Murray family

        Before starting this story, I just wanted to say a few words about Verplanck. This is not meant to be an in-depth history of the place. It’s just a few words to set the stage so that the reader can understand how and why the various people who made up our family came to be here.

            In the 1600’s, the Dutch settled what is now New York, New Jersey and Delaware. They ceded great tracts of land to various Dutch families who were to farm and trade with the Indians in the hope of making money for the Dutch West Indies Company. One such tract of land went to the Van Cortlandt family and included most of present day Westchester County. Part of the Van Cortlandt property was the present-day hamlet of Verplanck. This particular piece of property was given to a Philip Verplanck when he married the daughter of the owner of the Van Cortlandt estate in the 1700’s.

            From the time of the coming of the Van Cortlandt family to the 1830’s, Verplanck was just a sleepy farming area consisting of a few buildings for the owner and his farm hands. The only exception was from 1776 to 1782 when it became a very strategic area for the British and the Rebels. This was because Verplanck, along with Stony Point, was situated on a spot along the Hudson River where the river narrows from a width of three miles to less than one mile. This area is known as the “entrance to the Highlands” and as such could control commerce on the river. There was a fort built at Stony Point and one in Verplanck overlooking the present-day Steamboat Dock and at various times these forts were occupied by both sides in the struggle for American independence.

          A ferry service had been running between these two points on the river sence the 1600’s and this crossing (Kings Ferry) became the main crossing point for American and French troops. These troops crossed the river on the way to the battle of Yorktown, Virginia and then back again after that battle was won. After this last crossing in 1782, a large pavilion was built on what is now called Washington Hill (just off Broadway around 13^th St). Here, Generals Washington and Rochambeau reviewed the combined force of American and French troops before the French marched to Newport, Rhode Island and sailed for home. There were approx. twelve thousand troops involved in that review.

            After the war ended, Verplanck went back to the peace and quiet of a large farm until 1835. At that time, a group of businessmen headed by John Henry, a rope manufacturer from Philadelphia, bought the property from Mr. Verplanck. They planned to construct a city there consisting of many streets and broad avenues which would extend from the Steamboat Dock to present-day Lents Cove in Peekskill.

            Nothing came of their plans except for the fact that Verplanck has some of the widest streets and avenues of any small community in the area. However, about that time New York City was experiencing a building boom because of the influx of immigrants from Europe, particularly from Ireland and Germany and in the Verplanck area large deposits of clay were discovered. These clay deposits were needed to manufacture the bricks used in this building boom and  brickyards sprung up along the river. This brings us to why our family came to the Verplanck area. As I stated above, most of the immigrants arriving during the 1840’s and 1850’s were German and Irish. The Germans for the most part landed in New York and continued on westward in search of farmlands. The Irish, however, stayed close to the seacoast and were used as laborers in the various industries in the area. The brick manufacturing process was very labor intensive and the businessmen had people at the docks recruiting workers as they came ashore. Many of these Irish immigrants were loaded back on board boats and sent up the river to the brickyards. Thus the arrival of the Murrays, Vaugheys and Boyles in Verplanck.. The Kellys got here a little differently as will be explained in their chapter.  So, here we are. The time is the beginning of the 1840’s.  The people who will come to make up our family are in Europe and will be leaving shortly on that perilous journey across the Atlantic. They are leaving behind poverty and famine and are hoping for a better life but they are also leaving behind everyone and everything they know, never to see their families and their homeland again. A time of fear, sorrow and hope. 

            Like most small towns in the U.S. in the 18^th and early 19^th centuries, Verplanck was pretty much a closed society. Most people lived and worked in the immediate area and stayed to themselves. They had their own stores, bars, churches and places for entertainment and sports, etc.  There was St. Patrick’s Catholic Church and two Protestant churches. There were numerous stores and bars and for family outings there was Empire Grove at the foot of 9^th St. Empire Grove had a dance pavilion, rides, games and even a place to have your picture taken in your Sunday best. Many of the pictures in this book were taken at Empire Grove. People would get dressed up on Sunday, their only day off work, go to church and then go on down to Empire Grove. Later, after Empire Grove closed, a new park was built at a place called Sunset Park off present day 2^nd St. and Broadway.  It was a relatively comfortable existence in that everyone knew everyone and people didn’t have to venture into the outside world if they didn’t want to. They felt safe in their familiar surroundings.  One of the things that I think was unique about Verplanck (“The Point” as it’s more commonly known) is that a great majority of the people had nicknames. I know that people have nicknames everywhere in the world but they seemed to be more numerous in Verplanck. I don’t know why this was so (and still is to a lesser extent) but I used to get a kick out of listening to the older “Pointers” telling stories about their lives and peppering the stories with these nicknames. One day about thirty years ago I was talking to one of the last of these old-timers, Frank Reilly, and I asked him to do me a favor. I asked him to write down as many nicknames he could think of along with the person’s real name. Frank had been born in the early 1890’s and had lived most of his youth in that closed society in “the Point” and probably knew more of those nicknames than anyone alive at the time of my request. The following is the list he gave me. I look at these nicknames and wonder what the story is behind each one. We’ll never know now but I’ll bet there would be some interesting and funny stories (I tried to put the names in alphabetical order but gave up after Leo Burns and I just listed them as he gave them to me).                  

       Frank (CHERR) Albanese               Louis (LOBBY) Albanese        Wilfred (EAGLE) Brennan                Adam (BRONK) Brennan        Raymond(GERMOLLYS) Brennan   Thomas(COWEY) Brennan

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