The Mystery of the Formal Portraits
The Mystery of the Formal Portraits
Identifying Miles Murtha Lawrence O'Brien
When three generations share the same name, how do you know which Miles you're looking at? The story of how nine independent lines of evidence brought a face back to its name.
Sometimes genealogy hands you a puzzle wrapped in an enigma.
In my family collection, I found three formal portrait photographs — professional, dignified, clearly important enough to preserve for over a century. But there was a problem. No one knew who they showed.
Well, that's not quite true. There was one clue: a severely degraded photocopy with handwriting that read “Miles M O'Brien — Dad's Father — Died 1930 — March?” But which Miles M. O'Brien? In my family, that name echoes across three generations like a bell ringing through time.
The only labeled photo — severely degraded, but the handwriting was clear: “Miles M O'Brien — Dad's Father — Died 1930.”
The Challenge: Three Miles O'Briens
Here's what made this identification so tricky — the same name, carried down a Brooklyn family:
Miles Murtha Lawrence O'Brien
Born in Jamaica, Queens. Worked as a scale maker in Brooklyn. Died at 56.
Miles Murtha O'Brien
Also born in Brooklyn. My mother's father. Lived to 79.
And the Name Continued
Both men lived in Brooklyn. Both had formal portraits taken. Both were named Miles.
So when I found three unlabeled formal photographs clearly showing a middle-aged man from the early 20th century, I had to ask: which Miles am I looking at?
The Photos: What We Could See
Photos 1 & 2: Two formal studio portraits showing the same man at similar ages — professional photography, high-quality, clearly expensive portraits from prestigious studios. The man appears to be in his late 30s to mid-40s, in the formal three-piece suits typical of the 1900s–1910s.
Photo 3: A much more degraded image showing a man in profile, outdoors, holding a cup. Poor quality, casual snapshot style.
The labeled photocopy was so damaged that the face was almost completely gone — but the handwriting was clear enough: this was “Dad's Father,” who died in 1930. That had to be Miles Murtha Lawrence O'Brien (1873–1930). But could I prove the other photos showed him too?
One of two near-identical formal studio portraits of the same man — same age, same studio formality. The face the rest of this investigation would put a name to.
The second of the two formal studio portraits — the same man a little older, the same unmistakable face. Both would prove to show one person.
Clue #1: Dating Through Fashion and Photography
First, I needed to date these photographs. Every era has distinctive photographic styles and fashion elements that act like fingerprints in time.
What the Photos Told Me
- Studio style: professional portrait studios with painted backdrops, high-quality printing on thick card stock, formal posing — a level of formality and expense pointing to the 1900–1920 era.
- Fashion details: high white collar with dark necktie (Edwardian style), three-piece dark suit, short hair parted and styled with pomade, clean-shaven or neatly trimmed.
- Dating: 1905–1920.
- Apparent age: mature features but not elderly — roughly 35 to 50 years old. If photographed 1905–1920, the subject was born approximately 1855–1885.
This gave me a working timeline. Now I needed to match it to a real person.
Birth
Born March 28, 1873 in Jamaica, Queens, New York. Son of Terrence O'Brien (Irish immigrant) and his second wife. Half-brother to James Henry O'Brien, 13 years his senior.
Father's Death Age 1
Father Terrence O'Brien dies, leaving infant Miles and his mother.
Early Career Age 22–32
Establishes himself as a scale maker in Brooklyn's manufacturing sector. Marries and starts raising a family.
Mystery Photos Taken Age 35–45
The formal studio portraits were taken during this decade. Miles is in his prime working years, established in his trade, connected to his successful congressman half-brother. These expensive professional portraits reflect his standing in the community.
WWI Draft Registration Age 45
September 12, 1918: Registers for the WWI draft. Physical description recorded: medium height, medium build, grey eyes, grey hair. Lists employer as “James H. O'Brien” — his congressman half-brother.
Half-Brother's Death Age 51
James Henry O'Brien (the Congressman) dies at age 64. Miles loses his older half-brother and former employer.
Death
Dies January 13, 1930 at his home, 376 Milford Street, Brooklyn, at age 56. Survived by wife Anna T. McGuire O'Brien and ten children (five sons and five daughters). His obituary notes he was “a member of a well-known family.”
Clue #2: The Family Tree
Let me introduce the O'Brien family of Brooklyn — a family that illustrates the promise and complexity of Irish-American immigrant success in the early 20th century. Their father, Terrence O'Brien (1833–1874), was an Irish immigrant who settled in Jamaica, Queens, and died when his younger son was just one year old. His two sons were half-brothers: James Henry, who rose to become a US Congressman, and Miles Murtha Lawrence, born thirteen years later, a skilled tradesman. A generation on, Miles Murtha Lawrence's son Miles Murtha O'Brien (1904–1984) — my mother's father — carried the name forward.
Miles Murtha O'Brien with Lillian J. Robertson on their wedding day, June 28, 1928 — the son named for his father, and the next link in the chain.
Clue #3: The Half-Brothers
The relationship between James Henry and Miles Murtha Lawrence fascinated me. Here were two half-brothers, thirteen years apart, who both made lives for themselves in Brooklyn despite their father dying young. James Henry became a Congressman — the kind of success story newspapers loved to celebrate about Irish immigrants' children. Miles Murtha Lawrence became a scale maker, a skilled tradesman with a solid middle-class living.
And here's what made me pause: in 1918, when Miles had to register for the WWI draft, he listed his employer as James H. O'Brien — his half-brother, the Congressman. The successful politician and the skilled tradesman, bound by blood and by business. This told me something important: Miles had the means and reason to have formal studio portraits taken. These weren't the portraits of a struggling laborer — they were the portraits of a man with standing and connections.
