| Home Page | Brock Family | McMartin Family | My Favorite Links |
| More | Pages | Coming | SOON! |
Welcome to the Homepage of Michael and Kathleen O'Brian's Family History Website. Countless hours are spent accumulating the data for any Geneological research project, and we are no exception! Kathleen has, no doubt, done the bulk of the research you will find in these pages, but I hope I have contributed enough to justify the title of the Website!
If there is one piece of advice we can pass along, having learned a few things from the volumn of research we have covered, is to tell each and every reader of these pages that finding and keeping Family Historical Records is of the utmost importance! The old saying; "if not you, WHO, if not NOW, When"?...was written, we believe, to accent the important nature of maintaining copious records for YOUR Posterity! Gather the names, dates, and important information about your Family now. Information such as; wedding dates, births, deaths, divorce dates, childrens names, along with birth (and death) dates of all newborns. Maybe keep notes on where families move to as well, and gather as much family History as you can, right now! It will only make it easier for you, or someone down the road, to put it all together. We now believe that every Family should have an official Family Historian! Of course, that will probably never happen, so it is incumbent upon YOU to do whatever you CAN to inform YOUR posterity of what is happening during YOUR lifetime.
The original intent of our research was to establish any factual and absolute relationship to Col. Jim Bowie of "knife" and "Alamo" fame..... either direct or in-direct!
I have been told my entire life, by my Father George Nigel Evans O'Brian (b.1904 in Montreal, QC d.1999 in Lansing, Michigan USA), that Col. Bowie was my ? G - uncle. Dad always "claimed" that we were related to the Colonel through several generations of Bowies, and in fact my Paternal Grandmother's maiden name was Kathleen Ross Bowie (b.1882 d.1955 - Father; George Bowie). And my Brother is named after that branch of the Family tree; William George Bowie O'Brian (b.1955 - living). All that being said, we must inform the reader that we have not yet been able to conclude in any meaningful way, a direct or in-direct relationship to Colonel Jim Bowie. Althought the research does continue!
Kathleen and Nigel Evans O'Brian -- my Paternal Grandfather, (b. 25 Nov. 1881 d. 16 Feb. 1942) -- were divorced in 1913, and Kathleen re-married in 1914 to Frank Allen (b.UNK d.UNK) of Montreal. They had three children; James "Jim" Barclay Allen (b.1915 d.1995), Edwin "Ned" Ross Allen (b.1917 d.1990) and Frank Bowie Allen (b. 1925 d. Oct. 2006). In all the years that I heard my Father speak of Frank Allen, who raised him from the age of ten, I never heard him speak one bad word of Frank Allen. I believe my Father considered Frank as his own Father, although he knew he was not.
Only picture we could find of Great Uncle Russell "Dubbie" Bowie.As I say, the original intent of the research was proof of a relationship to Col. Jim Bowie. However, after weeks of finding nothing but dead-end after dead-end in uncovering anything in Col. Bowie's line that we could actually tie to OUR Bowie's - although we did find (Grandmother Kathleen's older brother and sister) G-uncle Russell Bowie, (b.1880 d.1959) a Hall of Fame (First Class Inductee - 1945) Hockey Player in Canada, and NEVER a professional, but "always an amature"...by choice ... Russell was considered to be the greatest puck handler in the game, and he once scored 11 goals in ONE game! And G-aunt Lilly (b.1874 d.? m. Tom Paton) who has no known grand issue from her own 4 children - we have almost nothing substantial on the Bowie Limb! (that dead-end I referred to above)
UPDATE! Kathleen has just this morning, 3-30-04, discovered the name of my Maternal G-Grandmother.....Harriet (Kelly) Bowie, wife of George Bowie. No other data is available as of yet, but the research will continue!
However, as we delved deeper into the History of our Family, and garnered some much appreciated outside support from a Friend and several Relatives, we rather switched gears and fell into researching the O'Brian name and Geneology, and to our amazement; our Family Tree is filled with famous and fascinating ancestors! All of which will be discussed and displayed here for, we hope, your reading pleasure!
