Inspiring Stories

 

Cover of book by K. Jones, 2008.

In 2008, my Gumpy put together a collection of short stories based on some of his paintings titled "It's Nothing BUT Personal". One of those stories described a painting he made in 1960 of my 3rd-great-grandfather John O'Brien. I included this painting in my second post on this blog, back in 2012. The copy I have was signed by Gumpy and the chapter on John O'Brien includes a special reference to the work I had done up to then to uncover what we knew about John's life (even if Gumpy did get some of the facts slightly wrong in his written version).

Introduction & dedication.

Listening to Crista Cowan's excellent new podcast Stories that Live in Us, episode 1, I couldn't help but recall the inspiring stories left behind by my Gumpy, and how those have spurred my own genealogical adventures. My Gumpy was curious about the life and story behind John O'Brien's journey to America and settlement in Illinois. John was my grandmother Blanche O'Brien's great-grandfather, not his direct ancestor. In 1960, Blanche was sick with ovarian cancer. Gumpy used painting as therapy, and recreated an original painting of John made by noted Illinois artist Robert Marshall Root. I do not know when in 1960 Gumpy completed his version of the painting, but Blanche passed away on 1 December 1960.

Root is most famous for his painting of the Lincoln-Douglas Debate, now on display at the Illinois State Capitol. He painted portraits of influential people in Shelby County. Root "met John O'Brien later in life and found him to be an interesting character and as the story goes he thought John would be a great subject to paint so he made a painting of the old man." 

The original painting had passed down to Blanche's father, Harry O'Brien. Gumpy wrote that "he had always admired the picture of John O'Brien so I borrowed it and spent a great amount of time to copy it in detail. The completed painting looked identical to the original [by Root]. I was proud of the results but wanted to do something to make it a Keith Jones painting so I added the water scene that is now behind John O'Brien."

Gumpy finished the short story by writing "Now this is the end of my story and I am satisfied that we know a little more about John O'Brien. Still, there is more we do not know and may come to light yet still in my lifetime. Ah, the great mystery of life." We know more today about John's life than we knew in 2008, but there still so many gaps. However, we're incredibly lucky to have an image of John, that Root made the original, it passed down to Harry, and my Gumpy took an interest in making his own take on it.

Painting by K. Jones of John O'Brien, 1960.