Vanderbilt Cup Races

My guess is the 1904 Buckmobile Twin Cylinder.  The supervisor being Eugene Willis.  As Williston Park would eventually border the LIMP. 
-joe

Tough mystery but here goes. The vehicle year is 1900-1905. Don’t know the vehicle but it looks one of the earliest to hit the real road. Gas powered, likely air cooled, leaf spring suspension, no chain drive. I don’t see a gear selector for the driver. The rear axle is most interesting. Calling Ariejan Bos to fill the gaps.

I’ll guess it’s Eugene V. Willis behind the wheel with Mrs. Willis, Town of North Hempstead supervisor 1903-1904. Could be Willis Ave.

Identify the automobile, model and year:  Will let others wiser than I try this.

Identify the driver who served as the town supervisor of North Hempstead. When did he serve as town supervisor? Hint: His father has a mjor Long Island Road named after him.  Driver is Edwin Chromwell Willets who served from 1900-1903 and then again from 1904-1907.  During the intervening year of 1903-1904 the the Town Supervisor was Eugene V. Willis.  Edwin’s dad was Isaac Underhill Willets, of which I.U. Willets is named for.  Both are descendants of Richard Cromwell, brother of Lord Oliver Cromwell. 

The Mystery Foto was taken on the Town Supervisor’s property which later bordered on the Long Island Motor Parkway. Where was the photo taken?  Bordering on Searingtown, near today’s Links condo development which at one time had a golf course at the location accessible from the Motor Parkway.

Bonus: The boy and woman were both from a Long Island family that had a village named after it. Name the family.  First guess was the Willis family, but then found a source indicating Edwin C. Willets married Ida Albertson in 1884.  So might be the Albertson family.  They didn’t have any children, so boy may be another family member.  Then again the woman might be Aunt Bea, the boy Opie, the driver Sheriff Taylor, and the location, Mayberry. 

Not sure about this but here’s my guess: the driver is Edwin C. Willets who served two terms as North Hempstead Supervisor (1900-1903), (1904-1907). The passenger, since she appears to be dressed for mourning, could be the widow of Eugene V. Willis, who was the Supervisor from 1903 to 1904. The boy could be her son. Since Willis died early in 1904, maybe Willets was appointed to finish his term. I. U. Willets Road is named after Edwin’s father. The Willis family is remembered as the namesake of Williston Park, East Williston, and Willis Avenue. The photo may have been taken on the estate of Isaac Underhill Willets which later evolved into today’s Buckley Country Day School in North New Hyde Park. As for the car, no clue. I’ll leave that to the “Brass Era” guys.

-Identify the automobile, model and year
Unsure about the runabout-may try looking again later

-Identify the driver who served as the town supervisor of North Hempstead. When did he serve as town supervisor? Hint: His father has a mjor Long Island Road named after him.

Edwin C. Willets of Roslyn was supervisor of the Town of North Hempstead from 1900 to 1903 and again from 1904 to 1907.

-The Mystery Foto was taken on the Town Supervisor’s property which later bordered on the Long Island Motor Parkway. Where was the photo taken?

His Mineola farm

-Bonus: The boy and woman were both from a Long Island family that had a village named after it. Name the family.

Ida Albertson of the Albertson family

The driver of the automobile is Edward Cromwell Willets. He was the Supervisor of the Town of North Hempstead 1900-1906. The woman along side him is his wife, the former Ida Albertson. The community is named after her family. The road named after his farther is I. U. Willets Rd. The photo was taken on the Willets farm which was located west of Shelter Rock Rd. The Motor Parkway right of way west of Shelter Rock Rd. was part of the Willets farm. Eleven plus acres of the farm was purchased thru the Borough Bank of Brooklyn in July of 1909 for which the Parkway paid$15,775.  Most of the Parkway’s r. o. w. between New Hyde Park Rd. and Shelter Rock Rd. came from the Willets farm.  My imagination tells me the auto is parked on what would become the Motor Parkway.

Update to my earlier guess:
I think I have identified the car as a very rare 1904 Buckmobile Twin Cylinder 15hp Runabout.
Founded in Utica, New York in 1903 by Albert J. Seaton, the Buckmobile Company produced a two-cylinder runabout making 15 horsepower. The body was spartan but the premiere of the car led to numerous orders. This led Seaton to try quick expansion of the company – which led to its being acquired by the Black Diamond Automobile Company in 1904. Buckmobile ceased production in 1905. Only three of the about 40 Buckmobiles ever built are known to exist

Hello to All!

