Obituary Clue

Research into the early life of Irish immigrants is challenging, and seeking information about my Irish 3^rd great grandmother, Margaret Smith, was difficult.  For many years I only knew that she immigrated to New York before 1850 with her husband, John Smith, and children.  Of course, having the name of Smith didn’t help, and the name of her husband, John Smith, proved even more difficult to research.  Censuses provided the names of their children beginning in 1850, and eventually led to discovery of the family arrival in New York in September 1849.

Margaret Smith’s 1881 Brooklyn, New York death certificate didn’t reveal the names of her parents.  But it did record that she was 80 years old when she died.  Finding her obituary was the first crack in my brick wall for her.  The 1881 obituary found in the Brooklyn Eagle newspaper read:

“SMITH – On Friday, July 8, Margaret, widow of the late John Smith and sister of the late Rev. P. O’Neil, in the 82^nd year of her age.”

Margaret’s exact age differed on these two documents related to her death.  But the real gem is that the obituary reveals her sibling relationship to “the late Rev. P. O’Neil.”  Margaret Smith just became Margaret O’Neil Smith to me.  More research indicated that P. O’Neil was a much-loved Brooklyn Catholic priest, Patrick O’Neill, born in Cavan County, Ireland.  Rev. O’Neill died in 1867.

Next, Patrick O’Neill’s 1867 probate paperwork added more clues with a partial listing of his “brothers and sisters to wit: James O’Neil and Edward O’Neil residing in Ireland and are non-resident aliens.  William O’Neil, Margaret Smith and Catherine O’Brien residing in the City of Brooklyn.  Mary Sheridan residing in the City of New York, the children of Ellen McGaughran a deceased sister to wit: James McGaughran, Patrick McGaughran, Ellen Prior and Hannah Reynolds all residing in the City of Brooklyn.  All full age the children of Bridget [illegible] a deceased sister to wit: seven children whose names are unknown residing in Ireland.”  And all of a sudden, we have a list of Margaret O’Neill Smith’s siblings that include James, Edward, William, Catherine, Mary, Ellen, Patrick and Bridget.

And yet, the most amazing discovery is that there were, at the time, two different family trees online that had sibling lists that matched up very closely to the names in the probate papers.  One version, came from an early typed list titled O’Neill Family.  It had been handed down in the O’Neill family descended from William O’Neill.  The other version came from a family bible that is since unaccounted for, but the sibling list had been transcribed and put online in a Gustaf family tree descended from Ellen O’Neil McGaughran.  Both lists included only the names and birth dates for the siblings; and both lists were almost identical. 

The Gustaf list is noted below with 15 children, and the O’Neill Family list stops at the 13^th child.  The O’Neill Family list has minor differences with Cathrin as Cathrine, Annie as Anne, and Briget as Brigit.  However, all of the dates of birth are exactly the same on both lists with the exception of William.  The O’Neill Family list shows William’s birth date as 5 July 1815, less than 2 weeks different from the date on the Gustaf list.  Also, the Gustaf tree found online showed the father of the family as “John, born in County Cavan, Ireland”, and the mother as “unknown.”

1.     John O’Neil  b. 22 July 1797

2.     Cathrin O’Neil  b. 9 May 1800

3.     Margret O’Neil  b. 17 April 1802

4.     Charles O’Neil  b. 12 Nov 1804

5.     Mary O’Neil  b. 16 Oct 1806

6.     Robert O’Neil  b. 20 Sep 1809

7.     James O’Neil  b.  12 Sep 1811

8.     Briget O’Neil  b. 13 Aug 1813

9.     William O’Neil  b. 17 Jul 1815

10. Ellen O’Neil  b. 3 Jun 1817

11. Patrick O’Neil  b. 18 Mar 1821

12. Edward O’Neil  b. 5 Feb 1823

13. Annie O’Neil  b. 29 Mar 1825

14. Awn? O’Neil  b. 12 Jun 1827

15. Elizabeth?  b. 1829

The next step, of course, was to look for the family in the 1821 Ireland Census.  And John Neal was found in the census as a farmer & carpenter living on 6 acres in the townland of Corcloghan, parish of Castleterra, Cavan County, Ireland.  His wife was Ellen, and at the time in 1821, the following children were living at home:  John, Catherine, Charles, Mary, Robert, James, Bridget, William, Ellen and Patt – all names also on the sibling list.

Many of the O’Neill children that we now know about grew to adulthood. Yet times were tough in Ireland and it wasn’t surprising to find that so many of the siblings, about half, set out to make a life in America.  It is probable that John Neal’s carpentry skills were as a wagon maker or wheelwright.  One son, Charles was known as a wheelwright, two sons, James & William, were known to be carriage makers, and one son-in-law, John Smith (my 3^rd  great grandfather & Margaret O’Neill Smith’s husband) also had a carriage making business.

With the exception of Charles O’Neill who emigrated with his family in 1828, most of the siblings that came to America settled in the Brooklyn, New York area.  The family members settling in New York all arrived in the second half of the 1840’s and included Catherine, Margaret, Mary, William, Ellen and Patrick.

*  *  *  *  *

Key Individuals:

John O’Neill  (c.1774 – died before 1854 in Ireland)

Ellen Kelly O’Neill  (c.1760 – died before 1854 in Ireland)

John O’Neill  (1797 – death unknown)

Catherine O’Neill Tully O’Brien  (1800 – 1868 in Brooklyn, New York)

Margaret O’Neill Smith  (1802 – 1881 in Brooklyn, New York)

Charles O’Neill  (1804 – 1844 in Monroe County, Illinois)

Mary O’Neill Sheridan  (1806 – 1883 in New York City, New York)

Robert O’Neill  (1809 –  death unknown)

James O’Neill  (1811 – 1879 in Carrickmacross, County Monaghan, Ireland)

Briget O’Neill  (1813 – died before 1867 in Ireland)

William O’Neill  (1815 – 1907 in Brooklyn, New York)

Ellen O’Neill McGaughran  (1817 – 1857 in Brooklyn, New York)

Patrick O’Neill  (1821 – 1867 in Brooklyn, New York)

Edward O’Neill  (1823 – 1917 in Corcloghan, County Cavan, Ireland)

Annie O’Neill  (1825 – death unknown)

Awn?? O’Neill  (1827 – death unknown); possibly Owen O’Neill?

Elizabeth?  (1829 – death unknown)

Notes: 

There are so many interesting stories about the O’Neill siblings and their families that I don’t have room here to share them all in this post.  At some point, I will probably do a story for this blog on my 3^rd great grandparents, John Smith & Margaret O’Neill Smith, their family, and their immigrant experience in Brooklyn.

Some readers might recognize their ancestor among the siblings.  If so, I would love to hear from you.  I have connected with several cousins in the past as we found our link and shared information. It is always great fun.  Please feel free to contact me.  I’m happy to share what I know and help to put the puzzle pieces together.

- Jane Scribner McCrary