Michael John O'Brien (19 September 1851 – 26 October 1940) was a railway builder, industrialist and philanthropist. He was named to the

Senate of Canada The Senate of Canada (french: region=CA, Sénat du Canada) is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada. The Senate is modelled after the ...

in 1918. He was a founder of the town of

Renfrew, Ontario Renfrew is a town on the Bonnechere River in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada. Located one hour west of Ottawa in Eastern Ontario, Renfrew is the fourth largest town in the county after Petawawa, Pembroke and Arnprior. The town is a small transpo ...

.
J.P. Bickell: The Life, the Leafs, and the Legacy
'. Dundurn; 9 September 2017. . p. 70–.

Early life

O'Brien was born in

Lochaber Lochaber ( ; gd, Loch Abar) is a name applied to a part of the Scottish Highlands. Historically, it was a provincial lordship consisting of the parishes of Kilmallie and Kilmonivaig, as they were before being reduced in extent by the creati ...

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native En ...

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

immigrant John O'Brien (1799 - 1869) and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Cleary O'Brien (1832 - 1900), daughter of Michael Cleary and Elizabeth Foley. He attended school until Grade 8, quitting at age 14 for a water boy position at a railway

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and ...

site.

Career

Having started as a water boy, O'Brien was subcontracting for railroad work by the age of 18, then followed the new railways across the country during the early heyday of rapid railway expansion in Canada.
We Lived a Life and Then Some: The Life, Death, and Life of a Mining Town
'. Between The Lines; 1996. . p. 45–. He arrived in

as a teenager and, in 1879, he and two partners won the contract to build the

Kingston and Pembroke Railway The Kingston and Pembroke Railway (K&P) was a Canadian railway that operated in eastern Ontario. The railway was seen as a business opportunity which would support the lumber and mining industries, as well as the agricultural economy in eastern On ...

(K & P). While walking the future rail path between Sharbot Lake to the town of Renfrew, he happened to meet the Barry family, including his future first wife, Jane "Jenny" Barry, where her father, James, had built their home on the south shore of Calabogie Lake. In 1891 he went bankrupt, after a disastrous contract for the

Canada Atlantic Railway The Canada Atlantic Railway (CAR) was a North American railway located in Ontario, southwestern Quebec and northern Vermont. It connected Georgian Bay on Lake Huron with the northern end of Lake Champlain via Ottawa. It was formed in 1897 through ...

, then rebuilt his wealth through construction contracts. While Commissioner of the Temiskaming and Northern Ontario Railway, from 1902 to 1905; O'Brien, in 1903, bought four claims that would become the O'Brien silver mine in

Cobalt, Ontario Cobalt is a town in Timiskaming District, Ontario, Canada. It had a population of 1,118 at the 2016 Census. In the early 1900s, the area was heavily mined for silver; the silver ore also contained cobalt. By 1910, the community was the fourth ...

from prospector Neil King for $4,000, then "promptly sued the owners of the adjacent

LaRose LaRose may refer to: * ''LaRose'' (novel), 2016 novel by Louise Erdrich * LaRose (surname), also ''Larose'', includes list of name-holders See also * Larose * La Rose * * {{dab ...

claim for a piece of conflicting property." The La Rose claim had been bought from

Fred La Rose Alfred "Fred" La Rose, also known as "Fred Rose" and "Frederick LaRose" (c. 1870 - September 1940), was a blacksmith from Quebec who discovered silver on September 15, 1903 at the future site of Cobalt, Ontario. He is often referred to as the "Fath ...

by the

Timmins Timmins ( ) is a city in northeastern Ontario, Canada, located on the Mattagami River. The city is the fourth-largest city in the Northeastern Ontario region with a population of 41,145 (2021). The city's economy is based on natural resource ex ...

and McMartin brothers; a protracted legal battle ensued between the "O'Brien crowd" and the "LaRose people", collectively, "The Big Cobalters", which "caught the Whitney government in the cross-fire," before a publicly profitable conclusion was devised by the

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

government in 1906. His influence in Renfrew and the surrounding area included a dairy, woolens and knit factories, and saw and planing mills. During World War I, O'Brien recruited and equipped several battalions of railway workers.

NHA

Senator O'Brien's son,

Ambrose Ambrose of Milan ( la, Aurelius Ambrosius; ), venerated as Saint Ambrose, ; lmo, Sant Ambroeus . was a theologian and statesman who served as Bishop of Milan from 374 to 397. He expressed himself prominently as a public figure, fiercely promo ...

, played varsity

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two o ...

at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

; after graduation, Ambrose founded several hockey teams, financed by M.J., including teams in Cobalt, Haileybury, Montreal and Renfrew, which all played in the first season of the

National Hockey Association The National Hockey Association (NHA), officially the National Hockey Association of Canada Limited, was a professional ice hockey organization with teams in Ontario and Quebec, Canada. It is the direct predecessor of today's National Hockey Lea ...

(NHA), an organization co-founded by Ambrose in 1909, that became the forerunner of the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

.
Literary History of Canada: Canadian Literature in English, Volume III (Second Edition)
'. University of Toronto Press, Scholarly Publishing Division; 15 December 1976. . p. 223–. O'Brien funded four the NHA league's five teams, including the

Renfrew Creamery Kings The Renfrew Hockey Club, also known as the Creamery Kings and the Millionaires, was a founding franchise in 1909 of the National Hockey Association, the precursor to the National Hockey League. The team was based in the founder Ambrose O'Brien's ...

, founded by Ambrose, and popularly known as the Renfrew Millionaires because of O'Brien's definitive resource; the team was later renamed the

Montreal Canadiens The Montreal CanadiensEven in English, the French spelling is always used instead of ''Canadians''. The French spelling of ''Montréal'' is also sometimes used in the English media. (french: link=no, Les Canadiens de Montréal), officially ...

, "possibly the most storied franchise in Canadian sport." He donated the O'Brien Cup to the league, which was used until 1950 by the

and is in the collection of the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Legacy

O'Brien was a financial supporter of the preservation of Renfrew's heritage buildings, including its opera house. He served as Senator for Ontario from 1918 to 1925. In 1926 he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St. Gregory the Great, a decoration bestowed by

Pope Pius XI Pope Pius XI ( it, Pio XI), born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti (; 31 May 1857 – 10 February 1939), was head of the Catholic Church from 6 February 1922 to his death in February 1939. He was the first sovereign of Vatican City fr ...

. He died in 1940 in Renfrew.

References

External links

*
''Who's who in Canada: An Illustrated Biographical Record of Men and Women of the Time'', Volume 15, by Charles Whately Parker and Barnet M. Greene
International Press Limited, Canada,1912, page 1409.
''O'Brien, From Water Boy to One Million A Year'', by Scott Young and Astrid Young, (George O'Brien, Editor), Ryerson Press, Toronto, Canada, 1967.
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Michael John 1851 births 1940 deaths Canadian businesspeople Canadian senators from Ontario Knights Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great Liberal Party of Canada senators