• Left Ireland in 1832. Located at Irish Grove, Vermont. [sic]23, p G25

• Arrival in Illinois: 1837, Rock Run township, Stephenson county, Illinois. “The following year, Pat Giblin, Miles O'Brien, were included in the roster of inhabitants gathered at Irish Grove.”538, p 486

• The husband [Miles O’Brien] was of coarser stripe, not religious. Mary was his favorite child since she didn’t put on the airs of “Lib” [Elizabeth O’Brien Hay].36, p 2; line 47

• Mr. O’Brien died with Lib. Mrs. O’Brien used to say ‘Do keep a civil tongue, you may die with Lib yet’ and he would answer ‘God forbid,’ but he did.36, p 4, line 149

• Public Domain Land Tract Records:
O'Brien, Miles- purchased Sec. 16 Twp. 27N, Rg. 09E on Sept. 27, 1847.
(purchased from the government, no further data available)
Stephenson County Grantee Index:
O'Brien, Miles by Trust deed, filed Mar 1850. Consideration $97.80. Recorded Book "B" Mort. pg. 212. Sec. 2 Twp 27 Rg. E546, p 3

• Probate packet #297 for Miles O’Brien:
County Court Record “B” at Page ____, #126, under date of Sept. 4, 1854, shows the following:
“Estate of Miles O’Bryan. deceased at this day comes Jonathan Hay and files a written Petition setting forth therein that Miles O’Bryan died intestate on or about 31st day of July AD 1854, leaving personal property to the amount of $80.00 so far as he believes, and prays that Letters of Administration be issued to secure the same.
Where upon the court ordered that said Jonathan Hay be appointed such Administration by give Bond with approved security in the penal sum of $200.00.
It is further ordered that no appraiser be appointed as the effects of said deceased consist of one Judgement and Books accounts.”
[Researchers note: this is a handwritten note in the packet evidently copied from a record Book “B”. The packet was taken out by the abstract office in 1959 and the handwriting matches the writing on the file card in the packet from the circuit clerk’s office.]
Another note in the packet in the same handwriting reads:
Probate Estate Docket “A” pg. 33
Shows: Amount of Bond $200.00
Date of Inventory: Sept. 7, 1854
Filed Apr. 7, 1854
Does not list heirs.546, p 2

• I could not find any reference to a burial place for Miles O'Brian and his wife, but there are many old stones that have crumbled or are unreadable in Freeport area cemeteries.  I feel certain that they are buried out there somewhere.  I found his property: it is located on the east side of North Eggert Road, north of Illinois Highway 75 East, in Rock City, Illinois, 61070. (just a few miles from the Wisconsin border.) The land looks luscious, with undulating hills, and very few trees.2026

• Miles O’Brien’s name is “Myles.”2027

• I’m sending you an article from the Freeport newspaper from August 21, 1922, that says the first meetings of the St. Patrick’s Catholic Church in Irish Grove were conducted at the house of Miles O’Brien.2027

• The history of St. Patrick’s church of Irish Grove begins with the first celebration of the Mass in 1841 by the Rev. Father Petiot in the house of Miles O’Brien, for Catholics who had settled in that region. The O’Brien homestead afterward became better known as the James Spellman home.2028, p 2

• 1840 Census: Buffalo Grove, Ogle, Illinois. 21000001/011001. 2 males under 5, William, Barnabas; 1 male 5-10, James; 1 male 50-60, Miles; 1 female 5-10; Elizabeth; 1 female 10-15, Mary; 1 female 30-40, Mary Curley. Patrick Giblin also enumerated nearby.540
• 1850 Census: Rock Run, Stephenson, Illinois. Age 74; farmer; $1,000. Cannot read or write. Listed with Miles O'Brien, age 7.2029

• I just finished reading a 25-page article entitled "Pre-Famine Irish in Vermont, 1815-1844" by Vincent Feeney.  Here are some highlights:
1) Following the French Revolution, Irish agriculture culture collapsed, as the troops didn't need to be fed. Irish soldiers in Britain's army were sent home to a weakened economy. Recurring outbreaks of smallpox, typhus and cholera, periodic potato crop failures and political tensions made life hard.
2) Since Britain imposed a tax on passage to the USA, Irish could travel to Canada for much less than to Boston or Philadelphia or New York.  The ships returned to England with Canadian timber.  Thus, from 1816 to 1836, the majority of immigrants from Ireland landed in 1.) Maritime Provinces, 2.) Quebec, 3.) Montreal.
3) From Montreal, an immigrant could travel across the St. Lawrence River to LaPrarie, and take a coach 15 miles to St. Jean-sur-Richelieu on the Richelieu River. (Later, beginning in 1836, there was a train to take.) St. Jeans was the northern connection connecting Canada to the Lake Champlain ports of Burlington, Plattsburg and Whitehall. Steamboats traveled every second day from St. Jean-sur-Richelieu to Burlington.
I think the family would have traveled from Ireland in the spring, but more likely the spring of 1831, rather than 1830, when the child was not so tiny and the mother still nursing.2030

• The first organization of the Catholic Church of Burlington and of Chittenden county took place in 1830, when Rev. Jeremiah O’Callaghan, a native of the county Cork, and a priest of the Diocese of Cloyne, Ireland, was sent by Bishop Fenwick, of Boston, to this place. Rev. Mr. O’Callaghan commenced the erection of a church on this property (land now known as Mt. St. Joseph’s Cemetery) in 1832. This building was destroyed by incendiaries it is believed, in 1838. It was attended by all the Catholics not only of Burlington, but of the surrounding country, both Irish and French Canadians, who formed the bulk of, if not the entire Catholic population.2031, p 9

• “‘Irish Grove,’ in Rock Run Township, and ‘Dublin’ in the Township of Erin, were sprouting into significance as the Celtic residents of both places made improvements and cultivated the graces of peace, supplemented by a moderate degree of prosperity. Too much cannot be said of the Irish residents of Stephenson County. None are dependent, while many of them own and cultivate large farms, and all are industrious, law-abiding and reputable citizens.
“The arrivals this year (1837) included, among others: Joseph Musser, Isaac Devely, Thomas and Samuel Chambers, William Wallace, a Mr. Moore, Joseph Osborn, Daniel Guyer, Pat Giblin, Miles O’Brien, a man named Corcoran...”538, p 247

• ROCK RUN TOWNSHIP
“The Mullarkeys, with Thomas Foley and one or two others, who came during the previous year, opened farms about two miles south of the present town on Davis, where they established a settlement, that has long been known as ‘Irish Grove,’ from the large number of Celts who followed in the wake of those who came in 1836. The following year, Pat Giblin, Miles O’Brien, a man named Corcoran, who subsequently removed to Rockford, were included in the roster of inhabitants gathered at Irish Grove.”538, p 486
Note: Patrick Giblin is witness to the parental permission statement of Miles O’Brien and Mary Curley for marriage of Mary O’Brien to George Moore in 1846.

• St. Patrick’s Irish Grove
The first Catholic Church at Irish Grove was built in 1838.2032, p 2
The cemetery of St. Patrick’s lies on either side of the church, the old section to the south, the new to the north. Many of the early settlers were buried here but their resting places were never marked.2032, p 3

• Mr. and Mrs. John O’Brien and daughter Mary, 3 years old, with Mrs. O’Brien’s sister left Ireland for Vermont. Here James, Elizabeth, William, John, George were born - moved to Illinois to a farm outside of Freeport.36, p 1