More than one way to skin a… Tree.

Posting Member: Jenn
Topic: Finding a way around.
Family Name Associations: O’Neill, Daoust
Location: Home
Mood: 😉
A Happy Memorial day to all of our American Kin.  I hope you all spent the time with loved ones.

I’ve been delaying this post because we’ve been up to nonsense…  But it’s time!

First off, we’ve narrowed Rachel Taggart and Arthur O’Neill’s daughters named ‘Elizabeth’ down to two.  The 1872 birth was actually 1862, and the young girl only lived to 5 years…  But we caught the errors and have made everything sit better on Arthur’s branch of the tree.  There was an Elizabeth, also known as Lizzie, and an Elizabeth Ann…  And we can finally get back to slowly piecing together the rest of the lines of O’Neill.

And then there’s the O’Neills of Lachine.
For quite a while now we’ve been wandering around the records of Lachine with Owen O’Neill dogging our footsteps.  I wanted to track him…  Naturally, who wouldn’t?  Same surname, same area…  And with us having so many questions about Thomas O’Neill and his origins and family.

Our recent success with the O’Neills of Tyrone might have given me a push…  And I’ve always got a driving need to see everyone off North American soil where I can.
I started writing down lines in my notebook.  Saving a few records so I could piece everyone together…  I built a branch in no time at all.
Owen O’Neill and his wife Mary Patten very early in Lachine…  Already I’ve discovered 9 children.  There’s space for more.  I placed John, Owen, William and even Helen with relative ease.

Owen’s son John married Elizabeth Pare.  John Neagle signs Baptisms and Funeral documents equally through out these lines.  And of course, the reason I can’t let go…  John Neagle and Louis Pare signed on Arthur O’Neill’s burial record along with three of his sons.  There is a connection here…  We just can’t tell how.

The amount of information started to overwhelm my poor abused notebook.  That’s when I had an idea.  Both William and Owen married Daoust girls…  Perhaps I could link Owen O’Neill’s line via the Daoust side of my heritage, and at least have a space to record all these notes on an actual tree.
Sure enough, William O’Neills wife was Onesime Daoust, daughter of my own Josephet Monet and Francois Daoust.  I started there…
Today we also connected Luice Daoust and her husband Owen O’Neill to the Daoust tree.
It’s not perfect, but the Lachine line of Owen O’Neill is being recorded…  And sooner or later, when I can connect Thomas O’Neill and Owen O’Neill, well then I’ll have quite the knot.

Of course, there is more…  We’re currently hunting down Thomas Chapman and Martha O’Neill’s marriage record.  When Martha passes away, Thomas will marry his wife’s neice, Elizabeth O’Neill daughter of Onesime Daoust and William O’Neill.  We’re still putting the pieces together, but it was good to finally place Thomas Chapman as a part of the family after him witnessing so many records with the family…
Adding all this information has forced me to complete a few lines of Daoust family history I’d been avoiding.  Good ol’Tanguay and I had fun working through a few different lines that were long over due for attention.

I’m going to sit down with Mum right away and figure out why Mary Patten and Owen O’Neill have a record about their marriage in 1848, verses in 1828 when they should have been married…  Perhaps word for word will reveal whatever was going on to the point of confirming their marriage.

And then there’s this book:
Steamboat Connections: Montreal to Upper Canada, 1816-1843 By Frank Mackey

Number 58.
1820 is early.  Owen O’Neill is definately the Owen O’Neill we’ve been working on – Martha’s birth record confirms her father runs a Steamboat.  And there’s apparently the sinking of Henry Brougham – That’s the Steamboat’s name in 1838 by Rebels.  I have no idea what sort of Rebels we’re talking about, but it all sounds pretty dramatic.  Mar’s going to take over steamboat research…  I know nothing of boats!

And before I forget, again, a thanks to Leah from Good Morning Chicago for her addition of a link based on Military Genealogy and for her kind words about our site.  It’s nice to know it’s of use and we’re always looking for good links!

It might actually be time to take down the ill-fitting 1851 Census for Thomas O’Neill and start looking towards Westmeath verses Carlow…  There are still so many unanswered questions, but I think we’re finally headed in the right direction.
I’m going to go and post this up and get back to work…

Jenn

Always one for making things pretty, Jenn is our resident artist. Métis, British Home Child Descendant, family historian and genealogist, she is always looking into some new branch of research and encourages historical preservation and education.