Jeremiah (O Brien) O'Brien (1744 - 1818)

Born 1744 in Kittery, York, Province of Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Descendants

Died 5 Sep 1818 at about age 74 in Machias, Washington, District of Maine, United States

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Biography

Jeremiah (O Brien) O'Brien is Notable.

Captain Jeremiah (O Brien) O'Brien served with Massachusetts Navy during the American Revolution.

Jeremiah (O Brien) O'Brien is an NSSAR Patriot Ancestor.
NSSAR Ancestor #: P-262599
Rank: Captain

Jeremiah was born in 1744 in Kittery, Maine. He was the son of Morris & Mary O'Brien.^[1]

Jeremiah had no children by his wife, Elizabeth Fitzpatrick (d. 1810). ^[2]

On May 9, 1775, Captain James Moore sailed the British warship, the Margaretta, into Machias harbor with news of the battles of Lexington and Concord. The vessel had traveled to Maine to insure that a load of lumber was delivered for the British army’s barracks in Boston.

Painting of the Margaretta - Courtesy of Hannah Weston Chapter, NSDAR

Led by Benjamin Foster and Jeremiah O’Brien, they commandeered a merchant ship in the harbor, the Unity, and used it to attack the Margaretta. Although armed with only axes, pitchforks, hunting rifles and shovels, the colonists won the battle by ramming the Unity into the Margaretta and storming aboard.

O'Brien continued as the captain of Unity, renamed Machias Liberty, for two years, and received the first captain's commission in the Massachusetts State Navy in 1775.

Hero of the "Concord and Lexington of the Sea," Captain O'Brien in the company of his brothers took over command of the British frigate Margaretta. It was the first naval confrontation of the Revolutionary War. ^{[3] [4]}

He owned a slave named Richard Earle, who participated in the seizure of the Margaretta. ^[5] He fathered an illegitimate child, Lydia Whitney, born at Machias, Maine, on 10 June 1804, the daughter of Thankful Whitney, a white servant in his household. ^[6][7]

Jeremiah O'Brien Plaque - Massachusetts State House

He passed away in 1818.

Sources

1. ↑ Life of Captain Jeremiah O'Brien: Sherman, Andrew M.; Life of Captain Jeremiah O'Brien, Machias, Maine; Commander of the First American Naval Flying Squadron of the War of the Revolution; Pub: 1902; Page 2 http://ia800201.us.archive.org/22/items/cu31924032737656/cu31924032737656.pdf
2. ↑ Leonard F. Tibbetts and Darryl B. Lamson, Early Pleasant River Families of Washington County, Maine (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 1999), p. 629
3. ↑ Memorial of the Centennial Anniversary of the Settlement of Machias (C. O. Furbush, Machias, 1863, 179 pages), p. 44. Cit. Date: 14 Apr 2022.
4. ↑ Talbot, George F., The First Naval Battle of the Revolution at Machias, Maine, June 11, 1775 (The Bangor Historical Magazine, Joseph W. Porter, editor and publisher, Bangor, Maine, 1885-), Vol. 3, p. 165. Cit. Date: 14 Apr 2022.
5. ↑ Marcus LiBrizzi, Lost Atusville, A Black Settlement from the American Revolution, The Maine Folklife Center, Orono, Maine, 2009, pp. 20, 32
6. ↑ George W. Drisko, Narrative of the Town of Machias, The Old and the New, The Early and the Late, (Machias, ME: Press of The Republican, 1904) pp. 45-49
7. ↑ LiBrizzi, Lost Atusville, p. 37

See also:

• Wikipedia: Jeremiah O'Brien, Naval Captain
• Wikipedia: The Battle of the 'Margaretta'
• Wikipedia: Fort O'Brien (named after Capt. O'Brien)
• Sherman, Andrew W., Life of Captain Jeremiah O'Brien, Machias, Maine, published 1902, George W. Sherman, publisher
• Find A Grave: Memorial #17611545
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremiah_O%27Brien
• Massachusetts. 1896-1908. Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War : A Compilation from the Archives. Boston: Wright and Potter Print. Co. State Printers Volume 11, Page 615.