Michael J. O'Brien
To Michael J. O'Brien
Historiographer Am. Ir. His. So.
Compliments of the Author
Francis O'Neill
Feb 1st '19
Biography (from the Dictionary of Irish Biography):
Born in Fermoy, County Cork on April 5, 1870, Michael J. O'Brien operated in Irish nationalist and tenant activist circles. After intercepting, copying and passing to local nationalists an order by Lord Salisbury to take action against local nationalist operative, he fled to England to avoid arrest. He arrived in New York in 1889 and found work with the Western Union Telegraph Company. He was a member of Clan na Gael and the New York Gaelic Society, and wrote for Gaelic American newspaper and for the American Irish Historical Society's annual journal.
O'Brien published widely on the history and impact of the Irish in America. His writings include a number of biographies, including one on President George Washington's confidant and probable spy, Hercules Mulligan (1937); multiple regional histories of early Irish immigrants to America; and a treatise on the prominent Irish immigrants buried in New York City's Trinity and St. Paul churchyards. O'Brien served as the Historiographer for the American Irish Historical Society, and was particularly known for his book A Hidden Phase of American History: Ireland’s Part in America’s Struggle for Liberty, published in 1919 and his outspoken opposition to Irish immigration quotas in America.
O'Brien died three days after the election of John F. Kennedy to the presidency - November 11, 1960 in Yonkers, New York. The Historiographer at the American Irish Historical Society wrote in The Recorder, "His pen fought long and valiantly for recognition of the Irish contribution to America’s struggle for liberty and for this he shall be honored and remembered." O'Brien's papers are held at Iona University in New York.
Provenance:
From Fordham University Libraries, with thanks to John D'Angelo, Head of Access & Circulation, and Vivian Shen, Conservation Librarian.
This page has paths:
- Irish Minstrels and Musicians (1913) Scott B. Spencer
- Index of recipients Scott B. Spencer