Ancestral Maps of the O’Brien Clan in Ireland

The focal points for this website are Irene and Bill O’Brien, but the story is so much more. The website also has stories for Irene and Bill’s parents and grandparents, and will likely go back even further in the future.

Irene and Bill’s parents were all born in Australia, but their eight great-grandparents were all born overseas, 6 from Ireland, one from England and one from the USA.

Following is a map showing where our 6 Irish forbears lived before they made the arduous journey to Australia.

The O’Brien Clan’s 6 Irish ancestors before coming to Australia

1. Catherine Kiely (Ireland, Free) and William King (USA, Free)

Catherine Rose Keily (or possibly Keely or Kealy) was Irene’s maternal grandmother. Catherine was born in Goresbridge (County Kilkenny).

Her mother (Elizabeth) may have been a convict who travelled to Australia with her daughter Catherine on the Pyramus in 1836. Catherine married William King (Irene’s maternal grandfather) from Baltimore, USA, but there’s some dispute (and some more research to be done) as to whether this is the ‘William McCray King’ referred to on many trees on Ancestry.com. Two things appear clear:

William King arrived in Australia as a free man from the USA.
Catherine Keily arrived in Australia as a free child from Ireland.

You can read more about Catherine and William by clicking here.

2. Caroline Purcell (England, Convict) and John Casey (Ireland, Convict)

Caroline Purcell and John Casey were Irene’s paternal grandparents. Caroline hailed from Birmingham and later London in England, where she was convicted of stealing and given a sentence of transportation to Australia for 7 years.

She met and married John in Australia. John was also a convict, although more of a political one, and he was Irish through and through, hailing from Loughmoe (County Tipperary)

You can read more about Caroline and John by clicking here.

3. Ellen Maloney (Ireland, Free) and Patrick Ryan (Ireland, Free)

Ellen Maloney and Patrick Ryan were Bill’s maternal grandparents. They met and married in Ireland, making their way to Australia as free settlers. Their hometowns of Cooneen and Thurles (both of which are in County Tipperary) were less than 30km apart – back in the early 1800’s people generally didn’t travel to find a partner.

You can read more about Ellen and Patrick by clicking here.

4. Catherine Garvey (Ireland, Free) and John O’Brien (Ireland, Free)

Catherine Garvey and John O’Brien were Bill’s paternal grandparents. They met and married in Ireland, making their way to Australia as free settlers. Their hometowns of Limerick (County Limerick) and Killaloe (County Clare) were less than 50km apart.

You can read more about Catherine and John by clicking here.

5. The O’Brien Clan Irish Trail

As you can see above, this Australian branch of the O’Brien Clan has it’s roots deeply embedded in Ireland, with ¾ of Irene’s and Bill’s eight grandparents spanning the four Irish counties of (from east to west) Kilkenny, Tipperary, Clare and Limerick. The remaining two came from England and the USA.

Two of Irene’s and Bill’s eight grandparents were convicts – John Casey (Ireland) and Caroline Purcell (England), with the remaining six arriving as free settlers.

It may come as a surprise that the whole of Ireland is only around 2% larger than Tasmania. In fact you can drive between the six locations of our forebears in less than 3 hours – from Goresbridge in the east to Limerick in the west. This journey is shown on the larger map of Ireland below.

Written by Rob Landsberry, last updated on 17 October 2024