My O'Brien surname is my last major 'brick wall." My mother's limited research that she conducted in the 1980s and 1990s identified, probably through family stories, that her 2nd great grandfather's name was Richard O'Brien, immigrant from Ireland and maybe had a wife whose surname was Perrigo or Perkins. We know his son, Charles Emmet O'Brien was a Civil War veteran from Blissfield, Lenawee County, Michigan, who was born somewhere in (probably western) NY state in 1828 or 1838. One of the mysteries is the Emmet middle name. Charles gave it to his son, Frank Emmet O'Brien, one of my 4 great grandfathers. It's possible that my mother assumed the Richard given name because of her father's forename. She made one other similar error on another line.

My mother noted that Richard O'Brien, Irish immigrant and mystery guy, was an itinerate farmer who "owned nothing but the shirt on his back." She had no facts to prove that statement that I know of, but since his son and grandson were also farmers, at least that part is probably correct. A copied print of "recollections" of a cousin stated that mystery guy Richard O'Brien also lived in Lenawee County, MI, and even died there, but FindAGrave has no record of a male O'Brien buried in that county with an 1800-1810 birthdate and I have had no luck locating him in any western New York county prior to 1840.

Frank Richard O'Brien and Evelyn Spencer were my maternal grandparents. I can remember many trips to Bellevue as a kid. We'd always stop first at Fruin's Pharmacy, where she worked at the time. Her big old house on Main Street had many bedrooms, one of which had a queen-size bed with a feather mattress. After bedtime, some of my family members had trouble sleeping due to the constant train traffic a block away, but I slept well on that big old mattress. That house was once used for early meetings of the local Masonic Temple. Grandpa Frank and his brothers-in-law, Burrell Beach Spencer and Frank Gales Spencer, were Masons.

Beyond the fence in the back yard sat two Hudsons, rusting relics from the late 1940's. And, of course, the water. It had a sulphur taste to it. I remember Grandpa Frank's funeral in October, 1959. I was just 7 years old at the time. He had suffered from Parkinson's disease, but died of pneumonia. Grandma Evelyn passed away in 1987. She was 86 years of age, and was "scared to death," as she told me several weeks before she became ill with pneumonia. The ravages of arthritis and osteoporosis had made her afraid to walk for fear of falling.

Frank Richard O'Brien served in World War One as a Wagoneer in France. He met Burrell Beach Spencer, son of great grandmother Lodema Olive Beach Spencer during his Army service which led to him meeting Burrell's sister, Evelyn. Without that meeting happening if one of them was killed in action, I wouldn't be here. Included here are pictures my mother had of her father plus his brothers, Charles and Paul. Another one is of me and Grandpa Frank in their backyard. I'm guessing the year was about 1956. Another is of Grandpa Frank's parents, Frank Emmet O'Brien and Harriet Anne (Hattie) Smith, plus a tin-type pic I scanned and tweaked with Adobe's Lightroom software of second great grandfather Charles Emmet O'Brien, a Civil War veteran of about 6 months. He enlisted in Detroit after traveling there from his residence in Blissfield, in Lenawee County, MI. He was discharged for some disability, probably war-related.

My O'Brien line of descent:

• 3rd great grandfather - Richard(?) O'Brien, immigrant from Ireland, farmer somewhere in NY state, maybe one of the western counties (a guess). Maybe married a woman named Perrigo (another of my mother's guesses).
• 2nd great grandfather - Charles Emmet O'Brien, blacksmith and farmer, b. 1828, Civil War veteran, enlisted in Detroit, from Blissfield, 27 Michgan Infantry, Company H, served less than a year. Married Emogene (Emma) Perkins. Died in Lapeer County, MI, in 1895.
• Great grandfather - Frank Emmet O'Brien, farmer in Deerfield Township, Lapeer County, MI, married to Harriet Ann "Hattie" Smith.
• Grandather - Frank Richard O'Brien, autoworker in the Flint area and then a railroad employee in the 1920s and later a barber in Bellevue, Eaton County, MI, married to Evelyn Spencer.
• Frank Richard & Evelyn Spencer O'Brien had 2 daughters, one of them being my mother, Marjorie Jean, born in Bellevue, Eaton County, MI, in 1923, died in Otsego County, MI, in 2009.

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