John Adam O'Brien

Adam Obrien is in the McCune line generation #1 He married Katie Westbrook

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Adam OBrien Birth 1727 in Bath, Virginia, United States Death 1836 in Roane, Virginia, United States

Family Members Parents Corneilius Bryan 1697 – 1751 Rebeckah Green 1701 – 1793

Adam O'Brien

Adam O'Brien, (1727-1836) was one of the first settlers in what is now WV; he came to the West Fork of the Monongahela around 1756. In 1763; he defied the order of the King of England and was one of the early settlers west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sutton's "History of Braxton County and Central WV" states that a Capt. G.F. Taylor reported in a letter to a newspaper that Adam O'Brien was disappointed in a love affair with Isabel Burgoyne, the only daughter of Revolutionary General Burgoyne. Whatever his reasons, Adam certainly wandered over a large portion of what was to become central WV. In the "Journal of the Braxton Historical Society" for September 1983, Virginia Carr states that Adam was living on the Potomac River in 1747 as a landowner. Adam later served as an Indian scout and told an interviewer that he was at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. Adam was on a list of militia paid at Romney Virginia in 1775. Adam was granted 400 acres of land on the West Fork River in Harrison County and 400 acres on Lost Creek. F.J. Baxter's "Notes of Braxton County" states that Adam O'Brien assisted in making the first survey of that county in 1784. Carr states that Adam moved all his family except his wife from Harrison County to what is now Braxton County WV in 1795, and they lived at the present site of Sutton, WV. Withers' "Chronicles of Border Warfare" states that Adam O'Brien was somewhat responsible for the Indian attack on Benjamin Carpenter family in 1798. Withers’ alleges that the Indians followed trails blazed by O'Brien and discovered the Carpenter settlement. Withers says that Adam was, "...rather an indifferent woodsman, incautiously blazed trails in several directions..." . This sounds unreasonable in light of the fact that Adam survived to over 100 years of age. About 1800, the O'Brien family moved to the West Fork of the Little Kanawha River in what is now Calhoun County WV. Shortly after he moved to the West Fork, Adam and Mike Fink were attacked by Indians. Fink was killed, but Adam escaped to return a few days later and bury Mike Fink and an Indian side by side. O'Brien had at least four wives and many children. Icie Barsatti states that at one time, Adam had a wife and family on Steer Creek, Braxton County, Virginia (WV) and another on O'Brien Creek in what is now Clay County, WV. His third wife died of exposure after she was evicted from a cabin on land claimed by O'Brien years before. In the May 1838 issue of "The Southern Literary Messenger" an anonymous writer reports and encounter with Adam O'Brien in Preston County VA (WV) at "Gandy's, far famed as being the worst house on the road." The reporter told of a conversation with Adam during the course of an evening in which Adam stated that he was ninety three years old. Adam was on his way to Clarksburg to "ferret out a land title". Adam said that he had walked the distance of about 125 miles from Kanawha County at the rate of about 25 miles a day. Adam further told the reporter that his youngest child was a year old and that his oldest was 64. He recounted his loss of his third wife because of exposure after they were evicted from a cabin while his wife was ill. "One of these here speculators had brought suit against me for my settlement, and what with bad management and hard swearing and perjury, he gained it." "And the sheriff came one snowy day in January, with a writ of possession to turn me out, and out we went." "I took my poor wife to an old cabin that had but half a roof on, and she never came out of it until she came out a corpse." Poet-historian, Colonel John L. Cole, once related a story told by Ephraim Bee, who had spent considerable time in a section, then a comparative wilderness, a neighbor to Adam O'Brien and Peter McCune. According to Bee, O'Brien's general complaint was of the advent of preachers, sheriffs, and lawyers into the area; he however made one exception, this was Rev. Barnabas Cook, who was one of the noted characters of his day. Bee related how a time came when the minister had to separate from his flock, and for the occasion, composed a valedictory hymn, in which he referred to all members of the congregation. In part, it ran as follows: So fare-ye-well Adam O'Brien, And good-by Peter McCune, If one jump don't take us to heaven’ Light, and take a new jump from the moon.

