The O’Neill’s of the Fews in St. Croix

For over 400 years the word Caribbean, West Indies to the Irish genealogist and culture brings them the memory of their failures and sinister acts of Oliver Cromwell’s ethnic cleansing and the phrase “To Hell of Barbados.” But Cromwell’s ethnic cleansing is a major part of Irish history, and the possible culprit for not knowing the true current genetic make-up of the Irish population prior to the 1600’s. This is one of the main reasons the Caribbean has been neglected by many O’Neill and Irish genealogist, and many have favored searching into the just the O’Neill’s in Spain, Portugal, and France. Many just focus on the y-dna of the descendants of the potato famine O’Neill’s, or those O’Neill’s who remained in Ireland after countless others immigrated to fight in the Catholic armies in Europe. When I first started researching the O’Neill’s in the Caribbean it was unbelievable the ignorance of the so called Irish genealogist, and O’Neill experts. A real shame!!

“Between the years 1651 to 1654 over 40,000 Celtic Irishmen marched away , to die with all their accustomed gallantry-many winning imperishable renown – in the services of France, Spain, Poland, and Italy.”     - Elliot O’Donnell The Irish Abroad (1915).

According to some accounts a total of 80,000 to 100,000 Irish men, women, and children were transported to the English owned islands in the West Indies and the Americas. Many of these people were transported from the ports of Munster, and some have estimated that from 1652 to 1657 a total of 50,000 Irish were transported. When Cromwell got rid of the Irish soldiers his ethnic cleaning of Ireland began with the explosion and forcibly transporting around 3 quarters of the population of Ulster, Leinster, and Munster to Connaught in the West. Again, the population in Ireland was reduced from 1.6 million to 1.1 million. The Irish never had a true place to really settle in the Caribbean the island of Montserrat “The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean” which has been a British overseas territory located in the Leeward Islands since 1632. It has always been the main island mentioned, but a fact not mentioned by many is that the Irish in the Caribbean where in various other islands as merchants, traders, and military men.

There were various Islands in the Caribbean that many Irish thrived as merchants, traders and soldiers. Among these islands there were three were the O’Neill’s settled of these being St. Croix, Martinique, and Puerto Rico. How the O’Neill’s arrived in Spain is well known, but how they ended up in St. Croix is another. From what I do know it is that it was due to the opportunity of sugar trade business. In 1665 the French West India Company ruled the island of St. Croix and it only lasted around 7 years, and by 1695 there were hardly any French settlers on the island. Then the Danish West India and Guinea Company bought St. Croix from France in June 13, 1733 and were in charge of the central administration of St. Croix. In 1754 the Danish Crown took over the island and it became a Royal Colony, and then in the late 1740’s, a group of Irish merchants and planters with various connections began to purchase land in Saint Croix.

The start of the O’Neill’s of the Fews in the Caribbean starts in the year of 1755, when the 99 year lease expires on the lands of Don Enrique O'Neill of the Fews, also known as Sir Henry O'Neill of the Fews. Circa the year 1758 it’s believed Don Enrique O'Neill of the Fews moves his family to Spain. Don Arturo O'Neill O’Kelly de Tyrone, who was born in 1736 Dublin, Ireland. Later to be known by the title of the 1st Marques Del Norte and Governor of the Yucatan in Mexico. He became the successor of Don Jose Sabido de Vargas, and was named the Governor of West Florida, and named into the Supreme Council of War of Spain by replacing Governor Miguel de Uztaraiz. His brother Lieutenant Colonel Niall 'Nicolas' O'Neill O'Kelly was born in 1734, and died at Saragossa, Spain. Then there was Don Enrique O’Neill O’Kelly of the Fews, Don Tulio O’Neill O’Kelly of the Fews, Terencio O’Neill of the Fews , and various other O’Neill’s of the Fews and O’Neill’s around the Caribbean islands who were serving in the French and Spanish armies during the 1700’s and earlier.



On May 1, 1777 Don Tulio O'Neill O'Kelly de Tyrone, of the O'Neill's House of the Fews, marries Catalina O’Keeffe Velez, of the island of St. Nevis. They became the parents of:



1. Lieutenant Colonel Arturo O'Neill O’Keeffe born in 1783 and died on September 7, 1832, and was buried in the Roman Catholic Church of Federichriste, Saint Croix (Santa Cruz). He was married to Joanna Chabert Heyliger on April 19, 1802 in St. Croix.

