O'Briens of Silvermines

Thanks- I did not expect such a quick reply! We do not believe the parents left Ireland. There is no mention or evidence of them in the states and the obit stated that Bridget emigratred with her siblings further suggesting that their parents did not leave. We know Catherine married a Ryan and believe she may have joined the siblings later after her marriage, according to records her children were born in Ireland and therfore if this is correct would not have left with her siblings. Thanks for the reply-Kathy

Kathy, my ancestors lived in the Silvermines and were possibly related to your family.  At the Baptisms of two of my relatives sponsors were named on one as Dan Brien and the other as Michael Brien. The one where Dan Brien was named as a sponsor occurred at the Silvermines in 1844 and the other one where Michael was a sponsor took place at Youghalarra in 1860.  I am told by professional genealogists it was quite common to drop the "O" from names and that these surnames were more likely "O'Briens".

My ancestors were also related to Ryans (also sponsors at baptisms of my family) but I have as yet been unable to find out how they all connected.  Do you have the Baptism records of any of your ancestors - we may be able to make connections if some of my ancestors reciprocated and were sponsors at some of your relatives' Baptisms.

Hi - I am aware that the O is often droped, but my O'Briens never droped the O in the states and are known as O' Brien, however, that does not mean that any relation did not drop the O.  I do not have any baptism records at this time. I suspect however, that the only siblings that came to the states were the five of them as they all ended up together in Nebraska.  I have no idea who relations are in Ireland other than the parents names. I would love to meet family and as I continue to discover additional records that yield information in connecting relations I will post.  Kathy

I have timelines of when the siblings came over. Maybe reading this will help! The older two siblings Mary O'Brien bn approx. 1833 and Bridget O'Brien bn approx 1837 arrived in the early 1850's. They were married in New Jersey in 1853 and 1856 and lived there until 1859 then to Nebraska. Another sibling Patrick O'Brien bn approx 1827/38 married in Ireland and presumed in Silvermines and emigrated abt 1862. We know this from the childrens date and location of birth, records etc. He married Anna Hickey approximently 1858-1860.

It is belived that at this time (approx.1862) that a fourth sibling Johanna bn apprx 1839 may have arrived with their brother Patrick. She is believed to have married in New Jersey and not Ireland. Her children were all born in the states.

The last known sibling did not arrive until later. Her name was Katherine O'Brien. She married in Ireland again presumably in Silvermines approx. 1858. She married a man by the name of Ryan. Her children were Thomas bn approx. 1860; Martin bn approx 1864 and John bn approx.1867 they were all born in Ireland and again in Silvermines. All records (other than census, state Silvermies) She first appears found on the Nebraksa 1885 census with her children and no husband listed. He is not buried in the family cemetery andhis name is not known. She dies in Nebraska in 1887 however her children list their date of emigration as 1880. If they emigrated in 1880 there should be some record for the family of Katherine? Possibly for Patrick? It is not believed and no written family has ever stated that the parents emigrated; records say came with siblings. it would make sense with some of the siblings not arriving until later that they had family in Ireland, however it is also thought because of the ages of the first two siblings arrival and the fact that the siblings who later emigrated first went to New Jersey before Nebraska (with the exception of Katherine who appeared to come directly to Nebrasska) that there was also extended family in New Jersey. They were communicating to the homeland. I wish I had more information. I have put toghether the timeline and all the records discovered so far. Thanks so much and Ihope to meet family! Kathy

Hi, Kathy.  One of my cousins lives in Silvermines - we found each other through Ireland Reaching Out a little over a year ago.  I forwarded your post to him, as I don't think he logs on anymore, and am including his reply below - please forgive me for taking so long to send it on to you; I've been out of town.  Good luck with your research!

Kind Regards - Ria Crocker

~~

Now to the “Reaching Out” enquiry.

My great grandfather was Michael O’Brien (sometimes written as Michael Brien or Michael Brine). One of his brothers was Daniel O’Brien. Daniel married Margaret Maher and had six children between 1850 and 1863. They were Patrick, John, Catherine, Daniel, Bridget and Jeremiah. The eldest of Daniel’s six children was Patrick, born on 5 May 1850, the same date and month as myself, except for a difference of 96 years. That means the Patrick O’Brien you referred to in your e-mail was a first cousin of my grandfather who was a John O’Brien. The O’Brien families lived in the parish of Silvermines  in a townland called Mucklin which was a hilly area with poor farmland. The farms of those hill people were very small, the rents were very high and landlords showed little mercy to those who couldn’t produce the rent on the given dates. Eviction faced many and as a result emigration was very common at the time. There was no work to be had and the farms were too small to feed a family. As you know, there were seven in the Tobin family and five emigrated to the USA. This was common in areas such as Mucklin. Another family whose children emigrated from Mucklin was the Gleeson family. They prospered in Australia and in time became owners of a hotel. They didn’t forget their origins and former neighbours and some time after making their “fortune” they sponsored their young neighbour, Patrick O’Brien, to Australia. In time other members of the O’Brien family followed. I cannot say whether they were sponsored by the Gleesons or by Patrick himself.

One of our members of the Silvermines Historical Society (SHS) is Nora Gleeson who married a man called O’Meara. Nora is now known as Nora Gleeson O’Meara. Nora is a full time genealogist with the Nenagh Heritage Centre. Nora wrote an article in our second publication, Mining The Past 2013. It is titled “Mucklin – Footprints of Our Ancestors” and there are details of the O’Brien family in the article. This Nora Gleeson O’Meara is a direct descendant of the Gleesons who sponsored Patrick O’Brien’s voyage to Australia and provided employment there for him. Most of the information is from Nora’s article and from Nora herself and I got other information from the parish records.

I presume the person seeking the information is a descendant of Patrick O’Brien. If I can be of further assistance I will make myself available.

 

 

 

 

 

Very exciting to read the message you posted, Ria. It seems your cousin who lives in the Silvermines is the first solid contact I have of anyone who may have ancestors who knew my ancestors. There is little doubt that this Michael OBrien and Dan O'Brien were the same people who were sponsors at my family's Baptisms. Up until now I have not been able to discover any connection whatsoever from my litttle "hill family" who lived exactly as he described by all evidence I have been able to find so far. the clue of "Mucklin" is the first time I have heard this. Is there any way I can find out more?  I would love to piece this jig saw together. I am particularly interested in surnames of Berkery and Gregan (and any spelling variants) connected with this area.  Thanks for the information, much appreciated.

 

 

I am a great great granddaughter of Patrick O'Brien who was sponsored by Patrick Gleeson to Australia and came to New Zealand.Patricks parents were Daniel and Margaret O'Brien nee Maher...Any further info would be much appreciated.

Thankyou.

 

Hi,

 

i have a MICHAEL SHANAHAN b. abt 1839 Tipperary came to Australia and married Ellen TRACEY,also from Tipperary.

Michael's parents  JAMES SHANAHAN and MARY RYAN.  Could he  be relative.

if so i have the descendants tracked down to now in Australia

Jacquie