The O'Brien Family
Two Bloodlines, One Family
From Brian Boru, High King of Ireland, and the stone cutters of Perthshire, Scotland — to Caldwell, New Jersey, and nineteen grandchildren.
Two Bloodlines
Irish kings and Scottish stone cutters
In January 1928, two orphans married at St. Gabriel's Church in Brooklyn. Miles Murtha O'Brien, whose ancestors carried the genetic signature of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland. Lillian Josephine Robertson, granddaughter of a Scottish stone cutter who died five days after reaching America. Neither knew what DNA would one day reveal about their heritage — they only knew they had both survived loss, and they were building something new together.
The O'Brien Line
Hidden Bonds
When Terrence O'Brien died in 1874, he left four orphans — and $11,000 hidden in the kitchen wall. DNA testing revealed these scattered children carried the genetic signature of the Royal House of Thomond, descendants of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland.
Read Hidden Bonds →The Robertson Line
Scattered Stones
George Robertson, stone cutter of Blairgowrie, died five days after reaching New York in 1872. His family scattered across Brooklyn, building a network that would survive tragedy after tragedy — including the January 1924 deaths that orphaned three children.
Read Scattered Stones →
The Blood of Kings
DNA testing proved what no document could — that the O'Brien men of Caldwell carry the genetic signature of Brian Boru, High King of Ireland. From Dromoland Castle to the Royal House of Thomond, explore the heritage that connects this family to a thousand-year dynasty.
Explore the Royal Heritage →
Family tree by Claire Hamall Moyer
The Founders
Miles & Lillian O'Brien · Married January 28, 1928
The Three Orphans
The Robertson siblings · Orphaned January 1924
In January 1924, Joseph Robertson and Mary Agnes Kenny died within twelve days of each other — leaving three children orphaned. Lillian was eighteen. Helen was sixteen. Joseph Jay was four. They stayed connected for sixty-seven years. In the end, they left this world together, just as their parents had — within weeks of each other.
Their Children
Six children of Miles & Lillian O'Brien
From Brooklyn to Caldwell, New Jersey, Miles and Lillian raised six children. They lost their daughter Helen Grace at age eight. The twins, Miles Jr. and Michael, both served as officers in the United States Air Force — and DNA would later reveal they were identical, not fraternal as the family had always believed.
Lillian Marie
1928 – 1995
Married Severino J. Ambrosio
Jeanne
1930 – 1993
Married John Garrison
Barbara Ann
1935 – 2022
Married Thomas Kenny Hamall
Helen Gladys
1940 – 1948
✦ In Memoriam ✦
Miles Murtha Jr.
Born 1946
Identical Twin · Colonel, USAF (Ret.)
Michael Joseph
Born 1946
Identical Twin · Lt. Colonel, USAF (Ret.)
Including the only photograph of the complete O'Brien family together
Sacred Places
The churches that witnessed their sacraments
From baptisms to funerals, from weddings to golden jubilees — the O'Brien and Robertson families gathered in these sacred spaces to mark life's most profound moments. Some still stand; others exist only in records and memory.
St. Aloysius Church
Caldwell, New Jersey
Three weddings, two funerals, and a golden jubilee Mass — four generations of the O'Brien family at the mother church of West Essex.
Explore →St. Gabriel's Church
Brooklyn, New York
Where Miles Murtha O'Brien Sr. married Lillian Robertson in 1928, and his father's requiem Mass was offered two years later — the parish of New Lots.
Explore →The Stories
Documentary series tracing both family lines
Hidden Bonds
The O'Brien Line
From famine Ireland to Jamaica, Queens — from scattered orphans to DNA reunion. The O'Brien line and their connection to Brian Boru, High King of Ireland.
Read the series →Scattered Stones
The Robertson Line
The Robertson family diaspora: the great emigration of the 1870s, the Brooklyn network they built, and the tragedies that shaped them.
Read the series →