John O'Brien Settles Lamar Community, Franklin Parish, LA. Contributed by Tommy Moore Feb. 2002 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm **********************************************   O'BRIEN FAMILY Lamar Community was settled early in the 1800's by Mr. John O'Brien, an Irishman, who ran away from his native land when he was fourteen years old. He came to the United States and to the Southland. During the Civil War he joined the Confederate Army: and, at the close of the war, he came back to Louisiana, and what is now Franklin Parish. John O'Brien Married Mrs. Cathrine Howard, the widow of Mr. Thomas Howard, who owned eighty acres of land on the Bayou Macon. he secured more land of the northern section of what is now Ward 4 in Franklin Parish. This Plantation was named "Lamar" in honor of the noted Mississipi Statesman, Lucius Quintos Cincinatus Lamar. John and Cathrine had five children--John, Andrew, Michael, Thomas and Cathrine. John died at the age of twenty-one, and Thomas and Cathrine both died at the age fifteen. Mrs. Cathrine O'Brien died June 28, 1874, at the age of thirty-nine. She is buried in Delhi in the old cemetery that is now part of the Northeast Louisiana Livestock Show grounds. Mr. John O'Brien later married Mrs. Martha Taylor and had one daughter, Theckla, who died at the age nineteen. Mr. John O'Brien died October 7, 1882, at about the age of forty-two. He is buried with his wife Cathrine in the Cemetery in Delhi. Andrew and Michael were reared by their stepmother, Martha. Andrew, bornMarch 13, 1868, was fourteen when his father died. He attended local schools and completed his education at Brothers School in Vicksburg, Mississippi. As a young man he engaged in planting, and in 1895 he inherited Lamar Plantation. He had mercantile interest at Lamar, but planting was his major interest. About 1900, Andrew became interested in politics and for a number of years was a member of the Democratic Executive Committee of Franklin Parish. He became a member of the police jury in 1908 and served as president of that body from 1912 to 1924. He was the director of the Bank of Delhi and stock holder in both banks at Winnsboro. Andrew died Jan. 10, 1926, at the age of fifty-eight and is buried in the Masonic Cemetery at Delhi, La. His only heir was his nephew, Mr. John T. O'Brien. Michael O'Brien was born Sept. 27, 1872. He attended local schools and then went ot Louisville, Kentucky, where he secured his medical education. Dr. Michael O'Brien came back to Louisiana and Lamar and practiced medicine. He married Miss Rosa Pennebaker, Jan. 8, 1907 and they had one son, John T. O'Brien, born May 8, 1909. Dr. Michael O'Brien died August 3, 1915, at the age of forty-three leaving his interest in Lamar Plantation to his only son and wife. Rosa was born Oct. 13,1888, and died April 12, 1973, at the age of eighty-four. Mr. John T. O'Brien is married to the former Mrs. Okla Smith. He has three children by a previous marriage to Margaret Bates of Bogalusa-- John Larry, Patricia, and Judith Margaret. Mr. and Mrs. John T. O'Brien reside at Lamar Plantation in the original home built in 1896 by Andrew O'Brien.