Today’s Friday’s Face from the Past is Martha Whitford O’Neal. She is chosen because she died on this date, March 31, in 1909.
Martha was born on March 25, 1847, the daughter of John Martin Whitford and Mary Outlaw. Mary died when Martha was quite young, perhaps in childbirth with Martha’s brother, Louis David Whitford, who was born May 7, 1848.
Mary was apparently dead by the time the 1850 census was taken, as John Martin Whitford and his two children were the only ones listed in the household at that time. [1850 Census, Craven, North Carolina; Family: 1777, Roll: M432-626; Page: 374A]
Martha and Louis Whitford’s father, John Martin, apparently died before 1860, as Louis was living with his uncle Bryan Whitford and Martha was living with her uncle David P. Whitford. [1860 Census: North of the Neuse River, Craven, North Carolina; Family 737 (for David P. Whitford Household); Roll: M653-894; Page: 122; Family History Library Film: 803894; same source, Family 475 (for Bryan Whitford Household); Page 104]
On January 4, 1868, Martha Whitford married James Bryan O’Neal, the son of an Irish immigrant, Owen O’Neal, and his wife Mary. James B. and Martha O’Neal had twelve known children. [Ancestry.com. North Carolina, Marriage Records, 1741-2011 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015. Entry for James B. O’Neil and Martha A. Whitford, page 288-289, Craven County Marriage Register
More information on their family can be found on my Whitford Family website at https://www.tolergenealogy.com/whitford/g0/p16.htm
Shortly before her death, the New Bern Daily Journal reported that “Mrs. Martha O’Neill who has been in feeble health for some time went to Washington [N.C.] last week for treatment under Dr. Dave Tayloe. She was accompanied by her daughter, Miss Lizzie.” [The Daily Journal (New Bern, N.C.), February 12, 1909, page 2]. Martha Whitford O’Neal died on March 31, 1909. She was buried in the O’Neal Family Cemetery in present day Caton, North Carolina.