U.S. Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ -- USGenNet Inc. -- Please read the U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on the following page: ------------------------------------------------------------------- O'Brien, Adam ------------------------------------------------------------------- History of Braxton County and Central West Virginia by John Davison Sutton Sutton, West Virginia, January, 1919 Pages 413-414 Adam O'Brien came from Harrison county to the Elk river and settled on the bottom where Sutton now stands. Prior to this time he had camped on one of the tributaries of Salt Lick creek now known as O'Briens fork. O'Brien had made some sign, it is said, by which he could find his way from the settlement on the West Fork to his chosen hunting ground, and it was by this means that the Indians trailed him; but he was not at his camp, and they found their way to the Carpenter settlement on the Holly and Elk rivers. This was in the spring of 1792, and as the first survey was made in what is now Braxton in 1784 it must have been some time between that date and 1790 that the Carpenters and O'Brions came to the county. Timothy, son of Adam O'Brien, killed a steer, it is said, that was supposed to have strayed from some herd on the South Branch of the Potomac and gone wild. From this occurrence Steer creek is said to have taken its name. O'Brien's fork of Steer creek, as well as several other streams in central West Virginia, was named for the O'Brien family. Just below the mouth of O'Brien's fork there stands a knob known as Timothy Knob. This is pointed out by traditional history as the place where Timothy lulled the steer. Hence, the names Steer creek, O'Brien's fork of Steer creek and Timothy Knob. But Colonel Dewels gives credit to James W. Arnold for killing the steer on a branch now called Steer run of Steer creek. It is said that in the very early settlement of the country a buffalo was killed on Grass Lick of Steer creek by Timothy O'Brien. We are inclined to the belief that Colonel Dewels was correct in his statement as to the killing of the wild steer by Arnold and not by Timothy O'Brien. Captain G. F. Taylor, in a letter to a local paper, says tradition informs us that Adam O'Brien was born in Bath county, Virginia, in 1742; that at the age of twenty-five years he was disappointed in a love affair with Miss Isabel Burgoyne, only daughter of General Burgoyne, who figured in the early history of the American revolution. Whatever of truth may be connected with this story of Captain Taylor's, if what Baxter says in his notes of Braxton county with reference to O'Brien's plurality of wives, they would amply make up for the loss of Miss Isabel. We read further from Captain Taylor's letter that on Skyles creek, a tributary of the Big Birch river, there is a large camp, or overhanging cliff, twenty by thirty feet in width and about eight feet high, and on the north side of the room, about five feet from the floor, are the initials and dates "A. 0. B., April, 1792." This being the spring of the year of the Carpenter massacre, Adam O'Brien must have been at or near this camp at that time, which doubtless saved him from sharing the fate of the Carpenters. In his notes of Braxton county, F. J. Baxter refers to the fact that Adam O'Brien assisted in making the first survey in this county in 1784, and as far as was known was the only member of the surveying party that returned to the county to reside. He lived in the bottom where Sutton now stands as early as 1795. He came from Harrison county, bringing with him his family except his wife, who he had abandoned for another woman. He subsequently moved to the waters of the West Fork of the Little Kanawha, taking with him his numerous family some of whom were then married, many of whose descendants may now be found in that country. "Adam O'Brien was a rather remarkable man," says Mr. Baxter. "He was bold, adventurous, cunning and hardy. Though he traveled over the tributaries of the Elk, from the Holly to the mouth of the Big Sandy, and the Little Kanawha river, the Indians, though quite numerous at the time, were unable to intercept him. On one of these occasions it is said that he was hotly pursued by the exasperated red men down the river to a little shoal about a half mile below Clay Courthouse, where he crossed the river to the south side and eluded his pursuers in the dense forest of Pisgah mountain. This shoal still bears the name of O'Briens ford, and many other streams, mountains, gaps and other places of note by their names still attest the early presence of this adventurous man. His mantel seemed to fall on his son John, who, though not quite equal to his father in all respects, had the same adventurous spirit, was equally active and hardy, and had an equal fondness for a plurality of wives." ------------------------------------------------------------------- If you've reached this file through a SEARCH, you can access other biographies for Braxton County, WV by going to the following URL: http://www.us-data.org/wv/braxton/bios.html -------------------------------------------------------------------