*ID Auto/Model/Year: This should be the easy for most, but not I.

*ID Driver: Edwin C Willets, a son of Isaac U Willets ( prominent owner of farm in an area once known as Plattsdale. Situated between North Hills and Herricks. A road that was built east to west thru his property was known as Westbury Rd. This road eventually was re-named in honor of him, I U Willets Rd. ) Edwin served as North Hempstead Supervisor from 1900 thru 1903, and again 1904 thru 1907.

*ID Foto Location: Isaac U Willets passed away in 1899, but his land was owned by the Willets family until 1912. I believe this foto was captured within I. U. Willets property prior to 1912. The LIMP was pretty much situated at the southern border of this property ( section of LIMP between Shelter Rock Rd and Old Courthouse Rd )

*Bonus:  This is my best guess for the family name of the woman and boy in the foto….Albertson. I came across an ” Mrs. J. A. Albertson ” in a 10/9/1897 newspaper article ( Queens County Review ). And not too far to the northeast of I. U. Willets property, there was adjoining properties of ” Edwin C Willets ” and “Silas Albertson” recorded on a 1906 E. Belcher Hyde Map. Needless to say, Albertson is a hamlet ( a loose term for a village? ). If I’m correct, then the Willets and Albertson families were friends, etc.

Mystery Foto #17….Can’t identify the auto. Research was fruitless. But the driver who also was town supervisor of North Hempstead was, I believe, Edwin C. Willets. He served in that post from 1900 to 1907.  Edwin’s father was I. U. Willets, and his name was given to the road of the same name. Don’t know where photo was taken.The boy and the woman were, I believe, from the Hicks family and Hicksville was named for that family. These were tough questions, for me at least. Will this have any effect on my final grade?

,

Eugene V. Willis was town supervisor in 1903.
His father was Valentine Willis (Valentine Lane)
Photo taken in Williston Park
East Williston derived its name from family

Ariejan Bos:

Nice photo! Below my solution. Added some documentation.

The rest of the day we’ll have to celebrate our King’s birthday. Tomorrow by the way a 120 years Paris-Amsterdam memorial run will pass the town of Nijmegen, with one participant being an 1899 Amédée Bollée. Amazing, isn’t it? Two links:

https://www.prewarcar.com/the-race-from-paris-to-amsterdam-in-1898-part-1
https://www.prewarcar.com/preparing-the-1899-amedee-bollee-for-the-race-from-paris-to-amsterdam

Have a nice weekend.

Best wishes,
Ariejan

The car is a 1904 Buckmobile 15hp runabout. The car was produced by the Buckmobile Co. of Utica, NY and this specific model dates from after April 1904.
During the summer of the same year the company got into financial problems and merged with the Black Diamond Automobile Co., also from Utica, NY, who had never arrived beyond the experimental phase of their own car. They continued the production of this model until in 1905 the curtain fell for good.

The man at the wheel is Edwin C. Willets (Willetts?) of Roslyn, who was Town Supervisor of North Hempstead from 1900-1903 and 1904-1907. The Willet[t]s family had their property in Searingtown, just north of the LIMP.

About the the female passenger and the boy, that is too local information for me, so I have to pass on that one.

So there was a connection between the Willets and Albertson’s.

Jeff Levy:  If you don’t mind making this known, did you derive this image and information from a book or collection?

Thank you so much for everyone’s help! The photo has been in my collection for quite some time. I borrowed the original from a descendant of the Hicks family.

Very cool, Jeff Levin.

Just was thinking…Did ALL the original automobiles have the steering column on the right side? Something else to research, lol.

As an answer to Brian McCarthy’s question which reads “Did ALL the original automobiles have the steering column on the right side?”
Some yes, some no… In the very early days of the automobile the steering wheel was located in the center in most instances. Some manufactures did place the steering wheel on the right so that drivers would not hit curbs, bushes, or other obstacles.

Further details regarding the proposed use in 1912 of the I. U. Willets property as a cemetery.  Following a political battle a state law was passed that prohibited the building of new cemeteries in Nassau County.

. . . Continued.  Reports of the proposal indicated the Motor Parkway right-of-way would be used as a rail bed.  (all from the Brooklyn Daily Eagle of May 25, 1912)

Hi, just came back from the Friends cemetery where my father rests.  My mother is an Albertson, and I am the great great grandson of Silas Albertson.  This is all so fascinating to me.  Thanks