He himself did not get to know his grandparents, as he was born in Nov 1887, grandfather James died in 1884 (he was born in Ireland) and Ellen Foley, in Dec 1887, at 60. James the senior was about 74 at time of death.
James' parents are Thomas O'Brien, the first child of James and Ellen Foley (though he had half-siblings from James' first wife, Mary Power), born in 1854 (died 1917) and Margaret Bolger (1862-1916), daughter of Francis Bolger and Margaret Baker. More on them later...
Here is James family, and as we see, out of 10 children the couple had, 3 died at a very young age, and 2 others in their 20's or 30's. One died accidentally in his 40's, as a fireman. One daughter lived on for many years, and is well known in the family as "Doll"...Irene or Eirein, (died in 1991, aged 87 years).
So the family did not leave so many children, other than James and Maria. It has to be said, I was not able to find whatever happened to Frances Charlotte Fanny, born in 1892...One explanation can be the following, but it is not certain.
There is no record of her on the 1901 census, and in 1897, a "son" Francis is dead, along with Thomas. Therefore, we may assume the Francis who dies is actually Frances Charlotte, as the age is 4 years and 6 months.
Siblings of James J O'Brien
1) Catherine born in 1886, died of convulsions after 2 weeks. Her sponsors were James Bolger, the mother's brother, and Mary B O'Connor (unknown so far).
2) We know about James already, whose sponsors were John O'Connor, husband of Margaret's sister, Frances Fanny. They would continue to live in Quebec City, unlike most of the other Bolgers and spouses...His birth must have brought joy as it was exactly one year after Catherine's death...
3) Francis Joseph was born in 1890, and would be close to James it seems, as he also worked at the CNR and QCT eventually, though he was working at Ross Rifles, on the Plains of Abraham during WWI. His sponsors were James Bolger (probably James Richard, brother of Margaret) and Matilda McDermott, whom I am not sure about (there is a Matilda McDermott, daughter of Ed and Matilda Bolger, but she would have been about 6 years old...). This is something to clear up if possible.
Anyway, Francis went on to marry Mildred Rose McLaughlin Leonard (born in Quebec of James and Elizabeth O'Leary) . They had 5 boys.
3a) I have not been able to find anything on all of them, but Joseph James Gerard married Rita Pottle in 1941 (herself related to the Bolgers) and they had children some of them still living in the Quebec City area.
3b) Walter Henry married Margaret Belland in 1941, but I am not aware of any children. Of note is that James Jim O'Brien was the sponsor for Walter Henry.
3c) Thomas Francis, who had Irene "Doll" as sponsor, married Grace Catherine Adams in 1948.
3d) Patrick Cyril married Joan Mabel Seale, (1953) in what seemed a mondaine event as it was covered in the QCT...
3e)Michel Gerard died at a very young age, the sponsors were James's brother Richard and his wife Agnes "Aggie" Redmond.
4) The fourth child of Thomas and Margaret was Frances Charlotte,born in 1892, but as mentioned above, she could have been confused with a boy named "Francis" who dies in 1897, at the same time as another brother. It could be a mistake too, as it is mentioned "son". Whatever the reason, the fact is no trace is found of her in latter years (1901 and 1911 census). The sponsors were Edward O'Connor and Bridget Fiztgibbon).
5) Thomas Patrick next was born in 1894, and died the same day as Francis or Frances (sponsors Peter Wheeler and Caroline Bolger) in Jan 1897 of diphteria, one of the major causes of youth mortality at the time. Anti-diphteria vaccination will become available from that year in Quebec, following a few outbreaks, especially in the working class areas such as Champlain Ward where the family lived. Nothing close to what it looks like today !
6) Veronica Margaret born (James Bolger and Margaret O'Brien a sister of Thomas) in 1896, and she married Patrick Kelly, and Englishman living in Thunder Bay, in 1921, in the same city. Unfortunately, she died in 1929, of "coronary occlusion and phlebitis". It falsely indicates the country of birth of her father Thomas as Ireland...They apparently had no children, but her departure from Quebec City was noted in the QCT (I guess JJ working there helped...)
7) In 1898, another son was born, Thomas Richard, but he died one month after birth of heart failure. Sponsors were not related to the family it seems, John C Howe and Mary Ann Rourke. One John C Howe could be John Columbus Howe, a physician living in Champlain Ward.
8) About a year later, in 1899, Mary Ellen was born, under the sponsorship of Edward McDermott, husband of Matilda Bolger. She died young as well, at age 23. The QCT reported on it:
9) Richard Benjamin was born in 1901(Edward and Margaret O'Connor), and in 1925, he married Agnes Ann "Aggie" Redmond, who lived on for 90 years until 1987. She was the daughter of Michael and Mary Roche, an Irish family also living in the Champlain Ward, and her father was also a shiplabourer...They had one son, Michael Harold. Richard died during a call for a fire, in 1943.
We know that in 1917, Richard and the family lived on St-Oliver (or Olivier) street, as he was drafted for WWI.
10) The last child for Thomas and Margaret was Eirein (Irene) "Doll", born in 1904 (Edward and Matilda McDermott), and she remained a spinster. Much could be told about her, and we will leave it at that for now...
So the O'Brien/Bolger family suffered much from disease and bad luck at the time, not surprising for those families living in the working class district of Champlain Ward at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. As can be seen here in a picture from around 1900 on rue Petit Champlain, it was not a touristic area...
Somewhere along this street...
rue Champlain today
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