6349. Just four digits. What are they? An address? Password to unlock an iPhone? The cost of a new Mack truck in 1955? Well maybe, but not the answer I’m looking for. 6349 is actually the lowest active DOT number in horse transportation and it belongs to Morrissey’s Horse Pullmans of Pawling, New York! But how did they get their start?
To learn that, we have to go back to Tipperary, Ireland where a boy named Frank Morrissey lived. Frank was one of ten children at a time where large families were more common than they are today and each person in the family was expected to pull their weight around the house and farm. At around 12-13 years old, Frank decided to runaway and join a group of Irish Gypsies traveling around the country side by horse and wagon. Frank eventually returned to his family and in 1928, Frank’s father decided he wanted to send one of his sons to America in pursuit of a better life. So, he bought a ticket aboard a ship and even though Frank wasn’t supposed to be the one to go, after his brother got sick, Frank’s dad told him to take the ticket, so it wouldn’t go to waste.
Once Frank got to America, he tried his hand at being an electrician and that didn’t work out. He tried his hand at being a plumber and that too, didn’t work out. Frank then decided to go back to his Irish roots and working with horses and in 1934, began a partnership with Gordon Wright in Bronxville, New York. This is where Frank also met his future wife and mother of his two girls, Frances, who also came over to America, but from Donegal, Ireland. Working with Gordon, Frank continued to hone his skills and after a few years, together, they opened Lawrence Farms Stables in Mt. Kisco, New York.
Lawrence Farms started small. In the 1940s, they had up to 30 lesson horses under their guidance and seeing a need to provide transportation to shows as well as fox hunts that parents would go on while their kids were taking lessons, Frank decided to buy an old bread van and convert it into a horse van. Frank did all the conversion work himself. On fox hunts, van drivers would take the horses to the hunting grounds then sit and wait while the clients were hunting. Once the clients were done hunting, the driver would help cool down the horses and clean them up while the clients went to lunch. On fox hunts, it was common for two or more stables to end up on the same hunting grounds and the drivers would sit and talk to each other. On one of these fox hunts, Frank Morrissey met a man named William (“Willie”) Breede.
Willie was born in Baltimore, Maryland before moving to New Jersey. His Aunt’s family had a small farm near Timonium, Maryland and Willie spent time each summer working with the horses there. Eventually, his parents moved back to Lutherville, Maryland and that is when Willie got a job working for William McKinley Smith, also known as “Linky” Smith. After his friend, Carl Hill, moved to New York, Carl encouraged him to follow and Willie found a job working in Bedford Hills, New York for Albert Berol whose family owned Eagle Pencil Company. It was Willie’s job to care for and exercise Mr. Berol’s horses and also to drive the horse van to fox hunts that Mr. Berol went on.
Willie and Frank developed a good relationship through their time spent together working at the fox hunts. In 1958, Frank offered Willie a job and Willie accepted. When Willie was brought on, Frank’s wife, Frances, sent a letter to their daughter, Frances, who was in school in Boston telling her that they just hired someone that they think she would like and sure enough, she did! Willie and Frances got married in 1959 and on the way to their honeymoon in Florida, Frances called home to check in from Southern Pines, NC. That is when they found out about a truck having problems and the newlyweds drove back home to keep the company moving.
Morrissey’s Horse Pullmans was officially founded in 1954 and for Frank, transporting horses was more of a side gig, but bringing in Willie helped transform Morrissey’s into a full time commitment. Morrissey’s would add a 7 horse trailer and had their own authority to run as far as Virginia and the Carolinas. Morrissey’s then worked out a deal with Fox Hollow that ran from the late 1960’s until about 1975, that allowed Morrissey’s access all the way to Florida and Kentucky running under Fox Hollow’s rights. They made regular week long round trips from New York to Florida and back with layovers halfway in Southern Pines, North Carolina.
In 1969, the stable where Frank worked closed and he decided to move the company to Pawling, New York to be in a prime spot to serve the many farms that were in the area and Morrissey’s is still in the same spot today. As Morrissey’s Horse Pullmans grew, so did the Breede family with two girls, Marcy and Sharon. Marcy says, “I had a pony waiting for me before I was born!” Both Marcy and her younger sister, Sharon, started early riding horses before competing in shows and like a lot of small family owned businesses, both Sharon and Marcy helped out wherever they could.
With Willie’s competitive drive, willingness to adapt, and the need to provide for a bigger family, he started to attend sales in Saratoga and began to add racehorses into his clientele. He also started buying and selling trailers and often had a trailer sold before he got the trailer home.
