O

The O'BRIEN family in Rhode Island is known as the BRIEN family in Renews, Newfoundland. This has been confirmed with the marriage certificate of Michael BRIEN and Emma CONWAY.

Blanche McCarthy emailed me:

"O" wasn't used in names until the late 1800s (about late 1880s the "O" started to be used for some names, and by 1900 quite a few had the "O" added. But in the early years it wasn't. I was an O'Keefe. But the "O" is in only a few of the records. And no consistency either. One child's baptism would have the "O" and the next child wouldn't. By the way my father doesn't have the "O" in his name (born 1911), but all us kids do!! His brother (born 1915) does have it. Go figure!!"

Michael Brien appears on the 1900 and 1908 Voter's List of Renews for the Ferryland District. He lived on the North Side. He was aleady gone to the States in 1905.
He also appears on McAlpine’s 1904 Directory Ferryland District as a fisherman: http://ngb.chebucto.org/M1904/004-fer-idx.shtml

The existence of siblings for Michael Brien has never been confirmed. However, there are two other male Briens in Renews who are contemporaries of Michael Brien. I mention them only because of this fact and because I remember as a child my Aunt Mary O’Brien (“Aunt Mamie”) talking about the Walsh and Coady and Brothers families:

Matthew Brien married Johanna Walsh at Holy Apostles Church, Renews on January 19, 1879. Witnesses: Peter Walsh and Mary Walsh. Priest: Father John Walshe.

and

Timothy Brien married Mary Bevis at Holy Apostles Church, Renews on September 24, 1877. Witnesses: Thomas Sheehan and Jane Coady. Priest: Father John Walshe.

Holy Apostles Church in Renews was a focal point of Catholic life in Renews/Capyhaden. Michael and Emma were married there and their chilren were baptized there: https://www.heritage.nf.ca/articles/society/holy-apostles-church.php


In the early 1900s Michael and Emma O'Brien lived at 69 Aurora Street in Providence, Rhode Island. Michael died of asphyxiation in 1912, only 5 years after he emigrated to the US. His wife, Emma, mourned him in black dress for the rest of her life.

The 1910 US Census has the following information:

1910 U.S. Census
Rhode Island
County: Providence
City: Providence, 10th Ward; ED No. 259; sheet no. 12A
Enumerated: April 20, 1910

69 Aurora Street -

Michael J. O'Brien, Head of Household, age 50, Married for 27 years; b. Canada-Irish; Parents b. Canada-Irish; Immigration Date: 1907; Citizenship status: Alien; Occupation: Laborer, Place of employment: City Works; Wage employee; Employed; Rents home

Emma O'Brien, Wife, Married 27 years, Mother of 9 living children; b. Canada-Irish; Parents b. Canada-Irish; Immigration Date: 1907,Occupation: none

Mary A., Daughter, age 18, Single, b. Canada-Irish; Parents b. Canada-Irish; Immigration Date: 1907, Occupation: Winder; Woolen Mill

Michael J., Son, age 16, Single, . Canada-Irish; Parents b. Canada-Irish; Immigration Date: 1907, Occupation: Laborer; Place of Employment: Bleachery

James T., Son, age 13, b. Canada-Irish; Parents b. Canada-Irish; Immigration Date: 1907, Occupation: None

John W., Son, age 11, b. Canada-Irish; Parents b. Canada-Irish; Immigration Date: 1907

Annie F., Daughter, age 9, b. Canada-Irish; Parents b. Canada-Irish; Immigration Date: 1907

Joseph A., Son, age 6, b. Canada-Irish; Parents b. Canada-Irish; Immigration Date: 1907

Source:

National Archives and Records Administration
Washington, D.C


Before they emigrated to Rhode Island, Michael and Emma lived in Broad Cove, Renews (now called Cappahayden) near Ferryland, Newfoundland, Canada. It is located on the Avalon Peninsula.

Michael Brien, fisherman, appears in the McAlpine's Directory, 1894-97, 1898 and 1904 Directory, Renews, Ferryland District.

All their children were baptized at Holy Apostles Church in Renews. This church was built in 1874 and is designated as a Registered Heritage Structure by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is still an important landmark for both hunters and fishermen. The Church is a traditional marker for the fishing grounds and helps guide hunters in the forest surrounding the community.

As of March 2, 1998, Holy Family Parish was established from the three former parishes of Immaculate Conception, Cape Broyle; Holy Trinity, Ferryland; and Holy Apostles Church, Renews.

Father Paul J. Lundrigan, Pastor of Holy Family, confirmed the marriage record of Michael Brien and Emma Conway and the baptism records of their children. Independently, Raelene Earle and Blanche McCarthy also confirmed the birth and baptism dates of the Brien children:

Blanche McCarthy sent me the following email on 9/24/2000:

Hi Bill,

I just had this e-mail come in from my sister-in-law, Bertha Thorne, nee McCarthy. I will send it as she wrote it, using Pop's own words and the way he would say it. It's more informational than genealogical, but genealogy is more than dates too:

"Anyway getting back to Brien's Hill. That is directly across from Pop's house, between his place and the back road, there's a ball field there now (Pop will tell you about all the money they wasted on that, and never a game of ball played on it I don't think, ha, ha), ask him about it when you come home, ha.

