Dear Ms. Fuqua,

I recently came across this old message and realized it had never been answered. While the information in your message is limited, I decided to take a try at answering. I have come up with promising results, thanks to some diligent scouring of the Internet.

I found numerous records for a Patrick J (James) Breen serving as chief engineer aboard a number of tankers belonging to the Esso Company, including ESSO BAYONNE, over a period of many years. I was able to trace him, although not comprehensively, through the early 1950s. I found this information at the subscription website Ancestry.com (www.ancestry.com), which maintains records of the names of crew and passengers of vessels arriving at certain U.S. ports of entry following a foreign voyage. The records themselves are sketchy, showing only name, age, position aboard ship, height, weight and sometimes a little more, but generally nothing of particular use in identifying the person aside from that voyage, and certainly nothing of that person's family.

Also at Ancestry.com are U.S. census records. In the 1930 census I found Patrick J Breen, age 33 at the time, a marine engineer, living in Boston with his wife, Mary A. (age 32), and their sons James S. (age 7) and John J. (age 5). The same family appears in the 1940 census with no additional children listed.

In the Social Security Death Index, also found at Ancestry.com, I discovered that Patrick J Breen was born on October 23, 1896, and died in February 1973 (no exact day noted) in West Roxbury, Massachusetts. Mary A Breen died on September 4, 1983, also in West Roxbury.

I was able to find a record of a James S Breen, who was born April 20, 1922, in Boston, and died in July 1980 in Brockton, Massachusetts. I found no records of a spouse or children.

I found records of a John J (Joseph) Breen, born February 2, 1925, in Boston. I was unable to identify him conclusively as the son of Patrick J and Mary A Breen, although the birth date correlates with the age of John J Breen in the 1930 census. The name John Breen would be fairly common so I caution that the family relationship is not certain. This John J Breen died on June 14, 2000, in Scituate, Massachusetts. His spouse was identified as Louise F (Rau) Breen.

Finally, I found an online obituary for Louise Frances Rau Breen (April 2, 1923 – June 27, 2008), which identified her late spouse as John “Jack” Breen and also listed four children. I have been unable to find definitive contact information for three of the children. However, I did find contact information for one daughter with an unusual last name:

Janice M. Clutterbuck (spouse Peter)
34 Kenneth Road
Scituate, MA 02066
781-378-1004

So Janice M. Clutterbuck would be the granddaughter of Patrick James Breen, if my search results are accurate. Presumably there are other of her siblings still living, all grandchildren of Patrick Breen, for which she would have contact information.

Good luck.

Ron Carlson, Webmaster
Armed Guard / Merchant Marine website
www.armed-guard.com