CHAPTER TWO: PROLOGUE - HISTORICAL CONTEXT It has been suggested that providing some historical context will help enliven the story of our ancestors in America. With that in mind…
When the earliest of our direct ancestors (Martin Fortune-Frances Pender) exchanged their marriage vows in Old St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City in 1819, our nation was still recovering from the effects of the war with Britain (1812-15). The population of the new nation was about 3.5 million citizens largely scattered along the eastern seacoast from Georgia to Maine The newly purchased North West Territories were still sparsely settled. Large parts of the area west of the Mississippi River extending to the Pacific were still technically under the control of the Spanish crown and largely empty of European settlers. Lewis & Clark had recently returned from their 2 year land exploration trip from the Mississippi River to the Pacific. Closer to home in the region of New York City, where much of our family story centers, most of Manhattan island north of 23rd Street was largely rural farm land. Few city streets were paved; most were worn farm trails. There was still no reliable supply of drinking water beyond simple back yard wells which were becoming polluted. About 1835 the newly built (largely by Irish laborers) Croton Aqueduct began to supply clean water to Manhattan’s growing population. The simplest way to get about in NY was by water, so that most commerce was located close to the shoreline. With opening of the Eire Barge Canal (1825) which ended in New York City, the timber and agricultural wealth of the developing West could easily and cheaply reach eastern markets. Consequently New York rapidly out paced Boston & Philadelphia as the new commercial center of the nation. Check photos:http://picasaweb.google.com/padrepedro75/19thCenturyNyc#

At this point in time Brooklyn on the opposite side of the East River (about 2/10 of a mile from Manhattan) consisted of 5 small villages loosely connected by wagon trails. Passage to & from Manhattan was usually by a rope powered ferry barge running from a dock near the Battery to a Brooklyn dock located near what would be called Fulton Street. About 1825 a steam powered ferry operated on this route making connections between both areas fast and cheap. All through the 19th century Brooklyn was a “Boom Town” with the population doubling every decade. Well to do families built elegant homes on Brooklyn Heights thereby escaping the congestion and noise of crowded lower Manhattan. Streets were laid out, municipal services were established; there was abundant employment for construction workers. Men skilled with iron (Fortune) & sellers of building supplies & coal (Clark) could prosper. With the building of the Long Island railroad which ended in Brooklyn (1830), abundant supplies of food stuff and fresh milk (Clark) poured into the crowded markets of the “city.” Only in 1895 did the proud City of Brooklyn reluctantly shut down its City Hall and municipal services to merge with greater New York. Brooklyn which was often seen as the Westchester County of 19th century New York, was swept into the colossus of NYC!

The first generations of Murphy & Fortune ancestors were listed as blacksmiths (skilled in working metal.) In the early 19th century most local transport including “street cars” were drawn by sturdy horses – all of whom needed horseshoes. Those Murphy men who migrated northward to Yonkers, Pleasantville, Albany, etc. all were initially “blacksmiths.” Michael Joseph Murphy (father of Annie E. O’Donnell) began his working career as an iron worker at the original Otis Co in Yonkers (later to become the elevator company.) “Iron workers"were in great demand with the building of the railroads (“iron horses”) in the Hudson valley. The iron rails, spikes, mounting plates part of railroad life, all required metal workers.

Both Brooklyn & Manhattan expanded rapidly during the entire 19th century with street grids being laid out, enormous development & construction of residential & commercial properties. As soon as people could afford to move to larger & more elegant dwellings, they did so. Thus the Kent Avenue Clark homestead for about 50 years was sold off as the newly prosperous descendents settled (with their servants) in some modest splendor at 310 Jefferson Avenue in the comfortable section of Bedford Stuyvesant. In 1900 Peter J. Clark and his bride Genevieve Fortune moved into their newly constructed private home at 887 Sterling Place. Even the relatively late- comer to the USA, John O’Donnell prospered in bustling Brooklyn. Somehow in a relatively short time (c.1860-90), as a Real Estate agent, he acquired at least 4 properties in Prospect Heights.

By 1863 the political leaders in New York decided to enlist Irishmen into their primitive police department. Returning Civil War veterans had some of the skills & discipline suitable for police service. About this time Miles Murphy (parent of Fr. Tom SJ) became a NYC police officer. Public education was a growing concern is the expanding metropolis. About 1840 Peter Clark’s Irish born trusted friend, Samuel C. Barnes, became a public school teacher & later principal. Emma Fortune (older sister of Genevieve Fortune Clark) spent over 40 years of her life as a teacher & later principal in the public school in the Williamsburg area of Brooklyn. Fr. Tom Murphy life as a Jesuit was deeply involved with higher education at Georgetown (DC), St. Francis Xavier (NYC) and Holy Cross (MA). Three of Fr. Tom’s Murphy cousins spent their lives as parochial school teachers with the Sisters of Charity. Because of the enormous number of Irish born residents in the metropolitan area barriers to advancement for newly arrived, were largely inoperative in many areas of employment. Thus with the proper schooling & training, opportunities existed in public service & the legal profession. Michael Joseph Murphy became a Yonkers alderman about 1860 and later served a Water Commissioner for part of the Croton Aqueduct. In the next generation Webster J. Oliver (Fortune) a lawyer, graduated from Georgetown & eventually became the chief Justice in the US Customs Court for NY area. Henry Cochrane, (husband of Mary T. Clark) was also a lawyer. Michael Hickey, also a lawyer, became the US Attorney for the populous Brooklyn district under President Woodrow Wilson. Both Tom O’Donnell and his close friend Alfred J. Hickey were lawyers admitted to the NY Bar.

In the relatively short period (1840-90) in the lives of the first generation of our ancestors, the United States grew enormously in territory and in population. By 1890 the original 13 colonies had grown to about 40 states & territories. The nation’s borders now extended to the Pacific coast & with the construction of the railroads large numbers of people moved into the largely unpopulated West. Following the Civil War the previously rural structure of American society quickly became industrialized which meant the enormous growth of cities. New inventions e.g. telegraph, telephone, rapid growth of printed materials –all made communication accessible to multitudes. The cities were “where the action was" and in no city was this more so than in New York- precisely where most of our forbearers were!
About 1915 the automobile became relatively affordable for many ordinary people. The multiplication of autos led to the construction of growing networks of improved roadways. The same impulse for “a better life” that led people from crowded Manhattan to bucolic Brooklyn (the Westchester of 19th century New York City) would now drive the exodus out of NYC into the growing suburbs. After the Second World War, the initial outward migration reached epic proportions across the nation. New highways and train service permitted a suburban bread winner to journey from the nearby suburbs into the central city in about the same time that earlier generations took to move around in Manhattan. There was no longer a need to live in “nearby Brooklyn.”! Thus the grandchildren of the 1840 immigrants had largely relocated to suburbia.