By Genine Hopkins
When Prudence Pembridge moved to City of Clare with her husband Robert in 2022, the choice was made for convenience more than anything else; the location was close to her own family in Northern Michigan in Bliss and not terribly far away from her husband’s family just south of the Michigan border. But after grabbing a book on the history of the city, Pembridge was shocked to find out her connection to Clare was more than simple logistics; she had come to a place with a connection to her own family in County Clare in the Republic of Ireland. Her family hailed from that very same place!
Prudence went back home and took out the family history book prepared by Edward William O’Neil (there are different spellings of her O’Neal/O’Neil family name), which was pubished and printed in softcover format for all family members. Sure enough, in those first pages, she found what she knew to be true: her family roots were in County Clare, Ireland.
O’Neill/O’Neal was the surname of the Hy Niall Tribe of Ireland. The family coat of arms retells the tale of how Celtic Prince Niall cut off his hand and threw it on the shores of Ireland to claim the land and secure his rule, which is the red hand in the coat of arms. The landing party had decided that whoever was first to touch the land would rule that portion, hence Prince Niall’s quick thinking to toss his hand ashore. The rule of the O’Neills – her family was the Ulster branch – lasted between 1200 C.E. (Common Era or what had previously been noted as A.D._ until 1800 C.E., a reign of 600 years.
The branch that would eventually make it to Northern Michigan would be William and Sarah O’Neal. William had been born in Ottawa, Canada, on May 9, 1853, and moved to Saginaw with his parents where he worked in a sawmill. Eventually he traveled to Mount Pleasant and was put in charge of a crew of 40 men, before relocating to Cecil Bay in Emmet County in 1877 and ran one of the most successful farms in Bliss, Michigan, eventually leaving the land to be split amongst four of his children. McNeal was in the Lewis Publishing Company’s book by Perry F. Powers titled, A History of Northern Michigan and its People published in 1912. The couple made sure that there was a proper Catholic Church, which William built and Sarah named St. Patrick’s, on a five acre parcel of his farm he donated to the diocese. They ran several successful businesses including the Park hotel, which they renamed the Park House. There is still an O’Neal Lake which in nearly center for a large number of family members’ homes and also close to where Prudence’s mother grew up.
Arthur P. O’Neal, a son of William and Sarah, born in 1885 in Cecil Bay, would give birth to a son named Arthur, who would in turn give birth to Catherine Marie O’Neal (married name Schiller) which was Prudence’s mother. After reading this information, the connection was cemented, giving Prudence a real sense of belonging to a community with a connection to her own family roots.
There are even more eerie connections the couple themselves have made when researching Robert’s familial history. Their son, Travis, found evidence that Robert who is English and German, had family in County Clare, Ireland at the same time Prudence’s family was in the area. His family – which was then Pembruge – owned the land Prudence’s family worked on in Ireland cen-turies before. And they also found pictures of Prudence’s mother, Catherine, on the very ship, the Mackinaw Ice Breaker, that Robert would later be commissioned to serve on in the Coast Guard! The world is indeed small. For Robert and Prudence, the connections are astounding. The couple actually met when Robert was first commissioned to serve on the Ice Breaker The Mackinaw, at the Gold Front Bar in downtown Cheboygan; that ship is now a museum docked at Mackinaw. They now have almost 34 years of marriage, and they will celebrate their anniversary on March 23rd. Prudence is hoping to help out with next year’s Irish Festival and while they have moved around a lot over their decades of marriage, they will also feel like the City of Clare is their home.