Morrissey’s grew to about 6-7 trucks and a little more than 20 employees. To celebrate the success, Willie rented a house next to Saratoga every year. Saratoga was Willie’s favorite place to be and he hosted a lobster boil every year and invited everyone, watching the races from the backside of the track and if anyone wanted a refreshment, he’d be the first to give them one. Willie was a giver and that wasn’t limited to food or drinks. He believed in the good of people and often gave people second or even third chances. He wanted people to be happy and succeed, but also, never took life too seriously. He could walk into a room with people arguing and had the ability to break the tension with his quick wit and had a nickname for everyone.
For Marcy, she loved the business from a young age. There were times when she was in school and would get into trouble for not doing a school assignment and her “punishment” was to be an attendant on a truck in the middle of February headed to Kentucky. Little did her parents know, she loved riding in the trailer and being with the horses, so this wasn’t much of a punishment at all! Marcy started off going to sales with her dad, helping out in the office, being an attendant, and just doing anything she was allowed to do at the time.
While women weren’t allowed on New York racetracks until around 1969-1970, Marcy got her first job outside of Morrissey’s galloping horses after graduating from University of Colorado at Boulder. She also helped various people with showing horses for people that were going to sales and in 1985, she was asked to show horses for David Cassidy, of “The Partridge Family” fame, at Saratoga and met a man named Jim Roberts who was working for David. After talking for a little bit, Jim invited Marcy to dinner that night at the Mexican Connection restaurant. I’d say that dinner went pretty well, because they have been together for 25 years and counting! They have two kids, Mike and Lindsey, together.
While Lindsey is 12 and still in grade school, she will attend sales with her parents and will do things like making out head tags for sale horses. Mike has had a love for the family business for as long as he can remember. Whether it was going to sales, wrenching on trucks and trailers, or jumping in a truck to go on a trip with his parents, Mike has horses, oil, and Morrissey’s in his blood. He has done everything he could to prepare himself for the future of Morrissey’s including graduating at the top of his class studying Diesel Mechanics, Trucks/Heavy Equipment, and puts in countless hours on the road and in the shop. His parents couldn’t be more proud of him, his work ethic, and they have full confidence in him in carrying on the legacy of Morrissey’s Horse Pullmans one day.
Through their 67-year history, Morrissey’s has kept true to their roots by doing things like keeping Pullman (a term carried over from passenger railcars) in their name and keeping it a small family run business that continued focused on the welfare of the animals. Willie was not just a member of the National Horse Carriers Association; he was on their Board of Directors for many years as well as being a director for his local SPCA. Marcy herself is now the Vice President of the National Horse Carriers Association.
Morrissey’s has plenty of people to credit for their success and it wasn’t limited to just the Morrissey/Breede/Roberts family. It starts with the extended Morrissey’s family of dispatchers, horsemen and women, agents and mechanics that have kept them moving safely for almost seven decades. People like Doug Jones, Gary Mead, Jimmy Carder, Joey Gagliardi, Roger Payne, Will Coon, Scot Green, and Steve Towner among many others. A lot of them have helped to raise Marcy in some way and when Willie passed away in March 1995, she was fortunate to find out how many people who worked for Willie were going to become mentors to her to help her through. If a situation came up where she wasn’t sure what to do, she was fortunate enough to have Judge Manning, Gould Brittle, and Thom Peavy to help guide her through anything she needed.
There was also a successful partnership that was established in the early 1980’s between Willie and Gene Hull of Hull & Smith Horse Vans. With Morrissey’s covering the East and Hull & Smith covering the West, interlining became a frequent occurrence between both companies and both were essentially capable of covering the entire United States without issue and minimal stress. Also, during track moves from Churchill Downs to warmer climates in the South for example, it was a common site to see the red and yellow cabovers working alongside the green and yellow cabovers to move barns.
Marcy is most proud that through all these years, Morrissey’s core values haven’t changed and that they are still a family owned business that now has its fourth generation working for Morrissey’s. Marcy only wishes that Mike and Willie could have had the chance to get to know each other. She gets calls all the time from longtime customers about how similar Mike is to Willie, even down to the way he walks. With Frank getting things started, Willie and Frances pushing Morrissey’s to new heights, Marcy and Jim have kept a ship tight and everything floating right. They are excited and confident that Mike is going to continue on the proud legacy of Morrissey’s Horse Pullmans will continue to thrive for many generations to come.
Thank you Justin Moritz for writing this great article about Morrissey’s story!