The O'Neal Genealogy Association Newsletter

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TOGA NEWS Volume III, Issue 2, February, 2003

In the 1865 map of Montgomery County we find "Misses O'Neale" living in Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland. "Misses" is a misleading terminology. If a widow was living here, she would be listed as Mrs.; If a single woman were listed there, she would show up as Miss; Yet the entry shows Misses O'Neale. I read this to mean that there were more than one Miss O'Neale living on the property.

This makes even more sense when we read the will of Ann O'Neal, written in 1856 and probated in 1870, as follows.

Will of O'Neale, Ann L JWS-1 F 338 10 Apr 1856, 16 Nov 1870
Sisters: Eleanor and Catherine O'Neale- farm where testator resides and where father William O'Neale lived and died. At their decease to be divided among all heirs-at-law.
Exs: Sisters Eleanor and Catherine O'Neale
Wit: John W. Anderson, Lewis Shots, William Thompson of R.
Source: Will of Ann O'Neale, Abstracts of Wills, 1826-1875, page 115, Sween Library, Rockville, Montgomery County, Maryland

Then we find that Ann O'Neale is buried in the Wm O'Neale plot in Rockville Cemetery.

Adding all this information together makes it seem rather unlikely that our Ann O'Neale was the Anna Maria O'Neale who married Samuel Spates. So now the question is, who is Anna Maria O'Neale Spates?