Baltimore County MD Archives Obituaries.....Baltimore County Union, 01 Feb 1902

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Mary Green Kerr mmkerr@wideopenwest.com 

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Baltimore County Union  February 1, 1902

O'BRIEN, JOHN - Mr. John O'Brien died at his home, near this place, on the 18th instant, 
aged 88 years.  He was a native of Ireland and came to this country about two years 
before the county seat was located at Towson.  When the Court House and jail were built 
there he worked on them until they were finished, the late Jacob Wisner, the contractor 
for the masonry, employing him.  He also worked on the seminary building in Lutherville.  
Later Mr. O'Brien was head gardener for the late Henry B. Chew, of Epsom, and was also 
employed for a long time on the Sheppard Asylum property.  Leaving the latter he 
secured a position with the Northern Central Railroad Company and continued in its 
employ for over thirty years.  He was one of the first watchmen at Sherwood crossing 
and was retired some time ago on account of age and placed on the pension list of the 
company.  Mr. O'Brien had an excellent memory and liked to talk about old times.  He 
often related that when he first went to Towson (then Towsontown) there were very few 
houses in the place and nearly all of them immediately on the York turnpike.  Where the 
Court House, jail and scores of residences now stand was farming land fenced off in 
fields.  At that time the only means of communication between Towson and Baltimore was 
by a stage that made one round trip a day and if the driver had 6 or 8 passengers he 
thought he was doing a great business.
Mr. O'Brien was a member of the first building association that was sstarted in Towson.  
Continuing in the same some years he accumulated enough to buy himself a snug little 
home from the late Judge D. C. H. Emory, on the road leading from this place [Sherwood 
N. C. R. R.] to Lutherville, and there he spent the remainder of his days.  He was a 
resident of the 9th district forty years and never voted elsewwhere in the county.
Mr. O'Brien was an industrious, upright man, a good husband and kind father, and was 
well liked by all who knew him.  His remains were interred in St. Joseph's Cemetery, 
Texas.             T.





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