Adam O Brien * (1727 - 1836) is my 5th great grandfather Margaret Christina O Brien * (1767 - 1859) Daughter of Adam O Brien and Katherine Christine Westbrook Mary P McCune * (1785 - 1834) Daughter of Margaret Christina O Brien and Peter McCune Keziah Barnhouse * (1821 - 1887) Daughter of Mary P McCune and Thomas Holsten Barnhouse Rebecca Elizabeth Brannan * (1849 - 1926) Daughter of Keziah Barnhouse and Lorenzo Dow Brannan Charles William Lute * (1874 - 1905) Son of Rebecca Elizabeth Brannan and Andrew Lute Doran Edgar Lute * (1901 - 1982) Son of Charles William Lute and Mary Lou Ella Stewart

https://hackerscreek.com/norman/O'BRIEN/CORNELIUS.htm

Adam OBrien Birth 1727 in Bath, Virginia, United States Death 1836 in Roane, Virginia, United States

Family Members Parents Corneilius Bryan 1697 – 1751 Rebeckah Green 1701 – 1793

Adam O'Brien

Adam O'Brien, (1727-1836) was one of the first settlers in what is now WV; he came to the West Fork of the Monongahela around 1756. In 1763; he defied the order of the King of England and was one of the early settlers west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Sutton's "History of Braxton County and Central WV" states that a Capt. G.F. Taylor reported in a letter to a newspaper that Adam O'Brien was disappointed in a love affair with Isabel Burgoyne, the only daughter of Revolutionary General Burgoyne.  Whatever his reasons, Adam certainly wandered over a large portion of what was to become central WV. 

    In the "Journal of the Braxton Historical Society" for September 1983, Virginia Carr states that Adam was living on the Potomac River in 1747 as a landowner.  Adam later served as an Indian scout and told an interviewer that he was at the battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. Adam was on a list of militia paid at Romney Virginia in 1775. 

    Adam was granted 400 acres of land on the West Fork River in Harrison County and 400 acres on Lost Creek. F.J. Baxter's "Notes of Braxton County" states that Adam O'Brien assisted in making the first survey of that county in 1784.  Carr states that Adam moved all his family except his wife from Harrison County to what is now Braxton County WV in 1795, and they lived at the present site of Sutton, WV. 

    Withers' "Chronicles of Border Warfare" states that Adam O'Brien was somewhat responsible for the Indian attack on Benjamin Carpenter family in 1798.  Withers’ alleges that the Indians followed trails blazed by O'Brien and discovered the Carpenter settlement.  Withers says that Adam was, "...rather an indifferent woodsman, incautiously blazed trails in several directions..." . This sounds unreasonable in light of the fact that Adam survived to over 100 years of age. 

    About 1800, the O'Brien family moved to the West Fork of the Little Kanawha River in what is now Calhoun County WV.  Shortly after he moved to the West Fork, Adam and Mike Fink were attacked by Indians.  Fink was killed, but Adam escaped to return a few days later and bury Mike Fink and an Indian side by side. 

    O'Brien had at least four wives and many children.  Icie Barsatti states that at one time, Adam had a wife and family on Steer Creek, Braxton County, Virginia (WV) and another on O'Brien Creek in what is now Clay County, WV.  His third wife died of exposure after she was evicted from a cabin on land claimed by O'Brien years before. 

    In the May 1838 issue of "The Southern Literary Messenger" an anonymous writer reports and encounter with Adam O'Brien in Preston County VA (WV) at "Gandy's, far famed as being the worst house on the road."  The reporter told of a conversation with Adam during the course of an evening in which Adam stated that he was ninety three years old.  Adam was on his way to Clarksburg to "ferret out a land title".  Adam said that he had walked the distance of about 125 miles from Kanawha County at the rate of about 25 miles a day. Adam further told the reporter that his youngest child was a year old and that his oldest was 64.  He recounted his loss of his third wife because of exposure after they were evicted from a cabin while his wife was ill. "One of these here speculators had brought suit against me for my settlement, and what with bad management and hard swearing and perjury, he gained it."  "And the sheriff came one snowy day in January, with a writ of possession to turn me out, and out we went."  "I took my poor wife to an old cabin that had but half a roof on, and she never came out of it until she came out a corpse." 

    Poet-historian, Colonel John L. Cole, once related a story told by Ephraim Bee, who had spent considerable time in a section, then a comparative wilderness, a neighbor to Adam O'Brien and Peter McCune. According to Bee, O'Brien's general complaint was of the advent of preachers, sheriffs, and lawyers into the area; he however made one exception, this was Rev. Barnabas Cook, who was one of the noted characters of his day. Bee related how a time came when the minister had to separate from his flock, and for the occasion, composed a valedictory hymn, in which he referred to all members of the congregation. In part, it ran as follows:

So fare-ye-well Adam O'Brien, And good-by Peter McCune, If one jump don't take us to heaven’ Light, and take a new jump from the moon.

