Dates

• Majority of material found within 1880 - 1947

Extent

1 box Linear Feet (Lucius Waterman Robinson (LWR), Sr. (September 19, 1855-August 15, 1935) and his wife Ruth DeMoss Robinson (December 14, 1860-January 20, 1939) were married on September 9, 1880 in Coshocton, Ohio. L. W. Robinson, Sr., a Mayflower descendant and a Yale University graduate, was the President of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company (R&PC&I – later R&P) from 1899 until 1919 (see Manuscript Group 51 and Manuscript Group 94). Their son was Lucius W. Robinson (LWR), Jr. (March 22, 1893-September 28, 1952) married Harriet Virginia Maxwell Overton Robinson (October 31, 1897-February 6, 1975) on June 28, 1917. Harriet Virginia Maxwell Overton was born in Nashville, Tennessee, and she was the daughter of Jesse Maxwell Overton (1863-1922) and Saidee Williams Overton (1871-1963). LWR Jr. was born in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, while his father’s company was still headquartered in Jefferson County. Lucius Waterman Robinson, Sr. was the President of the R&PC&I (later R&P Coal) for 20 years. During his presidency, the company expanded its bituminous coal mining operations into Indiana County, Pennsylvania. LWR Sr. purchased large tracts of land in White Township and Blacklick Township in Indiana County. In 1899, R&PC&I transferred its headquarters from Jefferson County to Indiana, Pennsylvania. In 1900, electricity and electric haulage systems were installed by R&PC&I in the coal mines in Walston, Florence, Adrian, London, Sykesville, Trout Run, Eleanora, and Helvetia, Pennsylvania. In 1907, the electric haulage system used at the Yatesboro Mines was considered by mining engineers to be state-ofthe- art technology. As R&P President, Robinson oversaw the completion of the R&P Office building on Church Street in Indiana, Pennsylvania in 1919. In 1927, R&PC&I consolidated with the Jefferson & Clearfield Coal & Iron Company (J&CC&I) and became known as the Rochester & Pittsburgh (R&P) Coal Company. For more information about R&P, see Manuscript Group 51 and Manuscript Group 94 for company information, photographs about R&P, and the business correspondence associated with LWR Sr. As R&P expanded its business operations in Indiana County, Lucius Waterman Robinson, Sr. of Rochester, New York, purchased the Valley View Farm (property was surveyed in the 1890s) in White Township, Indiana, Pennsylvania as a summer residence. LWR Sr. and his wife Ruth DeMoss Robinson also owned a winter home called Avenida in Jupiter Island, Florida. They later moved to Rochester, New York, where they built a house at 850 East Avenue, next door to George Eastman’s house. LWR Jr. and his wife moved to Indiana shortly after they were married in 1917. They and their four daughters (Virginia, Ruth, Sarah, and Lucia) spent their summers in the connecting house on the Farm. After 1923, the LWR Jr. family including their four daughters, spent the summer months on the farm, in the airy white painted house with blue shutters. LWR Sr. and his wife and other family members enjoyed summer visits in the connected house. The curved driveway was lined with Lombardy Popular trees. Sometime in the 1930s, Valley View Farm became known as Suffield Farm, the name Suffield had appeared in the original land grant. LWR Jr. (Lou) and eldest daughter Virginia participated in fox hunting. The Indiana Hunt was established in 1928 by LWR Jr. and William Jack from Indiana. It continued until 1936. Members of other Western Pennsylvania hunts, such as Pittsburgh, Rolling Rock, Fox Chapel, and Sewickley, came to ride with the Indiana Hunt in a Joint Meet, once a season. It was a big event, LWR Jr. became MFH (Master of Foxhounds) in 1931. The hounds were kept in a kennel across a field at the edge of the woods well back from the stable and barn. V. C. Lewis was the groom at the stable. LWR Jr. owned two thoroughbred steeplechase horses, Our Manager and Parma, and the horses boarded with the trainer R. G. Woolfe. Susie Todd wrote Foxhunting in Western Pennsylvania (2003) which contained a chapter on the history of the Indiana Hunt with a photograph of the Indiana Hunt Team at the Rolling Rock Horse Show. The horses in the farm stable were hunters which included Last Penny, a large hunter who, according to Ruth Robinson Warner, "never refused a jump." Some horses were bred at the farm during World War Two. These were draft horses bred for farm work. LWR Jr. speculated that there would be a demand for draft horses in Europe after the war. These were the only Robinson horses shown at the Indiana County Fair in 1944. The Robinson family owned the Suffield Farm until the property was sold in 1947. This collection contains photographs and pages from photograph albums and scrapbooks that belonged to the Lucius Waterman Robinson (LWR) Sr., and his family. LWR Sr., was the President of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company (R&PC&I) from 1899 to 1919. The photographs date from approximately 1880 to 1947 and most of the collection contains professional photographs of the Valley View Farm (Suffield Farm) house and grounds. The collection of photographs includes portraits of family members including LWR Sr. (1855-1935) and his wife Ruth DeMoss Robinson, their son LWR Jr. and his wife Harriet Overton Robinson. The collection contains photographs of the Valley View Farm (Suffield Farm) in White Township, Indiana, Pennsylvania that was purchased by LWR Sr., after his company moved its headquarters to Indiana. After the deaths of LWR Sr., and his wife Ruth DeMoss Robinson, the farm remained in the family for several years before it was sold in 1947. The property later became a senior care facility called Claypoole Manor. This collection was donated by Ruth Robinson Warner, daughter of Lucius Waterman Robinson, Jr., and granddaughter of LWR Sr., who was the President of the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal & Iron Company (R&PC&I) from 1899 to 1919. In 1927, R&PC&I consolidated with the Jefferson & Clearfield Coal & Iron Company (J&CC&I) and became known as the Rochester & Pittsburgh (R&P) Coal Company, see Manuscript Group 51 and Manuscript Group 94 for company information and photographs about R&P and business correspondence of LWR Sr. (1855-1935). For more information about the Rochester & Pittsburgh Coal Company, see Manuscript Group 51 and Manuscript Group 94. )

Language of Materials

English