James Henry O'Brien (1860–1924), US Congressman from Brooklyn — Miles's half-brother and employer.
Clue #4: The Breakthrough — A Physical Description
Here's where the detective work got exciting. I found Miles Murtha Lawrence O'Brien's WWI Draft Registration Card from September 12, 1918. He was 45 at the time, required to register despite being well past prime military age. And on that card, I found what every photo detective dreams of: an actual physical description.
Height: Medium · Build: Medium · Eye Color: Grey · Hair Color: Grey (at age 45)
Suddenly, I wasn't just guessing. I had facts.
Miles Murtha Lawrence O'Brien's WWI Draft Registration Card, September 12, 1918 — the breakthrough that provided a physical description.
The Comparison: Does It Match?
Now I could go back to those formal portraits with new eyes. The man in the photographs: medium build — matches; medium height by proportion — matches; appears 35–50 — matches; photos dated 1905–1920, when Miles would be 32–47 — a perfect match. By 1918 his hair was grey at 45; so if these were taken around 1910–1915, when he was 37–42, his hair would have been darkening but not yet fully grey — which is exactly what the portraits show.
The Evidence Converges
Multiple independent lines of evidence all pointed to the same conclusion:
Photographed circa 1908–1918, age 35–45
Scale maker, working for his Congressman brother
Died January 13, 1930, Brooklyn, NY
Father to ten children, including Miles Murtha O'Brien (1904–1984)
What About the Third Photo?
That degraded profile shot — the man outdoors with a cup — remains more mysterious. It could be Miles Murtha Lawrence in the late 1920s, shortly before his death; the casual snapshot style and outdoor setting fit the era of portable cameras. Or it could be his son, Miles Murtha O'Brien, photographed in the 1950s–60s. The photo quality is too poor to say definitively. Sometimes you have to accept that not every mystery can be completely solved. But two out of three isn't bad.
The degraded profile shot — the man outdoors with a cup — remains more mysterious.
The Bigger Picture: Brooklyn's O'Brien Family
As I researched Miles Murtha Lawrence, I discovered something else. His 1930 obituary doesn't just list his family — it makes a point of mentioning he was “related to the late Miles M. O'Brien, former president of the Board of Education.”
Miles Murtha Lawrence O'Brien's 1930 obituary, noting he was “a member of a well-known family.”
Another Miles O'Brien. Another prominent Brooklyn figure. I don't yet know exactly how they were related — cousin, uncle, or a more distant connection — but the fact that the obituary mentions him tells me something: this was a family that mattered in Brooklyn. When you died, the newspaper noted which other O'Briens you were connected to, because readers would recognize those names. James Henry the Congressman, Miles M. the Board of Education President, Miles Murtha Lawrence the skilled tradesman — multiple branches of one Irish immigrant family, all making their mark.
Miles Murrough O'Brien, former president of Brooklyn's Board of Education — another O'Brien in a position of prominence. The exact relationship to Miles Murtha Lawrence remains to be discovered.
Three Generations, One Name
Looking at all the photos together now — the formal portraits of Miles Murtha Lawrence, the wedding photo of his son Miles Murtha O'Brien, the family photos of later generations — I can see the thread running through them. The same name, carried across three generations. The same borough, home to all three men. The same determination to build something and leave a record.
Miles Murtha Lawrence never lived to see his grandchildren; he died in 1930 when his son was only 26. But the name continued. And now, nearly 95 years after his death, I can look at his face in those formal portraits and say with confidence: this is Miles Murtha Lawrence O'Brien. Born 1873. Died 1930. Scale maker. Brother to a Congressman. Father to Miles. Great-grandfather to me.
Found.
The two formal portraits side by side — the same man, the same studio formality, a few years apart. Nine independent lines of evidence place both around 1908–1918.
Lessons for Your Own Photo Detective Work
- Date the photo first. Use technology type, photo format, fashion, and studio style to narrow down when it was taken. That gives you a timeline.
- Do the math. Knowing when a photo was taken and how old the subject appears lets you calculate an approximate birth year, then match it to people in your tree.
- Hunt for physical descriptions. Draft cards, passports, prison and military records often include height, build, eye color, and hair color — gold for photo identification.
- Consider context. Why would this person have had this type of photo taken? Who could afford it? What was the occasion?
- Look for family resemblance. Compare features against confirmed photos of siblings, parents, or children.
- Accept uncertainty gracefully. Sometimes you reach 95%, sometimes 70%. Document what you know, what you believe, and what remains open.
Are You Connected to the O'Brien Line?
Miles Murtha Lawrence belongs to the same Brooklyn-and-Queens O'Brien family at the heart of the Hidden Bonds research. If you descend from these O'Briens — or have your own box of unlabeled portraits — I'd love to compare notes.
O'Brien Research Collaboration The O'Brien Legacy Case StudyMore Photo-Detective Case Studies
Do you have unidentified formal portraits from the early 1900s, carefully preserved but nameless? Connect with me and share your mystery photos — sometimes fresh eyes spot the clues we've been missing. Every face deserves a name. Every story deserves to be told.
Part of the Storyline Genealogy series — Uncovering Your Family Story and Preserving Your Legacy.
© 2025 Storyline Genealogy. This family research and narrative is original work protected by copyright.
Are You Connected to the O'Brien Line?
If you descend from Terrence O'Brien of Jamaica, Queens or his brother Patrick O'Bryan of Newport, Kentucky — under any spelling of O'Brien, O'Bryan, O'Bryen, or O'Brian — or from the connected Higgins, Bedell, McNamara, or Kentucky Kuptz, Lyhan, Powell, or Browne lines, I’d like to compare notes. Documented trees, DNA matches, family papers, and even half-remembered stories have all moved this research forward.
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