Bryan/Brien/O'Brien in Kilkenny

P. Breathnach

Herself is trying to trace a William O'Brien, born in or about 1821 in Thomastown, County Kilkenny.

On IFHF we got two hits, spot-on for the year, but neither is O'Brien. One is William Brien; the other is William Bryan. They both give the same address at the Mall, but they are two different people (different baptism dates; different parents).

One might think that Brien is the more likely fit, partly because there is an Anglo-Norman name Bryan that is associated with Kilkenny. But here's the rub: William Bryan's parents are Timothy and Elizabeth. The only children we know of for William O'Brien are ... Timothy and Elizabeth.

So help us make a judgement, please. Do people think that the Timothy Bryan christened in Thomastown in 1821 is the same person who in 1839 declared that he was 18 years old and came from Thomastown?

pinkypinky

Yeah, I'd guess it's the same person, but you can't be 100% without other records, which may or may not exist.

WDW1111

I would guess so too. I have searched through a lot of KK records over the years and Timothy isn't a common KK name. Where you do find it it tends to be a family name and often with a Cork background somewhere. Spelling wasn't the best then either and "O" doesn't appear in a lot of parish records even when the family did use the O in everyday life.

P. Breathnach

WDW1111 wrote: »

... "O" doesn't appear in a lot of parish records even when the family did use the O in everyday life.

That's what I suspected, and some surface scratching about fed my suspicion. First, I found other Bryans or Briens (not, so far as I can judge, connected) whose children were O'Briens. Second, there seem to be fewer O'Anythings in mid 19th century Kilkenny than one might expect.