Verplanck
Spelled variously, the story of the Verplanck family in America begins with the arrival of Abraham Isaacse in New Netherland during the 1630s. This family patriarch lived in lower New York and died about 1691.
In 1657, a daughter married one of the first Albany Schuylers. Son Isaac became an Albany mainliner and the father of at least ten children.
As Gulian became William, the family continued to adapt to its life in America.
In 1722, surveyor Philip Verplanck would be named sheriff of Albany city and county.
In 1756, the home of "widow valplantin" also included at least two adult sons.
In 1790, only one Verplanck named household was counted on the Albany census. However, three more Verplanck families were enumerated in surrounding Watervliet. Two households located in Fishkill (Dutchess County) and one on Manhattan completed the statewide family demographic. However, Verplanck daughters continued to be represented in city households. By the time of the printing of the first city directory in 1813, the name dropped from early Albany rolls.
Beginning with "Ver Planck Street," in the residential Upper Washington Avenue section of today's Albany (which is more associated with descendant and Victorian surveyor and Adirondacks advocate Verplanck Colvin), the family name has been applied to numerous locations across New York State and beyond. Mount Gulian Historic Site in Westchester County commemorates the family's earliest days in America.
Sources: This access page on the Verplanck family of early Albany is derived chiefly from family and community-based resources. An online history places the family in a larger historical context. Verplanck in PFS. Online information on the standard family-based monograph published in 1892. Online transcription of a family bible.