Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1896-01-23
CLAIMS KINSHIP TO THE
RED.HANDED O'NEILL.
NO MUSHROOM FAMILY IN THIS.
They Trace their Descent in an
UnbrOken Line Back to the Time
of Henry the Second.

OF henry The second.
BAKERsFIELD, September 25.--BakersfieId
which recently became famous the world
over as the place where Lord Sholto Douglas
wooed and won wife out OF variety
theatre, now makes another bid for notorety
by numbering among her citizens a man who
Is lincal desccndcnt of the first Lord O'Ncill
one Of the coutiers OF Henry the Second, OF
England, and, incidentally, supposed to be
the sole heir of landed property In Ireland
said to be worth $50, 0O0, 900, embracing the
entire county OF Antrim, in the province OF
Ulster.
This man Is Richard NJ. O'Neil, who has
resided here for some years and Is well
known locally. He has known of his good
fortune for some time, and has the family
seals and crest and papers to establish his
claim
The estate to which he hopes to succeed
was acquired in dramatic manner.
Henry the Second had two favorltCs who
sought OF his bounty IN Ireland, Not wish
ing to refuse either he conferred Il certain
domain on the one whose hand should first
touch IL. The rivals started from Windsor
Castle and raced neck and neck accross land
Ncugh his rival forged ahead and had nearly
reached the goal when Lord O'Nclll drew his
sword, ch0ppd Off his own left hand and
threw the bloody token on the beach, thus
securing the dcmcsnc forever.
In succeeding generations religious wars
between the Catholics and rrotcstants drove
the O'NcllI's from their possessions.
Efforts will now be made by the rightrul
heirs to secure their property. John Falls
O'NciIl father Of the present claimant, is u
direct defendant Of the old Lord O'Neill, Of
the "Rcd Hand" which, by the way, II stiiI
the family crest He was II cavalry captain
IN the Black Hawk war, and now lies buried
ia Quincy pluriA county. Richard O'Nrill,
the local heir, Is the eldest son Of five
children now IN this State: G. #. O'Ncll and
Louisa Ward, living In Los Angeles; Teresa
Wheeler in san FrncIsC0, and Mary Bell, at
Quincy, being the others
A meeting of the O'Ncill heirs will be held
In Chicago In october to take some action
toward recovering the estate, and the Cali
fornin heirs viii be represented that they
may know how the property stands after so
many years and to nccrtaiu If they can
recover their rights.
lie Is informed that the estate is in the last
legal stage, aud that distribution of Lord
O'Nulll $50 ,UOO, coo t. likely to take place
ncNi February. In anticipation of this u
meeting of the American heirs viii Dr. held
either ut Chicago or New York.
Mr.. Richard OMEN, mentioned in
the above clipping, taken from The
San Francisco Examiner, is II son of
John Falls O'NeilI, who was at one
time n resident Of Mineral Point, and
u prominent citizen of Wisconsin.
John Falls O'Neill was one of the
three commissioners who located the
present capital of this state, He was
also Il cavalry captain in the Black
Hawk war. He moved to California
in 1910, and resided in that state until
his death, twelve years ago. Richard
ia the eldest son of John f. O'Neill,
and has in his his possession the
original seal in which Henry ii
granted to Lord O'Neill the property
comprising the county of Antrim,
Ireland. This property was coniiscat
ed through religious wars in the time
of James |. Michael (deceased) and
John Mckenna, of Moscow, Iowa
county, Wis, are numbered among the
tfty-four heirs to this estate. They
are first cousins to Richard O'Neill,
whose father was a full brother to
Mrs. Sarah McKenna (Sarah O'NeilD
In 1920 Sarah O'Neill married Francis
McKenna, Of county Tyrone, Ireland
They came to America in lS4l and
resided in Iowa county until their
death. They had family of five
of whom all are deceased except John,
who resides at present on his farm
ii miles east of Mineral Point. A
of this estate will take
place during the present year. AS
there are only 81 heirs, Mr.. John
Mckenna expects to get about a
million and a half as his share. Mr..
McKenna attended meeting of the
heirs at Memorial Hall, in Chicago,
the 9TH, Sth and 9th of October last.
This immense fortune is now all in
cash, and deposited in the Bank of
England for distribution among the
heirs.
MORAL REFORM.