Adam O Brien * (1727 - 1836) is my 5th great grandfather Margaret Christina O Brien * (1767 - 1859) Daughter of Adam O Brien and Katherine Christine Westbrook Mary P McCune * (1785 - 1834) Daughter of Margaret Christina O Brien and Peter McCune Keziah Barnhouse * (1821 - 1887) Daughter of Mary P McCune and Thomas Holsten Barnhouse Rebecca Elizabeth Brannan * (1849 - 1926) Daughter of Keziah Barnhouse and Lorenzo Dow Brannan Charles William Lute * (1874 - 1905) Son of Rebecca Elizabeth Brannan and Andrew Lute Doran Edgar Lute * (1901 - 1982) Son of Charles William Lute and Mary Lou Ella Stewart

https://hackerscreek.com/norman/O'BRIEN/CORNELIUS.htm

From Robert Weaver website: One of Calhoun's most historical figures of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, Peter McCune, (1748-1832) was the first permanent settler in Washington District. Coming from Ireland to the Monongalia-Harrison County area, he enlisted twice during the American Revolution. McCune married 14-year-old Christina O'Brien in 1881, the daughter of explorer Adam O'Brien. The relationship started in 1880, after the O'Brien's had sought refuge from Indians at Fort Richards near Clarksburg

NO MOSS GROWING ON ADAM O'BRIEN - Primitive Adventures, Murderous Times, And More Progeny Than You Can Count(03/12/2003)By Bob Weaver October 2003 Introduction - Adam O'Brien and Peter McCune were early comers to Calhoun in Washington District. You will read about the ill-fated death of Mike Fink and his Indian opponent, the trading of a wife for a deer skin, murderous incidents along the West Fork, a 14-year-old bride, religion coming to the backwoods, desperate Indian battles, the Hell-fired Band and most importantly the life and times of 109-year-old O'Brien. Early West Virginia explorer Adam O'Brien had no moss growing under his feet, the defiant adventurer ignored the King of England not to come west of the Blue Ridge Mountains. O'Brien was a man on the move, always looking around the next bend. From the backwoods of Potomac River country and what was to become Monongalia County, to the deep forests of Calhoun, Gilmer, Braxton and Clay, O'Brien wandered the primitive trails and river banks, sometimes as an Indian scout, sometimes as a paid militiaman, but always seeking his fame and fortune. He sometimes traveled an Indian foot trail from Harrison, Lewis and Gilmer that likely cut through Bear Fork country, down Crooked Run to Orma, and on to the Elk River, and other times he followed the rivers and streams. Born in 1727, he was a healthy, vigorous man who generally walked where he wanted to go, with some accounts saying he lived to 109. He is said to have crossed paths with Daniel Boone, whose legend has him staying for a time in a cave on Walnut in Calhoun County. O'Brien also crossed paths with early explorers Elias and Jesse Hughes, and their comrade William Lowther. The Hughes-Lowther trio explored much of the territory along the Little Kanawha Indian trail between Clarksburg and Parkersburg in 1772. Christopher Gist explored sections of the Little Kanawha into Wirt County about 1752, and other early explorers came through northern Calhoun as early as 1752. Trail blazer O'Brien was an early comer in the 1700s to what was to become Calhoun County.

By the early 1800s he was living on the West Fork of the Little Kanawha near his son-in-law Peter McCune, Sr., who had married his 14-year-old daughter, Christina, in 1871. His wandering ways may have started after being disappointed in a love affair with Isabel Burgoyne, the only daughter of Revolutionary General Burgoyne. O'Brien's connection with Peter McCune's family began in 1780, when he and his family sought refuge from the Indians who were on the warpath in Harrison County. O'Brien took his family inside Fort Richards near Clarksburg, where Revolutionary War soldier Peter McCune, Sr. was a guard. Rev. Elijah Runion was to give oath that he had witnessed the marriage of Peter McCune, Sr. to the young O'Brien girl, and that he had advised Christina to stuff handkerchiefs in her bosom to appear more mature. Peter McCune, Sr., undoubtedly one of Calhoun's imminent historical figures, was born in 1748 in Ireland, enlisting in the Continental Army in 1777 under Captain John Lewis and Colonel Henias Morgan of the 2nd Virginia Regiment. In 1778, he re-enlisted at Petersburg, serving three years against the Indians and the British and was discharged at Wheeling in 1781. In 1778 McCune received 400 acres of land on Rooting Creek, Monongalia County, in compensation for his military service. In 1810, he built the first cabin in Dekalb District, Gilmer County at the mouth of Leading Creek. By 1815 he had moved to the West Fork of the Little Kanawha River, Washington District. Christina O'Brien McCune declared she had ten children, most of which were born from her marriage to Peter. Peter McCune, Sr. died in 1832 at 84 and is buried outside the fence of the Knott's Baptist Church near Orma. Adam O'Brien made up for lost time after being scorned by Isabel Burgoyne, having many women friends along his tomahawk route. He had at least four wives and fathered many children, some of whose descendants have lived in Calhoun these past 150 years. He had a wife and family on Steer Creek, Braxton County, another on O'Brion Creek in what is now Clay County, with a third wife dying of exposure after she was evicted from a cabin on land claimed by O'Brien. Only two of his wives first names are known, Elizabeth and Margaret. Some records indicate he may have been married to more than one women at the same time. O'Brien was a character in an often told legend about his fellow traveler Mike Fink, who died in personal combat with an Indian on the head of Fink Fork of Beech, not far from Minnora. The incident began while O'Brien and Fink were watching a salt lick along a trail about 1780. Col. D. S. Dewees (1821-1905) in his "Recollections of a Lifetime" writes: 

