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.

Margaret O'Neil - Part I - About the Women

Margaret O'Neil - Pioneer and Story Teller - Part 1

Margaret O'Neil might be just another name in a long list of names of my ancestors. An ordinary woman in a faraway corner of 19th-century America, she was a wife, mother, sister, and aunt who was born in small-town Wisconsin and grew up, lived, and died in small-town Iowa. In those days, letter writing (correspondence) and journaling were common occupations of those who could read and write. Margaret was no different, except for one thing that stands out, which helps us shine a light on her existence. She wrote a story, a story of her family and their traveling adventure across the Midwest in a covered wagon - it's a pioneer's story. She told it well enough to get it published in a local newspaper and through that, it found its way to others. Not unlike a more famous writer and contemporary, Laura Ingalls, Margaret told her 'Little House on the Prairie' tale.

Margaret (center) with brother Loren and sister Hannah. They
were just little kids on the month-long journey to far western Iowa.

About the Women

As one researches their family history, it soon becomes abundantly apparent that most of the information is about the men in the family, and information on the women is often severely lacking. 

The O'Neil Sisters, Frontier Women.

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?

The Towns of My Ancestors

The primary focus of Genealogy is often concentrated on individual ancestors and their connection to others in the family. It is concerned about birth, parents, marriage, children, work, service, accomplishments and eventually death. These are the markers of a life and form a thread that connects each generation to the next. The place where they lived is another point of data but not always the focus of a Genealogy. Place was certainly an important part of each individual's life and yet, one constant seems to be that these folks were always on the move. It took a lot of work to put down roots and build a life but often, just as they had made a place for themselves, they would pack up and head out, usually toward the horizon of the setting sun. Still, those places . . . their home . . . was everything to the colonists and pioneers of America. Being able to settle in a place of one's own was the very definition of the freedom these people were looking for.

Town of Blue Mounds, Wisconsin. A survey from about 1833 shows the military
 road (on the ridge at the top of the map) and one settler (upper left corner). Like
the calm before the storm, over the next 30 years, the town will fill up; first with
 Yankees from the east, then a mix of Germans, Norwegians, Swiss and others.

Francis O'Neil and the O'Neil Family - Part 1

The O'Neil Family, Ireland, Scotland, Wisconsin, Iowa

This post, about Francis O'Neil started off as part of my Short Biography series but is has grown significantly as more information has come to light. For that reason, I have pulled this one out of the Short Biographies and have elevated it to a multi-part Family Story.

Francis O'Neil was born in 1812 in County Armagh in Ireland (now Northern Ireland). He is reported to be the son of James O'Neil (b.1785, d.1817) and Nancy (Agnes) Hughes (b.1787). James was born in County Antrim and is reported to have had a least two brothers, John and Barney. Not much else has been found about this or prior generations of the O'Neil family. When Francis was about five years old, his father died, and his mother took the children and moved to Scotland.

Francis O'Neil and Elizabeth Nevin

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.