2. General Don Tulio O'Neill O’Keeffe born in St. Croix in 1784, who won many distinctions during the Peninsular War., He married Manuela de Castilla, the daughter of a Spanish Nobel. They became parents of Don Juan Antonio Luis O'Neill, born in 1812, who married Dona Luisa de Salamanca. He later inherited his mother’s titles in 1847, and then becoming the Marques de la Granja, Marques de Caltojar, Count of Benajiar and Marques de Valdeosera. From then on they are known as the O'Neill's of the Fews of Seville.”



3. Lady Ann O'Neill O’Keeffe died at the age of 66, she was born on February 3, 1778 in St. Croix and died in August 16, 1844 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She married on July 9, 1796, by a Catholic Priest to Lieutenant-General Peter Lotharius Oxholm, who was born in October 7, 1753 and died on July 27, 1827 on his estate of Fredriksdal in Lyngby, North of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lieutenant-General Peter L. Oxholm was the owner of the St. George Hill, Sally's Fancy, and Hope plantations. He produced maps and writings in 1794 of the Danish West Indies. In 1814, he became General Governor of St. Croix, until 1816, when he became ill, and had to travel back with his family to Denmark.



In 1759 Colonel Terencio O'Neill of the Fews is born, in 1786 is known as a Knight of Santiago, and in June 15, 1792 he is described to have been a planter in St. Croix along with Don Tulio O’Neill O’Kelly of the Fews in September 10, 1790. Not much is known about Don Tulio and Don Terencio O’Neill of the Fews during their time in St. Croix outside that they were military men serving the Spanish crown living on an island controlled by the Danes. The marriage of Lady Ann O’Neill of the Fews and Pater Lotharius Oxholm is a perfect example of O’Neill daughters used as precious commodities and served to unite and reinforce partnerships and business ventures both within these communities. Lady Ann O’Neill O’Keeffe of the Fews was 18 years old when she married Peter Lotharius Oxholm who was 43 years old a total of 25 years her elder. These were the times of the late 1700’s St. Croix and O’Neill’s.

Peter Lotharius Oxholm was first married to a Maria de Windt Heyliger, and this surname of Heyliger appears among the O’Neill’s of the Fews with the marriage of Don Arturo O’Neill O’Keeffe of the Fews married to Joanna Chabert Heyliger on April 19, 1802 in St. Croix. The Heyliger’s seemed to have been one of the most numerous and powerful families on the island of St. Croix, with various plantations, marriages among royalty, and they all look to have been described as Dutch, but were possibly of a German origin. The surname and family Chabert is also found in St. Croix and they seem to have been French. Both of these two families the Chabert and Heyliger were both Catholics.

What we can see is that the Lady Anne O’Neill O’Keeffe of the Fews married a Dane and died in Denmark, just like many other O’Neill women of the House of Tyrone in the past that married and had children among the Vikings Lords in ancient times. We can also see that during these times the Sevilla O’Neill’s of the Fews line married among Spanish noble women, and the Asturias O’Neill’s of the Fews married Germanic and French women.

The Counts of Tyrone, and O’Neill’s of the Fews a part of the House of Tyrone and its descendants were born in the Caribbean, fought in the Caribbean, and made their fortunes in the Caribbean and not in Europe.





NOTE:

Peter O’Neale Christiansted in September 4, 1777 in St. Croix was written down as a Royal! Just like Tully O’Neill and other of the Fews. Now who was this Peter O’Neale? This is a big mystery that hasn’t been solved.

The O’Neill’s of Puerto Rico are various families one are the descendants of a Don Constantino O’Neill from Galicia via the Spanish Netherlands. And there are other families of O’Neill’s in Puerto Rico that can be descendants of the O’Neill’s of the Fews especially the sons of Don Arturo O’Neill O’Keeffe and Don Enrique O’Neill O’Kelly, yet due to the lack of interest we have not found much info or O’Neill’s in Puerto Rico with courage to take a y-dna test.