Daisy O'Hara

Daisy O'Hara (born May 1st 1876, died November 15th 1899) was the sixth wife of Ezekial O'Hara. Daisy's escape from the O'Hara family and subsequent murder prompted the ongoing conflinct between the O'Hara Family and the people of New Elizabeth.

## Early Life

Daisy was born in Nephi, Utah, on May 1st 1876 to Mary and Daniel Coughlin. Raised in a Fundamentalist Mormon compound of several large families, Daisy was raised within the confines of the compound, her family remaining loyal to the group even as numbers dwindled due to changes in doctrin and scriptural disagreements. While several families lived in the Nephi compound, the largest and more powerful of the families was the O'Hara family, who installed themselves as heads of the Church within the compound, with Ezekial O'Hara sitting at the head as the Prophet of the Church.

At the age of 14, Daisy's father arranged for her to be married to Ezekial O'Hara, a match that he felt would grant the Coughlin family good standing with the O'Hara family and church leadership. Ezekial paid Daniel Coughlin $400 in exchange. The two were sealed and legally married in the Nephi compound's temple, which was legally binding in Utah at the time. Despite the elevation in social standing, Daisy was still Ezekial's sixth wife and expected to take up the expected work, which was primarily the rearing of the young children. Daisy would often remark later in life that Ezekial rarely treated her as a wife or expected her to behave as one, but instead saw her as a maid or a nanny.

Daisy was not looked on favourably by most of the older wives. However, she did strike up a close friendship with Mary-Beth O'Hara, Ezekial's fifth wife.

## Leaving Nephi and the Nevada Massacre

Shortly following the 1890 manifesto (in which both the mainstream LDS Church and the state of Utah declared that future polygamous marriages would no longer be permitted by law or considered legally binding,) the remaining families of the Nephi compound left Utah to seek out land to establish as their own religious haven. At some stage, they arrived in Nevada, where they began to establish a new compound called Alma. The citizens of the small townships surrounding the Alma compound were displeased with the group's arrival and violence soon erupted following the escape and subsequent return of Mary-Beth O'Hara, an incident where three locals and a native were murdered while trying to defend her from recapture.

The O'Hara family, now at their most powerful, declared war on the local townships. This caused a schism within the Alma compound, with a small faction of families turning on Ezekial O'Hara and his followers. The O'Hara's were victorious, with the bloodshed being referred to as the 'Nevada Massacre,' absorbing the few surviving families into their own and reforming as *The Fundamentalist Church of Joseph Smith and the Latter Day Saints.*

## Arrival in New Elizabeth

Having attracted the attention of the law, the group once again fled in an impossibly-large wagon train, seeking safe haven in somewhere like Canada. While passing through New Elizabeth, the family forgot to wake Daisy in the chaos of the morning, resulting in Daisy being left behind near Valentine.

Daisy spent her first few days in New Elizabeth surviving off berries, small game, and whatever she could catch. Eventually, she met a local deputy who offered her a ride to Blackwater, where she met a local outlaw with whom she became fast friends.

## The Affair

Daisy's friendship with the local outlaw developed alarmingly quickly, with the outlaw showing Daisy the lay of the land, introducing her to others in county, and even providing for her. Settled into county, Daisy began to study for the bar exam with the hopes of becoming an attorney, hoping to provide others with the advocacy she was never offered. Despite the outlaw being married, the two entered into a regrettable affair, unable to stick to boundaries previously drawn. This (understandably) resulted in a scandal that saw both Daisy and the outlaw run out of Valentine for a period of time. While the two were eventually able to return to town, Daisy was never able to recover from the feeling of being outcast and mostly kept to the company of the outlaw. The impact of this scandal was so great word of it passing town to town allowed the O'Hara family to finally locate and track down Daisy.

## Hiding

Daisy's relationship with the outlaw began to deterioriate over time, with the outlaw returning to crime and the paranoia of the outlaw's constant conflicts with others causing a breakdown in their relationship. Daisy described him as a changed man who had become violent, manipulative, and cruel. Frightened, Daisy went into hiding, squatting in unoccupied houses or sleeping in the Saint Denis cinema under the guise of studying for the bar exam. During this period, Daisy would seldom pass through Valentine, and would only really communicate with Dr Anna Banana.

## Kidnapping and Death

On November 15th, 1899, Daisy was found and subsequently kidnapped by Joseph O'Hara, her stepson, in Armadillo. She was hogtied, taken into the saloon, and held prisoner while awaiting the arrival of Dr Anna Banana, whom Joseph had telegraphed earlier. On the arrival of Dr Banana and her party of others, which included Maria-Rose Javier, Daisy warned Dr Banana that her family would not stop with her and would be coming to hurt others in the town. Despite otherwise successful negotiations, a party member acting out of turn and attempting to jump Joseph resulted in Joseph fatally shooting Daisy in the neck, killing her.

Daisy was declared dead in Valentine and was buried in the Valentine cemetary. In December 1899, her grave was ransacked by the O'Hara family and her remains stolen. Her remains are yet to be located.