James O'Brien (March 13, 1841 – March 5, 1907) was a

U.S. Representative The United States House of Representatives, often referred to as the House of Representatives, the U.S. House, or simply the House, is the lower chamber of the United States Congress, with the Senate being the upper chamber. Together they c ...

from New York from 1879 to 1881.

Biography

O'Brien was born in Ireland in County Kings (since renamed). He attended the common schools, then

immigrated Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 1861. O'Brien served as alderman of New York City in 1864 and 1866, then became

Sheriff of New York County, New York The New York City Sheriff's Office (NYCSO), officially the Office of the Sheriff of the City of New York, is the primary civil law enforcement agency for New York City. The Sheriff's Office is a division of the New York City Department of Fina ...

in 1867. O'Brien directly contributed to the downfall of the Tweed ring of Tammany Hall by providing city financial accounts to the

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

in 1871. James Watson, who was a county auditor in Comptroller Dick Connolly's office and who also held and recorded the ring's books, died a week after his head was smashed by a horse in a sleigh accident on January 21, 1871. Although Tweed guarded Watson's estate in the week prior to Watson's death, and although another ring member attempted to destroy Watson's records, a replacement auditor, Matthew O'Rourke, associated with the former sheriff James O'Brien, provided city financial accounts to O'Brien, who then forwarded the accounts to the ''

''. The New York Times, at that time the only Republican associated paper in the city, was then able to reinforce stories they had previously published against the ring. O'Brien served in the New York State Senate in 1872 and 1873, during which time he founded the Apollo Hall Democracy. He was an unsuccessful candidate for mayor of New York City in 1873 and an unsuccessful candidate for election in 1874 to the

Forty-fourth Congress The 44th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1875, ...

Richard Croker Richard Welstead Croker (November 24, 1843 – April 29, 1922), known as "Boss Croker," was an Irish American political boss who was a leader of New York City's Tammany Hall. His control over the city was cemented with the 1897 election of ...

was charged with the murder of John McKenna, a lieutenant of James O'Brien during a fight on election day of 1874 with O'Brien's rival political group. O'Brien was running for Congress against the Tammany-backed

Abram S. Hewitt Abram Stevens Hewitt (July 31, 1822January 18, 1903) was an American politician, educator, ironmaking industrialist, and lawyer who was mayor of New York City for two years from 1887–1888. He also twice served as a U.S. Congressman from an ...

. John Kelly, the new Tammany Hall boss, attended the trial and Croker was freed after the jury was undecided. O'Brien was then elected as an

Independent Democrat In U.S. politics, an independent Democrat is an individual who loosely identifies with the ideals of the Democratic Party but chooses not to be a formal member of the party (chooses to be an independent) or is denied the Democratic nomination ...

to the

Forty-sixth Congress The 46th United States Congress was a meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, consisting of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It met in Washington, D.C. from March 4, 1879 ...

(March 4, 1879 - March 3, 1881), but was an unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1880. He then worked as a stock broker until his death. He died in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

on March 5, 1907 at the age of 65. He was buried in Calvary Cemetery in

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, James 19th-century Irish people 1841 births 1907 deaths Burials at Calvary Cemetery (Queens) Irish emigrants to the United States (before 1923) Members of the United States House of Representatives from New York (state) New York (state) state senators Politicians from New York City Politicians from County Offaly New York (state) Democrats New York (state) Independents Independent Democrat members of the United States House of Representatives Sheriffs of New York County, New York 19th-century American politicians