Robert Stuart Brock O'Brian (b.1852 in L'Original, Quebec, Canada d.1907/08 in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada) son of Peter O'Brian (b.1820 d.1911 in L'Original, Ontario, Canada) and Hannah Brock (b.1824 d.1879 in Canada) graduated from McGill University in 1873, at the age of 21, as a Medical Doctor. Robert and Eugenia "Sarah" (Mclean) O'Brian (b.1857 in Guelph, Wellington Co., Ontario, Canada d.1927 in Vancouver, BC) were married on August 10, 1877. They were the proud parents of Nigel Evans O'Brian (b.1882 d.1942), my Paternal Grandfather. We have not been able, as of yet, to find much information on Nigel, a Bond Dealer in, we believe, the Victoria, BC, Canada area. But back beyond him we have discovered an impressive array of ancestors. Not the least of which was Robert himself. He graduated with honors, and was a very respectful and loving son as evidenced by the numerous letters written by Robert, during his days at University, to his Father and his older sister Jesse (b.1849 d.1926). For example, in one early letter, written in 1871, he signed off with the following;
"Now dear Father I have written a very long letter and
must close or pay my all for postage. With love to all
I am,
Your obedient son"
Robt. O'Brian
Robert's Father, Peter O'Brian, was, an attorney and a County Court Judge for the United Counties of Prescott and Russell, OC, and seems to have been involved in the acquisition of Real Estate, and other business ventures in the L'Original area. This may explain the penchant for the current crop of O'Brian's foray into the same field. Peter's son, Colin Gregor O'Brian (b.1861 d.1936), Robert's younger brother, followed in his fathers foot steps and entered the field of Law also becoming a Judge, and also involved himself in Real Estate, and other business, in the L'Original, Ontario, Canada area. See, for example;
Kathy and I have spent many hours reflecting on a subject that may or may not have been considered important by other Family History researchers, to wit; we wanted to really follow the "Mothers side" of the Family Tree. In other words, we could see that the Family name, which always follows from the Fathers side gets the most attention, and we didn't want to "slight" the Women in our Family History. Because of this "open minded" attitude toward our research, we are pleased to report that some of the more prominent ancestors we found actually hail from that branch of our Family History.
Names that may not mean much to the American reader of these pages, by contrast, any semi-serious student of Canadian History may be very familiar with the names of James Evans (b.1801 d.1846) and John McLean (b.1798 d.1890). Both were quite prominent in the early exploration and civilization of our northern neighbor. And both are a part of the Family Tree through some wonderful women that allowed an O'Brian to wed them!
James Evans, who later became John McLean's Father-in-Law when John married Clarissa "Clara" Eugenia Evans (b.1826 d.1858) - daughter of James Evans and Mary Blythe Smith (b.? d.?) - is one fine example;
Of his daughters impending marriage, and his own subsequent "loss" of a daughter - who was some 29 years junior to her future husband, James wrote a poem addressing the loss, and the Love he felt for his young daughter;
Filled a parent's heart with pain
Yet like sunshine after rain
I still was cheered
My Clara.
Who when all around frown
With guileless mirth sorrow drown?
Who has afresh the flowerets strown
On sorrows path?
My Clara.
With heart o'er charged with doubt and fear
With eye bedimmed with glistening tear
What music would my spirits cheer
Thine never failed
My Clara.
And would I dip my pen in gall
And scratch a line cancel all
And crush my hopes—as Empires fall
I'd say—write
Another's Clara.
A picture of James Evans and Norfolk Street Church - outside and inside - in Guelph, Ontario, Canada, where he Pastored. In 1855, John McLean laid the cornerstone for the church at the request of church elders. It is speculated that he was offered this high honor due to his relationship to James Evans, although James had passed on in 1846. John was his son-in-law, afterall!
John McLean spent 25 years of his adult life working for the Hudson's Bay Company, a fur trading company which was responsible for much of the early civilization of what was then considered the "Great Northwest" of Canada, but would now be considered as the North or Northeast.
As a matter of fact, John McLean was instrumental in the Canadian governments decision to retain the Western portions of the entire nation; As a result of the money owed to the U.S by Canada following the American War Between the States, the Canadian government was seriously considering giving the western half of their country to the U.S. government, as a way of paying these "reparations." The argument the Canadian government used at the time was that the entire region west of Ontario was a frozen wasteland, and not fit for habitation by a civilized people. John McLean, having explored that entire region on many occassions, and knowing full well that it was a beautiful and fertile land began a series of anonymous "Letters to the Editor" informing the people about the region, AND many in government, who had been mis-led by some officials from their insistance that the region was a wasteland, and not worthy of investment. John's letters eventually persuaded the government to back off their proposal. Imagine if they had won the day and ceeded Canada, west of Ontario, to the United States! To view a picture of, and to read more about this incredible man and his adventures throughout Canada, go to this Webpage. While there, notice the Wedding picture of John and Clarissa's daughter Margaret, to Alexander McMillan, another Lawyer! It is believed by Kathy and I that the "little girl", sitting on the ground in front, is most probably our future Great-Grandmother Sarah (McLean) O'Brian, Margaret's little sister. Sarah's age, at the time of this photo, would have been 11 and this little girl looks to be about that age. Unfortunately, the Link to "Dick and Evie" on this site is inactive, and ALL efforts by Kathy and I to contact them were unsuccessful. A REAL shame, as we would have loved to talk with them about their knowledge of our relatives.!
For information regarding any of the Family History you have read
here, or to share any information you may have that would be helpful in our
research, please send E-Mail to;
Michael and Kathleen O'Brian
Or call us at; 517-264-0751
(under construction, so bear with)
Brand New Page
Sign Guestbook View Guestbook
This WebSite created by Freedoms Ring Cyber Group This webpage last updated on October 20, 2006