43. Mystery Monday: Herkimer County, New York

1839 Map of Southwestern Herkimer

    According to family lore and birth tradition, Hugh and Deborah O'Neill lived in Herkimer County, NY, for about five years: 1805-1810. My problem is finding any documentary evidence of that period. I have searched what  online databases that I could find, plus checked in the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne to no avail.
    So far I have found nothing to back up family stories. Their son Hugh O'Neill always listed his birthplace as New York, but he provided no further proof of that. So here we are--will we ever back up our oral tradition? Anyone have any ideas?

42. Warrior Wednesday: Andrew Foster O'Neill

Andrew Foster O’Neill, born on May 10, 1840, in New Albany, was known in the family and community as “Foster.”  He became a steamboat engineer like his father and brother.

            In the Civil War, he crossed the river and joined Company A. of the 9^th Kentucky Cavalry of the Union army. I guess he wanted to ride to war! After his one-year enlistment was over in September 1863, he went home for two years, but then rejoined in the spring of 1865 and became a 1st Lieutenant in Co. A of the 143rd Indiana Infantry for six months.

From Wikipedia:

Service

The 9th Kentucky Cavalry was organized at Eminence, Kentucky mustered in on August 22, 1861 under the command of Colonel Richard Taylor Jacob. Incredibly, the regiment was recruited, organized, and mustered into the service with 1,244 officers and men in less than three weeks. The regiment's greatest service came at the Battle of Richmond where along with the 9th Pennsylvania Cavalry, they covered the retreat of the Union Army of Kentucky.

The regiment was attached to 3rd Brigade, Cavalry Division, Army of the Ohio, to November 1862. District of Western Kentucky, Department of the Ohio to June 1863. 2nd Brigade, 3rd Division, XXIII Corps, Army of the Ohio, to August 1863. Eminence, Kentucky, 1st Division, XXIII Corps, to September 1863.

The 9th Kentucky Cavalry mustered out of service on September 11, 1863.

Detailed service

Advance toward Richmond, Ky., August, 1862. Retreat to Shelbyville August 30-September 1. Pursuit of Bragg into Kentucky October 1–22. Near Clay Village October 4. Near Perryville October 6–7. Battle of Perryville October 8. Lawrenceburg October 8. Dog Walk, Chesser's Store, October 9. Capture of Harrodsburg October 11. Moved to Cumberland River and operating against Champ Ferguson until December. Operations against Morgan's Raid in Kentucky December 22, 1862, to January 2, 1863. Springfield, Ky., December 30 (detachment). Operations against Pegram March 22-April 1. Danville March 22 and 28. Expedition to Monticello and operations in Southeastern Kentucky April 26-May 12. Cumberland River May 9. Pursuit of Morgan July 2–26. Marrowbone-Burkesville July 2. New Lisbon, Ohio, July 26. Duty at Eminence until September.

41. More on Luke O'Neill

   According to Dermott, Luke was married to Elizabeth Ransford, born ca1770, and they had seven children: Luke, William, Henry, James, John, Eleanor, and Hugh. It's going to be interesting following up on all these folks. Did any of them move to the U.S.? Other places, etc.? One thing you can say about genealogy: It is never finished!

40. Descendants of Luke O'Neill of Garryhill

    A descendant of Luke O'Neill contacted me on Sunday. His name is Dermott O'Neill and he lives in Ireland. His father was Richard; a John was his grandfather,and another John as gr-grandfather. Great-great-grandfather was James and ggg-grandfather was Luke, brother to our Hugh, who came to the States. What a great new connection!
   We now have information on three sons of John and Esther, as the O'Neill bunch in Australia is descended from brother Morgan.
    Dermott and I will be emailing back and forth and hopefully will uncover new information, which I will post as it develops. Dermott found me from the O'Neill book that I sent to Salt Lake City and they put online, and also from this blog. Gotta love the Internet!

39. Family Heirloom: White Fruit Dish

This dish was owned by Mary Catherine O'Neill, wife of Thomas. Where she got it, I do not know. It's a pretty fancy item for an Ohio farmer's wife. I received it from my Aunt Lynette, who established it's provenance.

38. Descendant of Deborah O'Neill

    Hugh O'Neill's daughter Deborah married John Dearden in Zanesville, Ohio, on May 25, 1833, and the Deardens had only a daughter, so far as we know, Deborah Dearden, born Nov. 23, 1840. [Notice there are lots of Deborahs?]
    Deborah Dearden married Ambrose Middleton, had several children,  and ended up in Lancaster, Ohio. Here is her headstone, the only child of Deborah O'Neill.

Elmwood Cemetery, Lancaster, OH

37. Probate Letter: Kate O'Neill

    When Mary Catherine Wilson O'Neill died in Summerfield in 1933, her daughter Estey was her Executor and her children were listed in the Probate file.

36. Mystery Monday: Moses and the Gold Rush

    On page 48 of his 1937 genealogy, George W. O'Neill says that Moses A. O'Neill, son of John and Anne Horton O'Neill, "made a trip to the far west in quest of gold and after some years returned rich, rich in experience, and with a limited amount of the yellow earth."
    We know nothing of this period of Moses' life--where did he go? did he prospect in California?
He would have been 16 when gold was discovered in 1848. So that is our mystery for today: What happened to Moses in his trip to the West? He returned to Kansas and became a physician--and how did that happen, too?

Moses O'Neil Headstone, Douglas Co., KS