Biographies
THOMAS O'CONNELL
THOMAS O'CONNELL.--- As a record of early railroading in California, the life of Thomas O'Connell is of vivid interest for it tells in detail of the hardships, and also the daily round of lighter incidents which made railroading interesting in those pioneer days, when personal relations entered into the work more than they do now, and a close bond existed between those "higher up" and demand who worked so faithfully for them. Born in the parish of Adare, County Limerick, Ireland, November 10, 1844, Mr. O'Connell was raised on a farm in that country, and educated in Christian Brothers College. On August 21, 1865, he came to America, and his first work in the new country was in the freight department of the Lake Shore Railway in Dunkirk, N. Y., when R. N. Brown, later owner, was superintendent of that railway.
In 1869 Mr. O'Connell came to San Francisco, via Panama, and on to Sacramento; then for a time he tried mining in the Allison mine at Grass Valley, Nevada County, but after a few months he returned to Sacramento and entered the employ of the Southern Pacific Railway, in the year 1869, braking on a freight train out of Rocklin east to Truckee. Soon he became fireman on a locomotive, and later engineer, and he made a record of forty-one years out of Sacramento on a locomotive. The first engines were woodburners, requiring twenty cords of wood to make the run from Sacramento to Truckee; wood was piled along the track and taken on every twenty-two miles. Later came the coal-burning engines and then the oil burners. The early engines had names and numbers; "White Bear" and "Black Bear" were some of the first names, and later they were named for prominent men such as General Grant, Sherman, and Phil Sheridan, Leland Stanford, Huntington, etc.; they were painted different colors like wagons, and for many years engineer O'Connell ran "Andrew Jackson" No. 121, a Mason engine with 17 by 24 cylinders, one of the speediest on the road, whose driving wheels were striped with green and gold paint as a sign of distinction. He was always selected as engineer of special trains carrying railroad officials over the division, and in 1875, hauled a special train of New York Bankers making the then notable trip across country to see "the West."
For thirty-eight years Mr. O'Connell ran his engine without an accident; then occurred a minor one, when his engine left the track in soft ground caused by heavy rains. This was due to no fault of his, however, and there is no black mark on his record of forty-one years at the throttle; and when he retired from active duty, in 1910, he received a letter from the officials of his road, commending him for his clean and faithful record in their employ.
Mr. O'Connell's marriage, which occurred in Sacramento, in 1876, united him in with Bridget Gagen, a native of parish Kilbeggan, County West Meath, Ireland, where she was born May 13, 1855, and six children were born to them, three of them now living, as follows: Thomas F., master mechanic with the Spreckels railway in San Diego; Molly; and David P. the latter served his country in the World War and is now a fireman on the Southern Pacific. The family home, on I Street, which Mr. O'Connell bought at that time of his marriage, was the residence of the first governor of California, Governor Burnett; it stands on a lot 40 by 160 feet and a part of the original house came around the Horn to make the governor's mansion. The mother, Bridget O'Connell, passed to her reward in 1907. Mr. O'Connell goes back to the pioneer days of railroading in California when he personally knew the old railroad builders, Stanford, Crocker, Huntington, Hopkins, Superintendent John Corning and Ed Fellows. At the "Days of' 49" celebration in Sacramento in 1922, he and J. E. Lonergan ran the old engine "Collis P. Huntington."
An active member of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, he was secretary and treasurer of the local branch, Division No. 110, Sacramento, for many years, until he retired in 1910. He was elected by his division a delegate to the national convention of the brotherhood at Detroit, in 1910, and attended the convention on his retirement; and while there, was presented with a metal and life membership in the Grand International Division of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. He was the first Southern Pacific engineer that received an honorary grand badge or medal from the International Division. Mr. O'Connell is held in high regard by his fellow members, as well as by all know him, for his pleasing personality, affable manner and sturdy character. It is indeed a pleasure to know and converse with this most interesting and oldest of California railroad men.
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 1/26/07.
Source: Reed, G.
Walter, History of Sacramento County,
California With Biographical Sketches, Page
367. Historic Record Company,
© 2007 Vicky Walker.