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Bridget O'Brien
b.Abt 1870 Killernan townland, County Clare, Ireland
d.24 Jun 1953 Riverside, Burlington NJ
Family tree▼ (edit)
m. 28 Jan 1865
(edit)
m. 9 Nov 1905
Facts and Events
Questionable information identified by WeRelate automation
Bridget O'Brien was called Delia all her life. Delia's civil birth certificate records her birth as February 14, 1870. Her father recorded the birth on the 21st February 1870 and signed the record with an (X). Again this was a month after her baptism record. The sponsors for her baptism were Cornelius and Sarah Collins, 1st. cousins of theirs. They were children of her Aunt Eleanor O'Halloran Collins of Killernan.. They were first cousins and neighbors of the O'Brien's. Bridget was given money from her uncle Patrick's estate to emigrate to America. She came to America on May 2, 1896 and landed in New York City. She traveled with her brother, Stephen on the SS Lucania. They are listed on page 247 of the ship manifest, liine 608. Their destination was listed as Kaukauna, Wisconsin. They left New YOrk City and traveled to Wisconsin and stayed with her father's sister, Catherine O'Brien. She was married to Thomas Dowling. There are a few pictures of her with her cousin, Maggie Dowling Paulie when she was living in Wisconsin. Somewhere around 1900 she moved to Elmira, NY and stayed with her cousins the Cahill's. There were four Cahill sisters living and working in Elmira as domestics. They helped her find a job and she stayed there. The Cahill sisters had a cousin of theirs living about 20 miles away in Waverly, NY. This was a railroad town and their cousin, John Cahill formerly of Frehane, Co. Clare lived and worked there. He was widowed in 1905 and was left with two small children,, Margaret and Thomas. Somehow through the Cahill's sisters Delia met John Cahill and they married a few years later. My grandfather, John O'Brien was the best man at the wedding. They lived in their own house on railroad property on the New York Pennsylvania border. They ran a small grocery store and Delia took in laundry. She was only married five years before tragedy struck and John died leaving her with three children. She worked hard and with help from her brother, Stephen, Margaret was able to attend Cortland Teachers College. She lived in Waverly, NY until 1926 when she and John's only daughter, Catherine moved to Riverside, NJ into a new duplex on 316 Lippencutt Avenue. Margaret had just purchased the house for them. Delia lived with Margaret until she died. John Cahill 1854 - 1913 Delia married John Cahill, son of Michael Cahill and Katherine Darcy, on 9 Nov 1905, in St. Patrick's, Elmira, NY. Born, 24 Jun 1854, in Frehane, Co. Clare EIRE. Died, 23 Oct 1913, in Waverly, Tioga Co. NY USA. Christened, circa 1854, in Kilmurry-Ibrickane, Co. Clare EIRE. Burial: 27 Oct 1913, in St. James graveyard, Waverly, NY USA. Immigration: 4 Jul 1882, in Boston, Mass. USA. Occupation: Railroad-worker. Delia Cahill and brother John O'Brien Riverside, NJ circa 1945 John Cahill emigrated to America and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts aboard the ship Anna. After his arrival in Boston he soon left for the western part of the United States to find work in the Idaho Territory. This was an exciting time in American History because gold was recently discovered in the territory and the United States Army was still fighting the American Indian for control of their land. After a few years out west John returned to Boston, Massachusetts and married Bridget Fitzpatrick, at St. Joseph's R.C. Church in Sommerville. Massachusetts, Bridget was also from Kilmurry Ibrickane parish. She was born in Bonavilla townland. John and Bridget moved to Waverly, NY. There they operated a grocery store and John worked on the Erie Railroad. They had two children, Margaret born in 1895 and Thomas born in 1898. Bridget died in November 1903 after a short illness and John was left to raise two children. This he did with the help of his four cousins, Margaret, Delia, Anne and Catherine Cahill. They were his first cousins, the daughters of his uncle and aunt, Martin Cahill and Mary O'Halloran. John married again in 1908 to another first cousin of the Cahill sisters. This time his wife was related to the O'Halloran side of the family. There was a question to this marriage to Delia O'Brien but their best man, John O'Brien found a woman in Buffalo, NY by the name of Maggie Mescal that could trace the genealogy and prove that there was no blood relation between the engaged couple. (They were second cousins because their grandmother's were sister from the Sexton Family of Knockanalban) This satisfied the priest and he was glad to marry them. John continued to work on the railroad and was also working on a project where he was redesigning the wheel axle box for railroad cars. His invention was approved and patented in 1898 and he was offered $20,000 for the patent rights at this time. John never accepted the offer and was working on more improvements when he died in 1913. So he and his family never received any royalties for his patent. The working model was in the barn at their home for years and all the papers were left at his home in a metal box. John is buried with his first wife, Bridget Fitzpatrick in St. James Cemetery, Waverly, NY. Children of John Cahill and Bridget Fitzgerald: i. Margaret Marie Cahill was born in Waverly, NY in April 1895.Margaret was the first daughter of John Cahill and Bridget Fitzgerald. Margaret was an amazing person to know. I had the opportunity to stay with Margaret and sit with her and discuss the family history. She was very proud of her heritage. Margaret was only 8 years old when her mother died and she remembered sitting at her mothers beside holding her hand with two nuns form the Catholic school when her mother quietly passed away. The day after the funeral her father took her into the kitchen and cut off her long curly blonde hair trying to explain that he would not have the time or patience to take care of her beautiful hair. That day she placed it in box to save. Eighty-two years later she told me the story and I followed her directions town in the basement and retrieved the box with the long golden blonde curls. Margaret Cahill and Tom Cahill circa 1900 Margaret was a bright student and she graduated from Waverly High School in 1912. Again Margaret had an experience with death as she sat at her fathers bed side when he died. John came home from a railroad meeting with chest pains. He died during the night and she had to tell her 3 year old sister that he Daddy wasn't coming back. Little Catherine didn't understand and Catherine led Margaret through the house holding her hand looking in under all the beds and behind the doors for her father. Margaret said it was one of the saddest days in her life She went on Cortland Normal School, graduating in 1915 and became a teacher. Her first teaching job was in a rural community in Pennsylvania. She boarded with a family and taught 1 - 8 grade in a one room school house. The man in the house would drive her to school with his horse and buggy and help her start the fire in the stove every morning. She only spent a few years there and then tool a job teaching in Camden, NJ She move there in 1919 and boarded with a family. The house was across from a cemetery in Riverside. The Flue epidemic of 1919 was ragging across America and thousands of Americans were dying. Margaret said she was sick and all night long she couldn't sleep because all she could hear were the graves being dug for the next days death toll. She said they couldn't built coffins fast enough so people rented them. They had a trap door in the bottom and they would lower the coffin and then take the coffin back out empty. In 1924 she purchased a house that she would live in the rest of her life- 316 Lippencutt Avenue, Riverside, NJ. Two year later in 1926 her sister ,Catherine. And step -mother , Delia moved down with her. Margaret's home had three bedrooms and they all had their own bedroom until Uncle Stephen O'Brien moved to Riverside after his accident in Buffalo. He was only there a few years before he went back to Ireland. Margaret taught school until 1959 when she retired with 44 years of teaching. She was a remarkable teacher and students and children of students kept in touch with her until she died in 1985. Margaret received over 80 birthday cards every year from her friends and students. I visited her in the spring of 1984 while doing business and I found her busy at the dinning room table studying. Margaret had a large world atlas and maps spread out on the table trying to memorize the new countries in Africa and Asia. She had read something in the paper and she didn't know where it was and thought it important that she knew what it was. John O'Brien told me that Margaret would visit them in the early 1920's when they were children and everyone loved her. She would bring them gifts like tooth brushes and explain how important it was to brush their teeth. They all had a great respect for Margaret. Tom and John O'Brien Margaret Cahill and Delia Cahill and Catherine Cahill Imhoff i. Thomas Cahill was born around 1898 in Waverly, NY. Tom's life like his father was on the railroads. He worked his whole life on railroad. He wasn't interested in going to college like his sister, Margaret. Tom just wanted to work on the railroad. Tom married Mary _____________. She was divorced and had four children. Tom was in a railroad accident and fell between two railroad cars and had is arm cut off at the shoulder. Tom had a number of surgeries to repair his shoulder but he was never out of discomfort and pain. Tom retired from the railroad and was active in many organizations in Waverly, NY and Sayre, PA. He was a member of the Elks Lodge in Waverly. One day in October 1976 Tom and Mary had their usual breakfast and Tom finished and walked out to the barn to do some work and he while out their took his own life by hanging himself. His sisters told me he was in pain everyday and he just wanted to be out of the pain. He is buried with his parents at St. James Cemetery. Waverly. Mary died in
O'Brien, John and Delia http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=3f54f549-316b-47a5-9f23-8fa81c6ef5f8&tid=7775997&pid=-1039232765 O'Brien, Cahill, Bridget Maggie Paulie http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=b0f4f6fe-3527-4320-8219-d1e36fd40985&tid=7775997&pid=-1039232765 O'Brien, Cahill, Bridget Wisconsin http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=6adbb39a-5b1e-4647-88ba-dcdf6f5eedaf&tid=7775997&pid=-1039232765 O'Brien, Delia & Tom Cahill http://trees.ancestry.com/rd?f=image&guid=ddda52bc-6b2a-4936-89df-e05343a00f22&tid=7775997&pid=-1039232765 Image Gallery
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