![]() ![]() “He was a smart fellow but he was quite a character.” “He was a hot-headed Irishman,” she said recently. Maine genealogist/historian and Machias resident Valdine Atwood says Jeremiah was a “bigger-than-life individual.” And now, having taken the time to dig just a little into their escapades, my burning question is: Why isn’t this story already an HBO mini-series? It was in this Down East seaport where the battling O’Brien brothers, led by Jeremiah, would establish their notoriety. Sherman’s 1902 biography “Life of Captain Jeremiah O’Brien,” the clan later relocated to Scarborough before finally settling in Machias around 1766 to establish a lumber mill. Jeremiah was the oldest of six brothers, all born to Irish immigrant Morris O’Brien and his Kittery-born wife Mary, who gave birth to Jeremiah in Kittery around 1740. ![]() I have to admit, I only learned of O’Brien’s heroism from Raymond Faulkner, a local Coast Guard veteran and history buff employed at Piscataqua Savings Bank. And yet, it’s a pretty safe bet most average Americans outside of Maine (and a disappointing number of current residents) are not familiar with the exploits of this colorful character. This engagement is also considered the birth of the United States Merchant Marine. The event is named after the British ship taken during the battle − described by famed 19 th-century novelist James Fenimore Cooper as “the Lexington of the Sea” – by townsmen wielding pitchforks and axes. A Maine state park up in Machias is named for O’Brien, and every June, that town commemorates what is considered America’s first navy victory of the Revolutionary War with its annual Margaretta Days Festival.
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