. Volume 2 Jump to Page Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Go Back to Index TOGA NEWS Issue 10, October, 2002

      We awoke on day 3 of the  TOGA-Xpedition, 2002 and dressed in our best Sunday go to meeting shorts and tees and began our journey south from Bedford to the Annual Peter O'Neal reunion. By the time we finished loading up our vehicles for the trip we realized that there would be no respite from the heat wave that seemed to be accompanying on our trip. At 8:00am it was already 93 degrees outside. We were also a little tired from staying up late the night before, watching the news as the Miners from Somerset, Pennsylvania were pulled up, one by one, from the water filled mine they had been trapped in since Thursday. (This was Saturday night.)

There was a lot of people at the reunion this year, and just as importantly, lots of good food. Everybody brought a dish and it was quite a culinary feast after living on restaurant food for 3 days. We enjoyed the company of our cousins, the stories and tall tales told about our ancestors, and the genealogy, too. Lots of researchers brought along their genealogies, photo albums, and handouts. We all traded cards and information, email addies, etc.

    Clifford O'Neal, President of the Peter O'Neal Reunion committee gave a very nice dissertation on the O'Neal Family and the roles they played in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. He also presented us with a photocopy of Bennet O'Neale's letter, which Bennet wrote to his nephew in 1859. (The best we can tell, the letter was meant for a son of Bennet's brother, John.)
    During a conversation with Glenn Nave, he mentioned a cemetery he had passed on the way to the reunion. He said it was in Allegany County, Maryland and had 17 O'Neal stones in it. We decided that when the reunion was over we would go in search of the Cemetery. About 4pm people started packing up and we did likewise. We were anxious to go find the Maryland cemetery.

    It must have been an exciting day for Edward and Libby O'Neal when their first child was born in the little town of Flintstone, Allegany County, Maryland. Named William Columbus O'Neal, he was born in 1834 to Edward O'Neal, a sixth generation American and his lovely wife, Sarah Elizabeth, "Libby" Fisher.