Terry J. Cestnik gives you
The History of the Wagners & O'Neills:
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Wagner-O'Neills
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I don't know much about the Wagners (One who drives a high-sided cart or makes them.) or the O'Neills, ( Champion) but check out The Ancient and Royal Family of O'Neill. Also, I find the article by Jill O'Neall Ching about Ancient Ireland and Our O'Neill Ancestors, to be quite interesting. I especially liked the part about Moses and the Pharoah's daughter, Scota!!! And of course, no Irish history would be complete without a wee little bit of blarney. Some stories are pretty believable. Legend takes us back to Noah. If you are a biblical scholar, of course, you know that if you can get to Noah, you can get back to Adam. Hallelujah!!! An interesting thing about the O'Neill Bloody Red Hand. Some have it as a bloody left hand as above. Others have it as a bloody right Red Hand. For a discussion of Irish Coats of Arms, check out Eddie Geoghean's page. I suppose now would be a good time to bring up the subject of my castle! Well, what can I say? I spent the summer fixin' the place up. Here are some more recent pictures. It's not really mine, but you probably already figured that out. While I'm on the subject of castles, here are some other Irish Castles on the Web.
Let me start by saying that Mother says we are related to Samuel (Mark Twain) T. Clemmens (1835-1910). We are reported to have connections to Richard Wagner (1813-1883). I discovered quite by accident that my ancient relative was the composer of the Bridal Chorus! Here is a portrait, a biography done by an interested scholar and other information on Richard Wagner. We are related to Paul O'Neill, a retired New York Yankee. Did you see him throw out Fernando Vina in the 1998 All Star game? (Wow! Way to go Paul!) He claims to be related to Mark Twain, just like us. We're related to Bill O'Neill, the artist. Mother tells the story of how Bill's art work was so detailed that his drawings of the Berkeley Pit were used by the U.S Geological people instead of photographs.
We come from Ravenna, Nebraska. My grandfather built houses; I have a picture of one of them still standing in Billings, MT.
HE farmed in and around Reed Point, MT, near Columbus, MT. These are BIG, places, so be careful not to blink
if you go by them. There is an annual sheep drive around Labor Day each year in Reed Point, MT. I went
to the 6th Annual Sheep Drive in 1996 and "ran with the sheep." It wasn't a b-a-a-a-a-a-d experience
at all!
Jacob Wagner (June 28, 1871-February 17, 1948) married
Nellie Agnes O'Neill (March 9, 1879-January 4, 1958) on February 22, 1898. They had two children: Gladys, who married Lawrence. Their children are
Kay, Phyllis and Larry. Frances, is their second child. She married Louis Martin. They have three children,
Michael Louis, Terry Jacob, and Suzanne Louise. I think the music part
comes from the Wagners. It would seem so from Richard Wagner, but that's only a guess. (Jacob played the violin. And Gramma Nellie. Well, Mother and Auntie Gladys say she used to
listen to them as they practiced their lessons on the piano. She didn't play, but she knew when they hit a wrong note. "Five more times!" she'd say. "And I mean five times PERFECTLY!"
That's what they say about Gramma Nellie!!!) We all seem to be pretty musically inclined.
Mike sings (low bass). I sing (low bass, baritone, high falsetto), but not with a lot of real success, and
I play saxophone. Recently I purchased a music program (Personal Composer) for my computer. It allows me to enter music into the computer, print it out, and play it
back through the computer. I really enjoy the program. It helps me to spend hours entertaining myself. I've made four tapes as Christmas gifts, but don't look for them at your local music store! Suzy sings, plays key board, piano, harmonizes. You name it. She does
it all! Just like her mother!!! She and her husband Lonnie, had a band in the 70s and 80s with his brother and sister-in-law. They traveled
all over the Pacific North West.
Recently, I learned some things about an O'Neill relative: John O'Neill (1848-1932). He was born in June, 1848. This was right in the middle of the famous Irish Potato Famine, in Knocknacarry,
County Antrim, Ireland. (Check out the glens of Ireland.) His parents were Charles and Nellie (McCormick) O'Neill. He landed on American soil in 1871, where he ended up in Illinois, prior to the historic Chicago fire. He married Mary Clemens (c. 1850-1889),
also of County Antrim, on June 21, 1873. Her parents were Patrick and Mary Rose (Clark) Clemens. (Her cousin is Samuel Clemmens according to rumor. I like it. AND SO IT IS!!!)
She was born at Ballycastle.
In 1878, it was John's decision to "Go West, young man." He went by himself on horseback, to Grand Island, Nebraska. It took him twenty one days. (Three weeks on a horse!!! I once spent about an hour on a horse, riding with my friend Dee. It gave me a tired
...ah, oh, my aching..., well, gee, I discovered I had muscles that I didn't know were muscles. And they sure hurt. A LOT!!!) His wife, Mary and three children, Rose (April 30, 1874), Charles (September 8, 1875) and Daniel (February 22, 1878), later joined him, but they came by rail. (At that time, the govenment offered return transportation costs to
any homesteaders who would ship a car of personal effects and implements to be used on the land and tilling the soil after one year of residency. By this method the John O'Neill family became $74.00 richer.) On October 15, 1883, John
became a citizen of the United States!!! In December, of that year, on the 6th day, John was given his final receipt on his application to homestead 160 acres in Sherman County Nebraska. (Interestingly, this is about five miles west of Ravenna, where the Wagners were. The story I heard is that they were neighbors. That's how my Grandmother must have met my Grandfather!) It cost him the whopping total of $4.00. The O'Neills now had six children.
Nellie Agnes, my Grandmother (born March 9, 1879) John (March 26, 1880) and Mary (March 5, 1883) had joined the family. Another child was added to the family in 1885. Arthur came on March 7th. As the O'Neill family grew, so did their land holdings. On August 27, 1886, John received
his final receipt on a 160 acre Timber Culture. Land was cheap and families were large. It cost him, (you guessed it) $4.00 and they now had seven children. Two more came along: William (September 3, 1887) and Katherine (August 24, 1889). One child died in infancy. In just eight days,
John's wife, Mary, passed away.
After Mary's death, John and his children farmed their land by themselves until 1893. At that time, his younger brother and family came to stay. Robert, his wife Christina and their son, Dan had come from Ireland
in 1888, where they lived in the Chicago area. Robert helped in the fields and Christina helped in rearing the children. During this time, John and Robert were instrumental in the formation of the Our Lady of Lourdes
Catholic Church in Ravenna. It has been said that John was quite religious and that he read the Bible every day. He died in Eddyville. Funeral services were held in the Catholic church and conducted by Reverend C. J. Hollie.
He was laid to rest by the side of his wife in Highland Cemetery in Ravenna. Besides his immediate family, there were thirty three grandchildren. Six of these were the pall bearers at the funeral. All of his children, except William O'Neill
of Bluffton, Indiana, were present.
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