha,. Mrs. W. T. Cornels, Mrs. W. H. Carpenter, Mrs. F. H. Bell and Mrs. H. G. Tobey.