Background
William Shoney O'Brien was born in 1826 in Queen's County, Ireland, of humble parentage.
William Shoney O'Brien was born in 1826 in Queen's County, Ireland, of humble parentage.
William O'Brien came to America and took out citizenship papers in the New York marine court on November 3, 1845. For a time he considered going to Texas to seek his fortune, but chose to remain in New York, where he found a job in a store.
When gold was discovered in California, O'Brien was one of the first of the "argonauts" to go. He sailed in the ship Tarolinta around the Horn and arrived in San Francisco on July 6, 1849, an event which was yearly celebrated by the passengers of the ship as long as O'Brien lived. In San Francisco he was glad to earn a few dollars by helping to discharge the cargo of the vessel and also to accept a pair of boots, whose donor he unsuccessfully sought in later years.
In 1850, O'Brien went to Poor Man's Gulch on Feather River to mine, and there met James C. Flood, his later partner. In the fall of 1851 he returned to San Francisco, where until May 1854 he was a partner successively of Colonel W. C. Hoff and Captain W. J. Rosener in operating mercantile lines. He then joined James C. Flood in the proprietorship of the Auction Lunch Saloon on Washington Street near Sansome, which during the next twelve years was increasingly patronized by mining men and stock-dealers. From these customers the partners obtained advantageous mining information and thus were able to become successful stock-brokers. They also became interested in several mines in the Grass Valley region and in 1866 felt justified in selling their saloon and concentrating upon the mines. The previous year, with J. M. Walker and John William Mackay they had obtained control of the Hale and Norcross mine on the Comstock lode in Nevada, and here they got their first real start on the road to wealth.
In combination with Mackay and with James G. Fair, who joined them in 1868, they purchased the Consolidated Virginia and the California mines. Soon thereafter the "Big Bonanza" was struck, from which by January 1875 each of the four had derived a princely fortune. In that year they opened the Nevada Bank of San Francisco, with a capital of $5, 000, 000 which was subsequently increased to $10, 000, 000.
O'Brien did not live long to enjoy his good luck. Bright's disease, induced by too generous living, killed him within three years. He died at San Rafael, whither he had been taken in hopes of relief, and was buried in a previously prepared mausoleum in Calvary Cemetery, San Francisco, after a pontifical requiem mass at St. Mary's Cathedral.
Except for the ownership of his mining stock, his partnership with Flood had been dissolved before his death. His vast fortune, with the exception of $100, 000 for charities, went to his two sisters and their children.
William O'Brien was a life member of the Society of California Pioneers.
William O'Brien was never ostentatious of his fortune and although he bought an elegant private residence he remained more or less foreign to his new surroundings. He was noted for his geniality, being called "the jolly millionaire".