Timothy J. O'Brien (son of John O'Brien and Katherine Haley) was born 1822 in County Cork, Ireland, and died Abt. 1898 in Massachusetts, USA. He married Elizabeth Thompson on 29 July 1854 in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, UK, daughter of John Thompson.
Notes for Timothy J. O'Brien: From existing records and family Lore, it appears that Timothy was born in County Cork, Province of Munster, Ireland and migrated to Wales sometime after the Irish Famine began. I located his marriage certificate through British Ancestors, an organization that searches through the General Registry Office in the UK for Births, Deaths and Marriages. His marriage to Elizabeth Thompson was listed as 29 July 1854 (a Saturday) in the Registrar's Office in Merthyr Tydfil, County Glamorgan, Wales, UK. His age was listed as 22 and his wife's age as 16. Witnesses to the ceremony were Ann Thomas and David Roper. Roger Williams, the Registrar, performed the ceremony. From this document I learned that Timothy was a Laborer and illiterate (he signed the document with an "X") and his wife was literate, as she signed her name. I have some apprehensions about his age. When he later migrated to the USA he listed his age as 50 on the Port of Entry Records: that was 19 June 1872. This would have made his birth year 1822. By his marriage certificate he would have been born in 1832. It is possible he lied about his age at marriage as he was reluctant to reveal he was twice his bride's age. Further, it was a civil ceremony. Not in keeping with his probable religious heritage. Until I obtain birth records of their children I shall accept the marrige certificate as a valid document. The main reason being that the number of persons with similar names marrying in Wales in this time frame is quite small. The population of all Wales in 1851{a census year} was less than one million. What prompted Timothy to migrate to USA in 1872 is open to speculation. I have reason to believe that his wife, Elizabeth, died and Timothy's brother, Maurice, who had immigrated to USA earlier, c 1864, wrote John to come to USA as life was better and there would be assistance to care for his 3 children. Hence, the sailing on the Cunard Lines ship SS Palmyra from Liverpool, England on 6 June 1872, which stopped in Queenstown, Ireland on 7 June and then sailed onwards to Boston, MA, USA, arriving on 19 June 1872. The Boston Evening Journal Newspaper notes the arrival of the vessel in the 15 June 1872 edition and remarked that there were 564 passengers in steerge class. Costs of passage were: Steerage $30 gold, Cabin class was $80-100 gold. Timothy's, John's and William's arrival is recorded on microfilm roll #277: Passenger Vessels Arrival Records for the Port of Boston; 21 May to 24 September, 1872: list #160-518 roll number 83. I read the microfilm at the National Archives, Washington, DC. Of interest here is that William's twin sister, Mary Jane states on the 1910 census that she immigrated in 1872. This appears to indicate that she was also with Timothy, John and William. But I was unable to locate her name in the aforementioned Passenger ship listing for that date. Nor was her mother {Elizabeth} listed. It is possible that Mary Jane came at an earlier, or later, date in 1872, and was not with her father and brothers at the time of immigration. Timothy and his two sons, John, age 11 and William, age 9 were assisted on their arrival by Maurice O'Brien, Timothy's brother. Maurice's daughter, Elizabeth, had married Patrick T. Shean who was a successful tradesman (blacksmith) and farmer in Belmont and it was here that the clan O'Brien had it's origins. Of note is that the 1880 census lists Mary Jane as Mary B. as a cousin-in-law and residing with the Shean Family. So it can be deduced that she was also a recipient of Shean largesse.
The following information is about the ship that transported Timothy and 2 sons (John & William) to USA (1872). Ship Name and information:
1. PALMYRA, built 1865.
2,044 gross tons, length 290.8ft x beam 38ft, clipper bows, one funnel, two masts (rigged for sail), iron hull, single screw, speed 11 knots. Accommodation for 46-1st and 650-3rd class passengers. Built by Caird & Co, of Greenock, UK. She was launched for the Cunard Steamship Co on 23rd Dec.1865. Her maiden voyage from Liverpool to Queenstown (Cobh), Ireland and New York started on 25th Apr.1866 and on 6 Sep.1870 she commencd her first Liverpool - Queenstown - Boston sailing. Her last regular voyage on this service started 22nd Jul.1873 and she was then used on the Liverpool - Mediterranean route, except for 17 North Atlantic voyages between 1880 and 1891, her final sailing to Boston starting on 31st Dec.1891. She was scrapped in 1897. [North Atlantic Seaway by N.R.P.Bonsor, vol.1, p.149]
The following interesting particulars, for the year 1886, of the victuals put on board a Cunard liner for the round {Atlantic} voyage, and also of the staff employed by the Company, are given in the "Life of Sir George Burns," by Edwin Hodder, 1890; "For a single passage to America the Etruria, with 547 cabin passengers and a crew of 287 persons on board, carries the following quantities of provisions:-12,550 lbs. fresh beef, 760 lbs. corned beef, 5,320 lbs. mutton, 850 lbs. lamb, 350 lbs. veal, 350 lbs. pork, 2,000 lbs. fresh fish, 600 fowls, 300 chickens, 100 ducks, 50 geese, 80 turkeys, 200 brace grouse, 15 tons potatoes, 30 hampers of vegetables, 220 quarts ice cream, 1,000 quarts of milk, and 11,500 eggs (or at the rate of one egg per minute from the time the ship sails from Liverpool until her arrival in New York.
