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Patrick and Mary O'Brien came to America from the town of Ballinagar, Kings County, Ireland. It was a quiet town about fifty miles west of Dublin. They were not young when they decided to board the ship for America in 1852 as their eight children were adults by that time. Richard Hidy tells an interesting story about his ancestors and the events that could have brought them, and many of their fellow Irishmen, here to America. The Catholic O'Briens and their family settled in the Cincinnati and Springfield, Ohio, area and the author provides an interesting history as to the possible reasons the O'Briens and others chose these areas. A good portion of the book tells of their grandson Richard's experience becoming a police chief and a history of the turbulent times experienced by local riots and the Ku Klux Klan. The book details the infiltration of the klan members into all aspects of society and its effect on Richard O'Brien.

This is an interesting history told in following an Irish Catholic family and their acclimation to a new neighborhood, a new parish, in a new country.