Thursday, July 7, 2016

87. A New O'Neill Connection Located

[I just received the following email from Kansas. Lots of O'Neills are connecting through the Web. ]


Hello, Ron -
I am a fellow descendant of Hugh and Deborah O'Neill, through their son William, as follows:

Hugh O'Neill  >  William O'Neill >   Mary Ann O'Neill Crawford  >  Forest Lily Crawford Long  >  Lawrence Long  >  Marjorie Long Freidline  > 
Bill Freidline  >  Blaine Freidline

 I live in Overland Park, Kansas, a suburb of Kansas City.  My family has lived in Kansas since William O'Neill came to Kansas Territory a year or two before statehood.  (And as you can see above, Mary Ann O'Neill married a Crawford, from an Ulster Scot family also in Kansas Territory.)

 A thousand thank-you's for your detailed essay "The Hugh O'Neill Family: From County Carlow to Ohio"!  I have learned a great deal about our O'Neill roots from it (and I knew very little before reading it).  I am grateful for all your hard work on this and the rigor you applied. 

 My wife, daughter, and I will be travelling to Ireland in late September and will visit County Carlow.  Any suggestions as to people to see or places to visit?  We will certainly go to the small towns and countryside in the Leighlinbridge/Bagenalstown/Fenaugh area.  I saw the article by Niall Green on your blog about the graves of John and Esther O'Neail in Fenaugh.  Do the graves still have the inscriptions that you record elsewhere on your blog?  Any other info on those graves?  Do you know where in Kilkenny Hugh and Deborah were married in 1794?  Do you know any more of the participation of Hugh and his brothers in the Rebellion of 1798?

 When you get a chance, I'm all ears to any suggestions you have on things we can learn about the O'Neills in Ireland.  I do have some info on William O'Neill and his descendants in Kansas.

 Thanks again.  You've certainly enriched my understanding of my O'Neill ancestry.

 Your distant cousin, Blaine