PATRICK O’BRIEN emigrated from Ireland (not sure what part) in the early 1800s coming first to Hull, Lower Canada, and then Allumette Island, the Pontiac. By 1839, Patrick, his wife Janet McConnell (of Lanark, Scotland), and three boys (John, Thomas, & William), were established in Westmeath Township - making them one of the earliest immigrant ancestor families of Westmeath Township, in Renfrew County, Ontario, Canada.
As told by his grandson, Reverend Alexander Henry O'Brien:
"Patrick had come by boat to Portage du Fort and from there walked to the land he would take up and farm. [He] was raised a Roman Catholic in Ireland but in the New World life was not easy for Catholics in a Protestant society. For those practical considerations, Patrick became a Protestant. He was not the only early Irish settler to do this."

Reverend Alexander Henry O'Brien