That ground was originally owned by the Conways: Anthony- Anto he was called, Tom, and Emmie. Emmie married a man by the name of Mickey Brien (O'Brien) who lived in Fermeuse just inside of Ghaneys (that's as you are leaving Fermeuse going towards Aquaforte). After they married they built a house over on that hill, and ever since it has been known as Brien's Hill, and the river at the foot of it was called Brien's River (that's where we used to get all our water years ago, before Pop dug that bountiful well of his, ha, ha). In fact all the people around that area used Brien's River for water.

Pop told me the story, here is his version, he said Mr. Mike and Emmie Brien had several children, there was Jim, Anthony, Mike, Marty, Kate, John, Joe, Mary, and Joanna. They all moved away to the States. "I remember well the day they left for St. John's to go away, I was only a little fellow I suppose five or six and I went up to their house before they left. Emmie gave me a hen, it was a grey color, and boy was I ever excited. I took the hen in my arms and carried it home to my mother, I suppose I nearly had the poor old hen squeezed to death, I was holding her so tight afraid I'd lose her. We had that hen for a long time after. Yes, I'll never forget that.

I met Emmie Brien again when I was working in Boston, she told me that she would be satisfied to live under a fence with nothing to eat but a caplin a day if only she could be back home in Renews. According to that she never really settled down in the states in her mind, but she couldn't afford to come back home, and besides that there was nothing to come home for. There was no way to make a dollar. I'd say there were more like her too who went away and were never happy. Her children were okay because they were young and got out around with their own chums and they liked it in Boston. I hung around a bit with Anthony while I was up there. He had an old 'Tin Lizzy' car that you had to crank to get her going".

I am unsure how the Brien Family arrived in the US in 1907. Most immigrants from Newfoundland came by ship out of St. John’s and went direct to Boston or New York. Other's went by ship to Halifax and then took the train down through Nova Scotia to Yarmouth then they took a ship from there to Boston ... or to another port and then on to Boston.

Others made their way to St. John’s and took the train from there to Port aux Basques and then a boat to North Sydney, Nova Scotia and then a train to Boston. These immigrants from Newfoundland to Massachusetts [and other New England States] braved the crossing from Port-aux-Basque to North Sidney, traveled overland, and entered the US at Calais, Maine. These folks aren't on passenger lists.

Source:

By Way of Canada:
U.S. Records of Immigration Across the U.S.-Canadian Border, 1895-1954
(St. Albans Lists) By Marian L. Smith

Gerald Barnable comments on how the Briens came from Newfoundland to Boston:

I'm pretty sure they would have gone by boat at least as far as Halifax, N.S.  Renews population reached its peak about 1870 and then started to decline through emigration, particularly to the 'Boston States.'  If your people didn't leave till 1907 I would imagine they had relatives and friends there to greet them when they landed.  Newfoundlanders always back each other, and I'm sure their arrival wasn't a cold and lonely affair.  Somebody was there to shelter them and somebody was there to take the males to a potential job. I imagine you have checked out Maynard, Mass. A lot of Renews people went there.
 
My favourite sad emigrant story is one told to me by Eddie Chidley, who worked out of New York on a cruise ship in the early 1950s.  He told me there was an ancient guy, formerly from Newfoundland, who used to come aboard regularly just to hear about the old place.  One time someone said to him, "If you loved it so much, why did you leave it?"  "Drove out by nuns and dogfish," was his sad answer.
(the nuns were very strict, and dogfish, of the shark family, were the bane of trawl fisherman. When they struck you would find one on every baited trawl hook.


Obituary: Providence Journal, 19 Nov 1912.

O’BRIEN - In this city, on the 17th inst., Michael J., husband of Emma (Conway) O’Brien.
Funeral Wednesday morning, Nov. 20, at 8:30 o’clock, from his late residence, 69 Aurora Street. Requiem mass at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament at 9 o’clock. Relatives and friends are invited to attend. Kindly omit flowers.

Michael J. O'Brien
Birth: 1847
Death: 1912
 
Burial:
Saint Francis Cemetery
Pawtucket
Providence County
Rhode Island, USA


On 24 December 2016 I received this email from Audrey Swain:

Hi Bill,

So nice to meet up with you again on FTDNA. Isn’t it odd that the site sees us as being 5th cousins when we are actually 3rd? And also, gedmatch has our MRCA @@ 5.3 generations! How do you interpret that?

I’ve been meaning to contact you earlier about a court record I found at the archives (PANL) regarding a land dispute November 1910 between Edward O’Brien and Stephen Brophy. In the record Edward refers to his brother Michael now living in the USA. In another court session Oct 1910 the same Edward O’Brien identifies himself as the uncle of Ambrose Powell & according to Renews parish records Ambrose is the son of William Powell and Theresa O’Brien. These 2 records confirm 2 siblings of your Michael O’Brien - Edward & Theresa. As we know, when Michael’s mother Catherine died in 1905 she left 2 sons and 2 daughters, so there were 2 other daughters still living in 1905 as Theresa died in 1894.

Merry Christmas to you,

Audrey