OBRIEN / HART; COR,IRL>MA,USA; 1833-1890 Is it possible that you would have any connections with our O'Briens, Robinsons, Bryants, etc.? In a nutshell, here are the particulars on ours . . . Timothy O'Brien and his wife, Joanna (Hart) Obrien, were born Feb 1798 and 19 Jun 1798 (respectively) in Cork, Ireland. Their first child, Michael Cullen O'Brien, was born on 17 Mar 1828, also in Cork. Sometime between this date and September of 1832, the family emigrated to Essex, England in an apparent "stepped emigration" effort. Their second child, Daniel W. O'Brien, was born on 8 Sep 1832 in Essex, England. Then, sometime between that date, Sep 1832, and Dec 0f 1835 the family emigrated to North America. One source isolates the year of 1833 as the year this movement took place. Although we have not identified their port of entry with any degree of certainty as of yet, we do know that they were in Georgetown, Essex, Massachusetts, by the time their first daughter, Mary Emily O'Brien, was born on 22 Dec 1835. Then, sometime in 1836/37 the second daughter, Ann Louisa, was born in Georgetown. Quick summary of some key points . . . 1. Timothy was a general laborer and farm worker most of his life. Joanna was always home. We are not aware of any vocational pursuit for her outside of the home. 2. Michael was a shoemaker. He married Harriet Naramore Hawley in 1850, and they had six children. They moved to Rochester, NY, in 1857, and in 1862 he enlisted in the 108th New York Volunteers, Company E. He was wounded three times, at Gettysburg, Laurel Hill, and Antietam. After visiting family in 1872 in Racine, Wisconsin and Chicago, he was taken off the train at Tiffin, Iowa, due to illness. He died there in August in the house of Mr. and Mrs. Beam. He is buried in Oakhill at Tiffin Cemetery. The reason he had been heading west (alone) was threefold: 1) His health had been poor ever since the war, and he wanted to seek a better climate, 2) He was going to Nebraska to stake a land claim in accordance with the advance credit granted to veterans of the Union Army, and 3) He had relatives there someplace although we do not know where they were or what their names were. 3. Daniel was also a shoemaker. He married Harriet Frances Robinson in 1855, and they had two children, Frederick and Alice Maria in 1856 and 1857. Daniel enlisted in the 19th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry in 1861. He was in Company C. He was wounded at the Battle of Glendale, and then also at Antietam. In the case of the latter, he was seriously wounded at the battle of the West Woods (Antietam) which took place in the first phase of the battle, the morning. He had his leg amputated at Smoketown field hospital, and he died of ensuing infection on 5 Oct 1862, 18 days after the battle. He is buried in the National Cemetery at Antietam. 4. Mary Emily married Alan Robinson, and they had several children: Allen, jr., Frances (f), Bernice, Amos, John, etc. 5. Ann Louisa was in Rochester living near Michael in 1862 when Daniel mentioned her in a letter to Michael's family. 6. The entire family, except for Daniel and his wife, moved to Rochester in 1857. However, by 1865 Timothy, Joanna, and Mary Emily and her family had relocated back to Georgetown, MA. Michael and his family and Ann Louisa stayed in Rochester. 7. Timothy, Joanna, Michael, and Daniel all were originally Roman Catholics. However, owing to the fact that there was no Catholic option for worship in Georgetown in their period of arrival, the family did join the First Congregational Church in the 1840's, with the girls being baptized in that church. However, there is no indication that the boys joined that church at anytime. They were, however, married to girls who were members of that faith. When a Catholic option was available to Timothy and Joanna, they apparently exercised it and returned to their own church. At the time that consisted of household masses, but by 1874, St. Mary's parish was established. A reliable source has advised that Timothy and Joanna are credited with being the first Irish Catholics in Georgetown. When they died, Timothy in 1878 and Joanna in 1891, they were both buried in St. James Cemetery in Haverhill, Massachusetts. At the time, it was the only Catholic Cemetery in the vicinity. It also just happened to be filled with most of the Irish Catholic Immigrants of the 19th century from that area of Essex County, Massachusetts. It is possible that the final resting place is in lot #148, as indications are that the original lot owner was a Joanna O'Brien. However, as nothing is ever very easy, there is no tombstone there or anyplace else in the cemetery that I was able to locate when I walked all those rows in July of '99 (this year). Even more complications, there is a Johanna T. O'Brien, spouse of Patrick P. O'Brien buried in the ten grave plot. Well, in fact, there are seven burials there, all covered on a single tombstone. There are three graves unaccounted for. Are Timothy and Joanna in two of them? Unfortunately, we may never know as there was a great fire that destroyed all detailed and original burial records prior to 1940. Well, any possible connections would be interesting. would love to connect with more living cousins. "Charles E. Tucker" <[email protected]>