olitical Science just wasn’t going to make it for Ryan Baer. The studying was going well at St. John’s University but it just didn’t feel right. There was always the faint memory of a photo of his great-great grandfather, Bryan O’Donnell, who had been a New York City police officer and who, according to family lore, died in the line of duty at the age of 35. So, inspired by an ancestor he knew little about, Ryan switched his major to criminal justice, joined the NYPD cadet corps and took the test for police officer. He then began to wonder, wanting to know more about that revered old image.

His maternal grandfather, Bill Devlin, himself a good union windowwasher for 40 years (Local 2), was the keeper of the family photo, having acquired it upon his mother’s death. She had been the youngest of Patrolman Bryan O’Donnell’s three children and was only 4 years old when he was killed. The black-and-white photo depicts a strikingly handsome officer with collar brass that clearly showed the numbers 171 but with shield and cap device both blurred. According to Bill Devlin, the family knew practically nothing about his grandfather until the fall of 2005 when a professor assigned his grandson Ryan to visit the New York City Police Museum in downtown Manhattan.

Armed with nothing more than a name and a rough approximation of his years of service, the museum’s staff was able to find the 1908 equivalent of our “10 card” and a departmental photo clearly displaying shield number 8579 on the proud chest of Bryan O’Donnell. The card recorded October 29, 1908, as his first day on the job and the date of his death as June 11, 1916. He had been assigned to the 148 Precinct until August 1915 when he was transferred to the mounted unit and finally to the bicycle unit in May 1916, a month before his death.

With this new information as a lead, Ryan and his grandfather set out to uncover even more about their common ancestor, this mystery man in a photo passed down from generation to generation. Bill Devlin requested a death certificate from the Health Department and learned that the patrolman died in Holy Family Hospital in Brooklyn of a fractured skull resulting from a “fall to paved area” and that he was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, also in Brooklyn.

The cemetery office informed them that records indicated that O’Donnell was buried in an unmarked grave and gave them the plot number.

When they arrived at the St. Joseph’s section they were surprised to find a large and ornate headstone dedicated “In memory of Patrolman Bryan L. O’Donnell.” Also reposing there, according to the marker, was his beloved wife Catherine, as well as her second husband, Henry J. Etherington. (That second marriage is a separate chapter in the family’s folklore – see the caption to the gravestone picture at right..)

Next, Ryan Baer and Bill Devlin visited the Brooklyn Public Library in hopes of finding some record of O’Donnell’s passing. They found more than that.

According to the March 22, 1910, edition of The Brooklyn Eagle, Patrolman O’Donnell, working his “riverfront beat,” was responsible for breaking up a gang of “river pirates.” The article went on to note that “the incidents of the capture (of the pirates, presumably) this morning were of almost dime novel picturesqueness.”

The Eagle also reported that the officer’s exploits “were in print” a week earlier but the library staff could find no record of an earlier account. But they did find a June 12, 1916, Eagle story headlined: “Police Hero Dies; Fell in Thief Hunt; Patrolman Bryan L. O’Donnell Tumbled Off Bay Ridge H.S. Fire Escape; Was Known for Bravery; Made Many Rescues – Wiped Out Gang of River Pirates.”

Ryan Baer and grandfather Bill Devlin now had an even greater appreciation of their family history and decided to check the NYPD Memorial Wall at 1 Police Plaza. To their disappointment, Patrolman Bryan L. O’Donnell’s name does not appear. They compiled a file of all they had learned and submitted it to the NYPD’s personnel office. They hope that one day the oversight might be corrected and hero Patrolman Bryan L. O’Donnell’s name will be added to the wall.

If and when that day comes, Ryan Baer will be there proudly, in uniform, having joined the NYPD 100 years to the year that his great-great grandfather became one of New York’s Finest.

Above: Bill Devlin (l) and his grandson Ryan Baer hold photo of their common ancestor Patrolman Bryan O’Donnell.

Above: Two's company ... The headstone in range 6 of the St. Joseph’s section of Brooklyn’s Holy Cross Cemetery pays homage to Patrolman O’Donnell and his beloved wife Catherine, who joined him in death 30 years later on Christmas Eve 1946. The widow O’Donnell had remarried and her second husband is buried in the same plot. O’Donnell’s grandson, Bill Devlin, says that family lore has it that the second husband, Henry J. Etherington, had been Patrolman O’Donnell’s partner and retired from the job as a detective. The tale has always intrigued Bill Devlin but he’s not sure it’s true and “there’s no one left around to ask about it." Some stories go to the grave.