Francis O'Neil and the O'Neil Family - Part 2

 The O'Neil Family, the Next Generations

If you missed Part 1 of the story, go here . . .

Francis O'Neil and Elizabeth Nevin came to America from Scotland and Ireland in the 1840s, married, and raised a large family that included children from previous marriages. They started out in south-central Wisconsin and then embarked on a 400-mile journey to far western Iowa and lived out their lives on the prairie.

From the 1897 Sanborn Map, the Arlington Hotel is shown on Fourth Street.
The hotel was often the center of life for the extended O'Neil family. 

David Hollister & the Hollister Family (4)

 Part Four - T.J. Hollister and Family

If you missed Part 3 of the story, go here . . .

If you missed Part 2 of the story, go here . . .
If you missed Part 1 of the story, go here . . .

Toward the end of his life, David Hollister would make one last journey, along with a number of the children, and would set down in Mapleton, Iowa. Here, they would settle in the surrounding area and raise their families on the prairie. David's fourth-born, Thomas Jefferson Hollister, was in his 20s when the family headed west. In Mapleton, he met another traveler from Wisconsin, Hannah O'Neil, and they married, raising seven children together. Some of those children would fan out across the United States as they reached adulthood, and one would make the ultimate sacrifice. The last part of this series is their story.

The children of Thomas Jefferson Hollister and Hannah O'Neal:
Stella, Grace, Rush, Mable, Loren, Nona, and Thomas.

In Search of David Hollister

One of the joys of family research is discovering lines of ancestors that you had never heard of. In my search, there have been a few of these, mostly from my paternal grandmother’s family. I did not have much information on her and so a lot was waiting to be found. One of these families, the Hollisters, started out in colonial Connecticut and ended up, via New York, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, in far western Iowa.


The Town of Dansville, Stuben County, New York;
where David Hollister spent his youth?

David Hollister & the Hollister Family (3)

Part Three - The Next Generations
If you missed Part 2 of the story, go here . . .
If you missed Part 1 of the story, go here . . .

By the 1880's David Hollister, along with a number of his grown children, where living in western Iowa, near the Nebraska border. There were also a few children who stayed back in Wisconsin. Some farmed and some had other occupations and a few moved on to other places. The Hollister clan would grow and multiply in Iowa and David would live out his life with his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren nearby.

Wedding photo of Hiram, the son of Niles Hollister

David Hollister & the Hollister Family (2)

Part Two - Across the Midwest
If you missed Part 1 of the story, go here . . .

David Hollister was born in newly settled western New York in 1802. His parents might have been John Hollister and Elizabeth Van Scoter. He first married Celinda Giddings, the widow of his brother Abraham. They lived in Pennsylvania and Indiana but Celinda would die around 1841. In those days, death was common and almost expected. The living would carry on and as a matter of survival, most widowed spouses would remarry. David was in his 40s with a family in tow, but as you will read below, there would be another beginning as he had not even reached the halfway point of his long life.

Wisconsin Territory about the time the Hollisters came to the state.
Settlement was limited to the south and along Lake Michigan.
Indian tribes still occupied areas north of the Wisconsin River.

David Hollister & the Hollister Family (1)

Part One - Connecticut and New York

Note: I have updated this series a few times as more information has become available about David Hollister and his family. Now, in 2025, I made the decision to split the original three-part series into four parts with new information in all four parts. This will allow me to continue to grow and refine these posts as more information is obtained.

David Hollister's lifespan encompassed most of the 19th century. He was born about 1802 in New York and died 101 years later in 1903 in western Iowa. He spent a good part of his life on the move, pioneering in New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Wisconsin and finally Iowa. David's life is fairly well documented but up until now, his exact ancestry has been elusive. There are at least 40 Hollister families in New York in the 1810 census and since children's names are not given, it has been hard to tell who David might belong to. In addition, the Hollister lineage in Colonial America is well known but David does not show up in that body of work either. Recently, an online source has provided a possible ancestral line and I will list that here but beware, it has yet to be verified.

Captain John Hollister built this house in Glastonbury in 1649. It has been noted
that he lived across the river in Wethersfield and probably rented out this house.
Later, Hollister would claim it as their ancestral home and live in it for generations.