"The quantities of wines, spirits, beer, etc., put on board for consumption on the round voyage, comprise 1,100 bottles champagne, 850 bottles claret, 6,000 bottles ale, 2,500 bottles porter, 4,500 bottles mineral waters, 650 bottles various spirits.
"Crockery is broken very extensively, being at the rate of 900 plates, 280 cups, 438 saucers, 1,213 tumblers, 200 wine-glasses, 27 decanters, and 63 water-bottles in a single voyage.
"As regards the consumption on board the whole Cunard fleet for one year, the figures seem almost fabulous:-4,656 sheep, 1,800 lambs, 2,474 oxen are consumed-an array of flocks and herds surpassing in extent the possessions of many a pastoral patriarch of ancient times-besides 24,075 fowls, 4,230 ducks, 2,200 turkeys, 2,200 geese, 53 tons of ham, 20 tons bacon, 15 tons cheese, and 832,603 eggs.
"Other articles are in extensive demand, and in the course of a year there is consumed:-one ton and a half of mustard, one ton and three quarters of pepper, 7,216 bottles pickles, 8,000 tins sardines, 33 tons salt cod and ling, 4,192 four-lb. Jars of jam, 15 tons marmalade, 22 tons raisins, currants, and figs, 18 tons split peas, 15 tons pearl barley, 17 tons rice, 34 tons oatmeal, 460 tons flour, 23 tons biscuits, 33 tons salt, 48,902 loaves of bread 8lbs. each.
"The Cunard passengers annually drink and smoke to the following extent:-8,030 bottles and 17,613 half-bottles champagne, 13,941 bottles and 7,310 half-bottles claret, 9,200 bottles other wines, 489,344 bottles ale and porter, 174,921 bottles mineral waters, 344,000 bottles spirits; 34,360 lbs. tobacco, 63,340 cigars, and 56,875 cigarettes.
"The heaviest item in the annual consumption of the Company is of course coal, of which 356,764 tons are burnt-nearly equal to 1,000 tons for every day in the year.
"This quantity of coal, if built as a wall four feet high and one foot thick, would reach from Land's End to John o'Groats' House.
"With regard to the aggregate employment of labour by the Cunard Company, it includes 34 captains, 146 officers, 628 engineers, boilermakers, and carpenters, 665 seamen, 916 firemen, 900 stewards, 62 stewardesses, 42 women to keep the upholstery and linen in order, with 1,100 men of a shore gang, or about 4,506 people to run the ships, which traverse yearly a distance equal to five times that between the earth and the moon!"
pp. 294-5 of Atlantic Ferry, Maginnis, 1892.
I have not been able to find any other recorded information on Timothy J. O'Brien after his arrival in the USA. The first recorded information on his children is the 1880 census of Belmont, MA. John is listed as a farmer laborer on Hart's farm, and his sister Mary Jane (listed as Mary B.) is living in the home of PT Shean and listed as a cousin-in-law. Also listed is her uncle Maurice O'Brien. There is no record of William but he appears with the others in all census records of 1900, 1910, 1920 {he died in 1926}. In the town of Belmont Annual Report for the year 1896-7 there is a Timothy J. O'Brien listed as living on a farm on Cross St, near Brighton St. This is in the vicinity of where the Winn Brook Elementry school was built in 1934. Since that is the only Timothy J. O'Brien listed living in Belmont, I assume that is my great grandfather. He was not listed in the 1900 census of Belmont. I therefore concluded that he died in 1898 or 1899. I have used the former date in this record. He lived approximately 78 yrs.
More About Timothy J. O'Brien: Burial: Unknown, Massachusetts. Emigration: 19 June 1872, Boston, MA: on the SS Palmyra from Liverpool, UK.
More About Timothy J. O'Brien and Elizabeth Thompson: Marriage: 29 July 1854, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, UK.
Marriage Notes for Timothy J. O'Brien and Elizabeth Thompson: There is evidence, or confusion, as to the name of Timothy's wife. When his 2 sons, John and William, died their records indicated the following: John J. O'Brien's parents were listed as; Timothy J. O'Brien and Elizabeth Thompson. William E. O'Brien's parents were listed as; Timothy J. O'Brien and Bessie Harrington. When the daughter, Mary Jane O'Brien, died her death records in the Belmont Town Clerk's Office listed her parents as Timothy and Elizabeth Thompson. It is possible that Thompson was the 1st wife and died, and Timothy remarried to Harrington. This is not a high probability as the birth of John was 12/24/1860 and the birth of William was 06/17/1862. A span of 18 months. Timothy would have to have been a speedy suitor.
Marriage certificate of Timothy and Elizabeth states that he was 22 yrs old and she was 16 yrs of age. Therefore, he born c 1832 and she born c 1838. He could not write, signed certificate with his mark. She signed her name, so it seems she was literate.
Children of Timothy J. O'Brien and Elizabeth Thompson are:
+John J. O'Brien, b. 24 December 1859, Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, UK, d. 27 April 1916, Belmont, MA.
Timothy J. O'Brien (b. 1822, d. Abt. 1898)
Notes for Timothy J. O'Brien: