Person:Samuel O'Brien (1)

World War II veteran --Navy Pacific duty

3 Newspaper Artlicles

Sam O'Brien, Construction Worker, Killed Thursday

Sam O'Brien of New Offenburg, a construction worker with the Robinson Construction Co. of St. Louis, was killed about 10:15 a.m. Thursday morning while at work for the Construction Co. at Federal Mill. He was about 33 years old, was married and had four children.

When W. B. Clifton, truck driver returned to the Mill about 10:15 for a load of fine ore he noticed O'Brien feet protruding from the hopper of the ore bin. Apparently O'Brien had entered the bin from the top and had been smothered by the ore which was finer than sane.

Immediate after his extraction from the bin a doctor was called and pronounced him dead. However, artificial respiration and oxygen were used for twenty-five minutes. The doctor was called again and upon pronouncing O'Brien dead the body was removed to the Hood Funeral Home. from Farmington, Mo. newspaper

Former Resident Killed in Accident

Samuel Morgan O'Brien, 33, of New Offenburg, an iron worker with a St. Louis company, was accidentally killed last Thursday morning while working at Federal Mill.

Funeral services for the former resident of the Purman community were held Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Doniphan Church of God with the pastor, the Rev. Harold Williams, officiating. Internment followed in the New Hope cemetery, near Purman, under direction of the Black-Edwards Funeral Home to whom the body was shipped after being prepared for burial by a Farmington undertaker.

Apparently O'Brien had entered a bin from which he was aiding in removing iron ore and had been buried by a slide of the sandlike mixture, as his feet were seen protruding from the hopper of bin upon the arrival of W. B. Clifton, a truck driver.

Immediately after his extraction from the bin, which took sometime, a doctor was called and pronounced him dead. However, artificial respiration and oxygen were used for twenty-five minutes. The doctor was called again and upon prounouncing O'Brien dead the body was removed to a funeral home.

Survivors include the widow, Madeline, children, Theresa, Dennis, Terry, Donna Raye, Jesse Lee and Billy; a sister, Mrs. Ellen Featherston of this city and the maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Osborn, also of Doniphan.

Samuel M. O'Brien

Samuel Morgan O'Brien, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. Charles M. O'Brien was born in St. Louis on March 11, 1919, and passed away on February 5, 1953, aged 33 years, 10 months 24 days. Mr. O'Brien, whose home was in New Offenburg, Mo., lost his life in an accident while at work for the construction company at Federal Mill. An inquest was conducted by Coroner Berl J. Miller at the Miller Funeral Home on Saturday morning, when a verdict of death by suffocation was reurned by the jury.

He is survived by his wife, Mrs. Madeline Laverts O'Brien, and two children, Dennis and Theresa, also three step-children, George William, Jesse Lee and Donna Rae Beckett, and an adopted daughter, Charlene Susan O'Brien. Also left to mourn his passing are his grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Sam Osborn and a sister, Mrs. Chas. Featherston, all of Doniphan, Mo.

Funeral services were held Sunday afternoon at the Church of God in Doniphan, with interment in New Hope Cemetery. Miller Service.

When I put together my initial book about the O'Brien family, I asked my Uncle Jim Featherston for memories of my Uncle Morgan--here is his contribution:

Me 'n Nane and The Big Fellow

It was a sad day for me when I attended the last day of school at Belleview East. My Dad, who liked only two places--the place he came from and the place he wanted to move to--had bought a house in Doniphan. I couldn't imagine life with Belleview schoolmates, Thurman, Gene, Edwin and Cuman.

Mine was not to reason why grown-ups had so little regard for their kids. I was in the 8th grade. Too hurt to smile and too big to cry. My first day in the Doniphan grade school was a bummer. The town girls mugged me and the town boys thought, and proved, they were smarter than me. The only good thing I remember was learning that Lloyd Bagwill was a neighbor. I had suffered with "Nane" as Harry Junior called his brother through many a dull Sunday school class in the old frame Church of God building.

As Lloyd Wayne and I bonded, the loss of my old school mates faded. We hunted together, shared secrets and tried to outdo each other in our avowed hatred of Faye Wilson, the girl we both secretly loved (at a safe distance).

Nane's cousin, Morgan, sort of orbited like a comet in and out of our lives. Morgan was an old guy, four or five years older, and a man of the world. I can still close my eyes and bring him into focus. The girls said he was drop-dead good looking, with his curly hair, impish eyes and an expression of a surprised Irish Leprechaun. Of one thing I am sure--no one could be around him very long and then take himself seriously. Morgan either made up, or memorized an entire library of classic outhouse poetry.

Let me explain the background, situation and condition of that time. Even though we were in the city limits, very few people in our neighborhood had bathrooms. The outhouse was the norm. Morgan was a treasure house of outhouse poetry. Good, wholesome verses, but pretty darn specific. Nane and I learned one outhouse poem to impress our mothers. We found out either Hausie Bagwill or Etta Featherston had the least bit of appreciation for classic poetic works.

After brother Charles and Ellen got married, I felt their marriage gave me as much seniority as Nane in the Morgan department. After the war, when we were all grown up, I sometimes had the opportunity to spend some time with Morgan. I remember a rabbit hunt down in the old Osborne stomping grounds before the "Big Fellow" met his untimely death. Because of him, I am richer in memories, outhouse literature, and in the ability to laugh at adversity. Morgan O'Brien has a hallowed place in my life.

1. ↑ Social Security Administration. Social Security Death Index: Death Master File, database. (Alexandria, Virginia: National Technical Information Service).

   496-12-9387

   Social Security No., 496-12-9387. Name mis-spelled on his Missouri death certificate. Both he and his father O'Brein

2. ↑ Ripley, Missouri, United States. 1930 U.S. Census Population Schedule. (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration Publication T626)
   NARA microfilm publication T626, Roll 1221, Harris, Ripley, Missouri, United States, ED 6, Sheet 5A, Family 95, Lines 31-35.
3. ↑ Accidental Suffocation, Name Mis-Spelled on Death Certificate, Bert Miller, Coroner