Back |
|
Back |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Note that this second passage states that Peter Lamare has a son in law, Jo O'Neill, and a grandson, Peter ONeill. I interpret this to mean that Peter had another daughter, who married our Joseph and bore Peter ONeale. Since this daughter was already married to Jo, Peter did not leave anything to her specifically, and felt no need to mention her in his will. But the real importance of this will is as follows. This will names our descendant as Jo O'Neill. Not Joseph O'Neill, like he mentioned Joseph Edwards, or Jos O'Neill like the previous will's transcriber copied, but Jo O'Neill. You will find another person mentioned in this will, a Jo Davis. Linda Reno is a direct descendant of Jo Davis, whose real name is documented as John Davis. . That means our ancestor was in actuality named JOHN O'Neill, not Joseph. This explains why both of his sons named their first born sons John, instead of Joseph. This probably also explains why 13 generations of O'Neal's contains 35 sons named John and only three named Joseph This also explains why, in years of searching for Joseph no one was able to find one single shred of evidence about his life. No birth, death or marriage record, not a single land deed or tax record, etc. This also explains why in one evening of searching Linda Reno was able to find the following records: 1693: Peter Lemar and John Oneal were listed as owing the estate of Henry Brent, CA. Admin.: Richard Marsham. 5/28/1703: Admin. accts. of Henry Brent, CA. List of bad debts: Peter Lamar (dead). John Oneal (runaway). 3/30/1747: "Hard Fortune", 62 ac., surveyed for
Peter Oneall on the north side of the main northernmost branch of Trent
Creek adjoining a parcel of land belonging to Ann Greenfield. Patented
3/30/1747. (SMC Rent Rolls, 1639-1771).
|
. Linda
also noted: The only time I found a Joseph O'Neill was in the will of Peter
Lemaire, however, if you look ..... in the notes I gathered for you this
morning, it was John O'Neill who appears to have been affiliated with him.
(Peter Lamar) It is interesting to note that John Davis, Sr. witnessed
the will of Peter Lemaire and that his son, John Davis, Jr. witnessed the
will of Peter O'Neale, grandson of Peter Lemaire. These people
obviously knew each other and were neighbors for years.
Introducing John O'Neill/O'Neale So, what are we to do with this information? I propose we begin looking for a John O'Neale born ~ 1670 in or around Calvert County, Maryland, who married an unknown Lamar and died unknown around 1747. This John would have had a son Peter and William, that much we already know about.. If the ritual of naming the first born after the father held true, and we have no reason to believe it didn't in this case, we can assume he probably also had a son John From the will we already know that John was granted the right to live on the land willed to Peter until Peter became of age and then the land would revert to the son. From the notes found by Linda Reno we know that in 1693 Peter Lamar and John O'Neale both owed money to the estate of Henry Brent. When the will was administered in .1703 Peter Lamar was dead and John O'Neal was nowhere to be found. He had run away from the debt, while his son Peter was living on the land willed him by Peter Lamar. Where did John go, and if he had a son John, why haven't we found any records of him? Could John have fled to Virginia to escape his debt? I
have found the following records information in the Chronicles of
the Scotch-Irish Settlement in Virginia, Volume I
In addition there are numerous records of O'Neales in Virginia, including a John O'Neale, who died in 1757, leaving an orphan son Thomas. Let me know what you think about this article. You can respond by Email at johnoneal@onealwebsite.com |