Explorer O'Brien accompanied Mike Fink on his fatal encounter with an Indian in 1780"These two adventurers, seeking a new country, conquesting for hunters and backwoodsman's paradise, when a small party of Indians in quest of revenge, seeking to strike a blow upon the usurper of their homes and hunting grounds...coming unexpectedly together, the Indians firing upon Fink, who together with O'Brien retreated up the branch (Fink Fork), wounded Fink in the heel, whose wound becoming so painful against they reached the low gap, that he advised O'Brien to seek his own safety, and leave him to his fate...He dispatched one of them (an Indian), which he in return was laid low in death...O'Brien in a few days returning with others, found the two common enemies cold in death's embrace, whereupon they were buried by O'Brien." Dewees said the graves were marked with rocks during his lifetime. Today they are recognized by a more official marker and a historic road sign. O'Brien acquired land in many different counties. He was granted 400 acres on the West Fork River of Harrison County and 400 acres on Lost Creek. F.J. Baxter's "Notes of Braxton County" states that O'Brien assisted in making the first survey of Braxton in 1784. O'Brien moved all his family, except his wife, from Harrison County to what is now Braxton in 1795, settling at Sutton. Alexander Scott Withers wrote in the, "Chronicles of Border Warfare" that O'Brien may have been indirectly responsible for the Indian attack on the Benjamin Carpenter family in 1793 along the Elk River. Withers alleges that the Indians followed trails blazed by O'Brien and discovered the Carpenter settlement. Withers said: "Adam O'Brien, moving into the same section of country in 1792...incautiously blazed trees in several directions so as to enable him to readily find his home...It was upon these marked traces that the Indians chanced to so fall, and pursuing it came to the deserted cabin of O'Brien." It was upon leaving the O'Brien cabin the Indians came upon Benjamin Carpenter, killing him, and scalping his wife. A story about O'Brien appeared in a May 1838 issue of "The Southern Literary Messenger." An anonymous writer tells of an earlier encounter with O'Brien in Preston County at "Gandy's place," known far as being the worst house on the road. The reporter visited with O'Brien during the course of an evening, who said he was ninety-three-years old. The reporter said O'Brien was on his way to Clarksburg to "ferret out a land title," stating he had walked the distance of about 125 miles from Kanawha County at the rate of about 25 miles a day. He told the reporter that his youngest child was a year old and that his oldest was 64. He recounted his loss of his third wife because of exposure after they were evicted from a cabin while his wife was ill. "One of these here speculators had brought suit against me for my settlement, and what with bad management and hard swearing and perjury, he gained it. And the sheriff came one snowy day in January, with a writ of possession to turn me out, and out we went. I took my poor wife to an old cabin that had but half a roof on, and she never came out of it until she came out a corpse," said O'Brien.

Poet-historian, Colonel John L. Cole related a story told by Ephraim Bee, who had spent considerable time in the wilderness area as a neighbor to Adam O'Brien and his son-in-law Peter McCune, Sr. Bee said O'Brien complained about the advent of preachers, sheriffs, and lawyers into the backwoods. He made one exception, the Rev. Barnabas Snow Cook, who was one of the noted characters of his day, and among the first clergymen to come to Calhoun. Bee related how a time came when Rev. Cook was leaving the West Fork of the Little Kanawha, and was separating from his flock. Rev. Cook composed a valedictory hymn for the occasion, in which he referred to all members of his congregation:

"So fare-ye-well Adam O'Brien. And good-by Peter McCune, If one jump don't take us to heaven, Light, and take a new jump from the moon. Rev. Barnabus Cook was taken into the McCune-O'Brien clan with his marriage in 1820 to Peter's daughter, Christina, named after his wife. Rev. Cook likely preached the first official sermon in Washington District, representing the "Christian Church," which was founded in Kentucky in 1804. The church later merged with the Disciples of Christ. Cook, along with Elijah McCumbers, preached the gospel in the greater Kanawha County region for 25 years. Cook was also a squire or Justice of Peace, dealing with disputes up and down the West Fork. Col. Dewees said he attended a hearing before Squire Cook in 1841 regarding a case where Daniel Cogar had sold his wife to Timothy McCune for a deer skin. McCune failed to deliver the skin. Squire Cook ordered McCune to pay up, and judgment was awarded to Cogar, the deer hide plus court costs.

