STANDARD ATLAS
OF
SCOTT COUNTY, ILLINOIS
1903
Geo. A. Ogle & Co.Publishers & Engravers
134 Van Buren St.
Chicago
Transcribed by Larry Fearneyhough
Page 95
Among the prominent Irish families of Scott county may be mentioned the O'Neills. The subject of this sketch, John O'Neill, was born in County Tipperary, Ireland, in 1838. His father died when he was three years old and nine years later his mother was taken from him, leaving him at the tender age of twelve, to care for himself. After the death of his mother he sailed for America and landed in New York in the fall of 1850, where, at a very small wage, he worked at various occupations for a few months. He then went to Red Bank, New Jersey, where he worked a couple of years as a farm hand, receiving $5 per month for the first year and $9 per month for the second year. After he had saved enough money to pay the expenses of the trip he started for Illinois and landed in Winchester in 1853, where he found employment as a farm hand, at which occupation he worked until the fall of 1860, when, in company with his brother, he went to Mississippi and secured work with a contractor, building levees. At the outbreak of the civil war, however, his employer failed and Mr. O'Neill returned to Winchester. He worked on a farm until 1862 when he enlisted in company D, 129th Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. Upon returning from the war Mr. O'Neill purchased his first farm of 150 acres which still forms a part of his possessions, which now amount to over one-half section.
January 8, 1873, he was united in marriage to Miss Katherine Teefey and together they have labored faithfully, honestly intelligently, patiently for the upbuilding of their home. To them five children have been born, four of whom are yet living. In the education and advancement of these children, Kate M.; John P.; Timothy L.; William J. and Nora F. (who died January 21, 1901), Mr. and Mrs. O'Neill took great interest. They have grown to manhood and womanhood and are an honor of their parents. The surviving children are residents of Scott county. The entire family are devout members of the Catholic church.
In his declining age, Mr. O'Neill, in the retrospect, covering the years of his life from childhood on, can take comfort in the thought that honesty and fair dealing, as between man and man, have builded for him a reputation - an honor to any man - and fitted to rest as a halo upon the closing days of a well spent life.