28 standards. Even so, Samuel R. Platt’s executors had charged Timoney $35,000 ($1,091,902.31 adjusted inflation) for the 42 acres, though the total may have amounted to $42,000. 40 About a year after purchasing the Wade house and former C. H. Van Amburgh & Co. yard, Timoney made an additional acquisition from William H. Mackay and James D. Avery: brickyards on a ten-year lease in the vicinity. This amounted to three yards total, and in his production of “a quarter of a million brick per day,” with ease Timoney had made up for his giant investments. As a brick manufacturer in Westchester, he had joined the Brick Exchange of New York City, and gained access to markets there. To his son James A. Timoney, Francis passed operation of the Dykeman dry goods business of encouraged his pursuit in the grocery business as another means of income for the family. Timoney used the Matteawan National Bank, becoming a stockholder and director. His most leisurely economic pursuit was reviving the Van Amburgh farm, in almost continuous operation for a hundred years. When Francis and Margaret began occupation of the house sometime in 1886, their children were: Mary A., age 29, Francis A., age 25, Teresa “Tessie,” age 18, John H,, age 15, Clara, age 13, Susan, age 11, James, age 9, and Jane, age 9. It is Teresa who etched her name into one of the window panes, since removed, July 9, 1888 (Figure 8). The Timoneys did not embark on any known alterations to the house apart from perhaps a modernization of some fixtures or a light redecorating to their tastes. Their decision to prioritize family life at the house rather than a remodeling or additions to pronounce themselves, is somewhat unique for a family of their wealth. Francis Timoney did not use architecture as a means of declaring his influence. It only required a short distance up the road for doubters to educate themselves in Timoney’s strength as a brickmaker. His new house came to be strongly associated with him, an attachment that exists to the present. One writer for the Peekskill Highland Democrat in reminiscent notes only shared that Timoney had moved to a
