King Manor Museum

A Family Legacy: The King Library in Bensalem, Pennsylvania

King Library in Bensalem, PA – started 1882, completed 1888.

This last installment in the King and book history series will examine the King Library in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, an institution founded by Rufus King’s grandson, Dr. Charles Ray King in 1888.  As I noted in my previous post, Charles inherited the books of his father and grandfather.

Charles was born on March 16, 1813, the second son of John Alsop King and Mary Ray King.  He grew up in Jamaica, Long Island, near Rufus King’s home and no doubt was exposed to the library at an early age.  He attended grammar school in Jamaica, graduated from Columbia in 1831, and received his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania in 1834.  He then spent two years studying in Paris before returning to New York and working as a physician.  (more…)

Personal Collection to Rare Book Room: The Travels of Rufus King’s Library

Rufus King, 1755-1827

I think it’s very important that we understand the provenance of the collections we use in libraries and archives.  Robert Darnton has said that when we consider the difficulties that any author faces as they work to get a book published, it is surprising that any book gets published at all.  The same sort of thinking can be brought to bear on libraries and archives.  The caprice involved in getting any collection preserved in a library or archive makes the survival of our historical record an astounding thing.  The same goes for Rufus King’s library.  It took luck and the foresight and generosity of a number of individuals to make it happen.  The people and institutions of the past deserve recognition for such efforts. (more…)

What Was in Rufus King’s Library?

From Edward Hale Brush’s _Rufus King and His Times_ (1926). This might be from the 1860s when King’s son John Alsop King lived in the house with the books. It is unclear if this was really King’s favorite arm chair.

When writing my dissertation on Rufus King‘s reading history, I hoped to have a large section on his library space in Jamaica, Long Island (now Jamaica, Queens).  King lived in the home from 1806 to his death in 1827.  In the end I didn’t have time or space to write about it, so I want to rectify that glaring oversight here. (more…)

John Alsop King – 1860 Presidential Elector certification

When studying a period in American history, I like to have a figure or two that I can use as a center of gravity.  I’m currently trying to wrap my head around the antebellum period in a better way and I’m making John Alsop King (no surprise, I’m sure) and William Seward my figures.

I started with my previous post on Seward in Cleveland, but this week I went through the collection of John Alsop King (JAK) papers at the New-York Historical Society to get an understanding of the first Republican governor of New York.  N-YHS has two boxes of his papers with about 775 items in them.  There are also letters in the Rufus King Papers and a few scattered in various collections of the society.  Over the next few days I’ll post about some highlights from the two box collection. (more…)

http://davidjgary.com/2013/03/07/rufus-kings-granddaughter-surives-the-sinking-of-the-pulaski-1838/

Rufus King’s Granddaughter Survives the Sinking of the “Pulaski” in 1838

By David J. Gary

While I was working on a post about a printed subscription proposal for Benjamin F. Thompson’s planned 2 volume octavo edition of the History of Long Island (link to second volume here), which I found in the John Alsop King Papers at the New-York Historical Society, I discovered an earlier printed circular Thompson sent to King requesting interesting information that would help him write the book.  The item was dated August 7, 1838 and began by noting that, “[t]he last edition of ‘A Sketch of the first settlement of the several towns of Long Island,’ by the Hon Silas Wood, being exhausted, the undersigned has been solicited to prepare a more enlarged History of Long Island.”  The print continued for a long paragraph, after which Thompson attached a note to his friend:

Benjamin F. Thompson to John Alsop King, 7 August 1838, John Alsop King Papers, Box 1834-1856, Folder 1824-1839, N-YHS.

“I know(?) the terrible [illegible] which your feelings and that of your amiable family, must have experienced by the sad catastrophe of the Pulaski – and you may be assured no one more than myself deeply sympathised with you on the occasion.  You have had ample evidence of the strong and anxious public feeling which was felt by the whole community & especially by those of your county and neighborhood –

I have therefore foreborne to trouble [you] on the subject of my former communication till now – I have therefore to solicit from you a statement or memorandum of whatever in your examinations (if any you have made)  may have occurred to you, as important & worthy of a place in my projected History of Long Island.”

This was a reference to the harrowing ordeal of John’s daughter Mary King Nightingale (b. 28 October 1810) on the steamship Pulaski, which sunk off the coast of North Carolina after a boiler explosion on June 13-14, 1838.  On board was Mary, traveling with her seven-month-old daughter Laura Greene Nightingale.   Laura’s father was the grandson of Revolutionary War General Nathanael Greene, Phineas Miller Nightingale (b. 1803) of Cumberland Island, Georgia.  Mary and Phineas married at what is now the Rufus King Manor House in Jamaica, Long Island on 16 November 1836 and moved to Georgia.  It seems that Mary was taking Laura north to visit her relatives.  The Pulaski left Savannah, Georgia with a crew of 37 and 90 passenger.  It stopped at Charleston, South Carolina where it took on another 65.  Over 100 of them would die. (more…)

King Manor Museum will be closed on Saturday, February 9 AND Sunday, February 10 due to snow conditions.  The Hands-on History event scheduled for this weekend has been rescheduled to Saturday, February 16 from 12-3.

Another great piece of work from fifth graders at PS 49Q in Middle Village! After analyzing a series of letters Rufus King wrote to his sons in 1820 regarding the Missouri Compromise and the spread of slavery, the students were asked to write, as a class, a rebuttal to an 1822 editorial blaming northerners like Rufus for the alleged rebellion led by Denmark Vecsey in Charleston, SC.

A “Letter to the Editor”
Responding to an 1822 Charleston, SC Editorial
By PS 49, Class 5-250

To Whom It May Concern:

I strongly feel every person has a right to freedom and no one should be owned by someone. I don’t like slavery. Let me think what I think.  I have freedom of speech. I feel I am just expressing my opinion and I am entitled to it but didn’t want any riots starting. (more…)

Did you know that King Manor is one of the NYC landmarks featured in the annual NY Botanical Gardens Holiday Train Show?

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We’ll be offering a new workshop in Fall 2012 to complement our Rufus King: Anti-Slavery Founding Father program. Students divide into groups and read excerpts of letters that Rufus King wrote to his sons in the days before and after his 1820 anti-slavery speeches. After sharing their discoveries with their classmates, museum education staff explain the Denmark Vesey trials to students and read and explain an editorial written during those trials in Charleston, South Carolina. One section of that editorial blames “northerners who agitated on the Missouri question” for the executions the events of “required.” In early August 1822, Rufus — one of those agitators – received a copy of that editorial and a hand-drawn image of a gallows with the letters “R. King” at the end of the rope. Students are asked to respond to that editorial in the name of Rufus King; the following is one of the examples produced by a class from P.S. 49 in Middle Village – amazing work!

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No source is cited but, according to

The Early American Cookbook: Authentic Favorites

by Historical Figures by Dr. Kristie Lynn and Robert W. Pelton, Rufus King’s favorite apple fritters were made following this recipe:

1 cup flour, sifted
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, well beaten
1/2 cup milk
2 teaspoons butter, melted
2 large apples, pared and sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons sugar

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together in a large wooden mixing bowl. Combine the egg, milk, and butter in another bowl, them add to the dry ingredients. Beat until smooth. Chill this batter to make the fritters lighter. Meanwhile, sprinkle apple slices with lemon juice, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar. Dip apple slices in the chilled batter and deep fry in hot butter for 5 minutes, or until brown.