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Dictionary of Miramichi Biography

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O'BRIEN, JOHN (1846-1917)

O'BRIEN, JOHN, lumber company head, MLA, and high sheriff, 1904-17; b. Nelson, 20 Feb 1846, s/o John O'Brien and Mary Alward; m. 1890, Bridget Lavinia McPeake, of Fredericton; d. Chatham, 20 Oct 1917.

John O'Brien was the son of an Irish Catholic laborer who was born in Co. Waterford, Ireland, and of a mother who was a native of Co. Kilkenny. After attending local schools he went to work as a clerk with the George Burchill lumber and merchandising firm. In 1867 he began lumbering operations of his own, and in 1870 he opened a general store in Nelson. Together these were the basis of a lifetime of successful business activity.

In the 1880s O'Brien contracted jointly with James Robinson for the erection of a wooden highway bridge across the Southwest branch of the Miramichi between Nelson and Wilson's Point. He and Robinson supplied the lumber needed for the structure, while the construction work was subcontracted and supervised by George Brown. The O'Brien Bridge, so-called, was finished in 1887 and used until August 1912, when it was boarded up because of safety concerns. The very next day, two of its spans collapsed and floated downriver. The bridge was of an older, 'arch Burr' design and was not rebuilt. A few months later John Morrissy, the chief commissioner of public works, called for tenders for a new concrete and steel bridge two miles downriver, at Newcastle.

Meanwhile, O'Brien had become one of the leading figures in the lumber industry on the Miramichi. In 1902 he erected a sawmill at Nelson. In 1910 he had the Miramichi Foundry in Chatham build the steamer J. O'B for use in the business. His operations were incorporated in 1917 as the O'Brien Co. Ltd, with him, his wife, and their two sons as partners. He also conducted a farm on the property formerly owned by Richard Sutton, and in 1900 was president of the Northumberland Agricultural Society. He was a director of the Miramichi Exhibition Association in 1913.

O'Brien was a member of the County Council for several years and served two terms as warden in the 1880s. He was an unsuccessful contender in the by-election held in 1887 to fill the Assembly seat vacated by William A. Park, but he was victorious as a Liberal candidate in the election of 1890 and in the next three general elections. He sat in the legislature until 1903, when he was defeated and left politics.

In 1904 O'Brien was appointed high sheriff of Northumberland County, as successor to Robert R. Call. In 1910 he was named to the first board of governors of St Thomas College. His death in 1917, at age seventy-one, occurred several days after he was in a car-train accident. He was survived by his wife, B. Lavinia McPeake, and their two sons: J. McPeake O'Brien and J. Leonard O'Brien. His estate was probated at $198,000.

Sources

[b] church records [m] official records [d] Leader 26 Oct 1917 / Advance 22 Nov 1894; Advocate 20 Jul 1887, 31 May 1910, 18 Jan 1917; Biog. Review NB; Daily Gleaner 12 Nov 1914 (re. Morrissy Bridge); Graves; Leader 30 Jan 1974, 26 Jun 1974; NB Sheriffs; World 28 May 1910, 17 Aug 1912, 25 Jan 1913, 1 Feb 1913


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