William O'Brien
William O'Brien (2 October 1852 – 25 February 1928) was an Irish nationalist, journalist, agrarian agitator, social revolutionary, politician, party leader, newspaper publisher, author and Member of Parliament (MP) in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. He was particularly associated with the campaigns for land reform in Ireland during the late 19th and early 20th centuries as well as his conciliatory approach to attaining Irish Home Rule.
Frederick O'Brien
O'Brien settled in Sausalito, California in 1920 and lived there most of the rest of his life. Journalist Margaret Wickham Watson (1891-1934) was his usual companion, his secretary, and sometimes cited as his wife although the two were never married and O'Brien was never divorced from his first wife. O'Brien became a local radio personality, "displaying his characteristic flair for humor, political commentary, and storytelling." But he was a long-time alcoholic, had growing financial problems and ill health, and "all his artistic creative force had left him." With Watson, he traveled to Europe in 1923 and 1925. both of them attempting to revive their literary careers. O'Brien wrote more stories about the South Seas and worked on his autobiography and a biography of Father Damien, the priest who lived among the lepers in Molokai, Hawaii. He died of congestive heart failure on January 9, 1932.