O'Brien's dislike for intruders spilled over to Daniel McCune, a son of Peter, who lived directly across the West Fork from Arnoldsburg on McCune's Run. He was a member of the "Hellfired Band" that roamed Calhoun, Braxton, Gilmer, Clay and Roane "protecting" the area from outsiders. Daniel McCune, Joseph Parsons, Alexander Turner and Jackson Cottrell were convicted of the murder of West Forker Jonathan Nicholas, an "intruder" in 1843. McCune and his cronies wandered the region and lived in camp. Col. D. S. Dewees said they "desired to live a roving life, discouraging improvements of every kind, such as clearing of land, making settlements,opening up roads, organizing churches, and civilization in general." The renegades were sentenced to a penitentiary in Richmond, Virginia, all dying there except Jackson Cottrell, who was pardoned. Cottrell was the grandson of Thomas Cottrell, who Dewees said was "the old and original Cottrell of all the Cottrells of the West Fork," who married a daughter of Adam O'Brien, and was a brother-in-law of Peter McCune, Sr. Lacy O'Brien Boggs, a granddaughter of Adam O'Brien and daughter of John and Mary (Mace) O'Brien, became part of the legend of Booger Hole, Clay County, having been shot in her home about 1916 by parties unknown in the murderous hollow not far from Big Otter. (See "Hurrah For Booger Hole - Murder And Myth in A Clay County Holler" under PEOPLE, HUMOR AND HISTORY 8/15/03) Some of the O'Briens and McCunes moved to Roane County, but both are connected to regional families, including Cottrell, Mace, Nutter, Carpenter, Truman, Tanner, White, Wright, Rogers, Parsons, Bush, Boggs, and many more.

Bio of Peter McCune by Don Norman

    Peter McCune was born in November 1748 in Ireland and died January 15, 1832, in what is now Washington District, Calhoun County, WV and is buried outside the fence at the Knotts cemetery.  We do not know when or how he came to America.

   Peter enlisted in the Continental Army in 1777 under Captain John Lewis and Colonel Henias Morgan of the 2nd VA Regiment.  (Service No. W 7412).  In 1778, he reenlisted at Petersburg, VA, under Captain Campbell and Colonel Lewis Gibson of the 9th VA Regiment.  In total, he served three years against the Indians and the British and was discharged at Wheeling, VA (WV) in 1781.

   In late 1780, the Indians were on the warpath near the present site of Clarksburg, WV.  The Adam O'Brien family had taken refuge at Fort Richards, about ten miles upstream from Clarksburg on the West Fork of the Monongalia River.  Christina O'Brien met Peter McCune, who was a guard at the Fort, and they were married by a Baptist minister named Edwards January 13, 1781.  Christina was 14 years of age and many years later, Elijah Runion was to give oath that he had witnessed the marriage of Peter McCune and that he had advised Christina to stuff handkerchiefs in her bosom to appear more mature.  Christina died in Calhoun County WV in March 1879.

   In 1778, Peter received 400 acres of land on Rooting Creek, Monongalia County VA (WV) in compensation for his military service. In 1810, Peter built the first cabin in Dekalb District, Gilmer County VA (WV) at the mouth of Leading Creek.  By 1815, he had moved to the West Fork of the Little Kanawha River.

   Peter McCune appeared in court in Lewis County, VA (WV) September 13, 1820 to give oath of his service in the Revolution and to give a schedule of his holdings. (Applicants for a Revolutionary War pension were required to list their property.)  The court certified that Peter had property worth $67.  He was awarded a pension of $8 per month, to begin August 3, 1818. After Peter's death on January 15, 1832, Christina applied for his pension.  Elijah Runion and Adam Flesher appeared to testify that they had been present at the wedding of Peter and Christina.  Christina further stated that Peter had served six months in the American Army during the War of 1812.  She also stated that she and Peter were the parents of 10 children, six boys and four girls.

http://wvancestry.com/ReferenceMaterial/Files/Roane_County_West_Vir..., page 3 in book and page 11 on computer