Cornelia Rockwell and Charles Kendall O'Neill

CHARLES KENDALL O'NEILL was born October 28, 1909 in Bridgeport, Fairfield, Connecticut,⁷³⁷⁷ and died June 20, 1997 in Green Farms, Fairfield, Connecticut.^{7768, 9380} He is buried in Saint Michael's Cemetery, Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut.⁴⁵⁶

He married CORNELIA ROCKWELL on August 10, 1945 in American Cathedral, Paris, France,¹⁶⁸ daughter of MILDRED MORSE and HARVARD SELDON ROCKWELL. She was born March 30, 1920 in Minneapolis, Hennepin, Minnesota,^{4652, 75, 42} and died May 31, 2008 in Westport, Fairfield, Connecticut.⁴²

• Descendant Reports
  • ? Haskell Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • William Brown Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • John York Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • John Erpe Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • William Duyonson Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Thomas Cooper Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Thomas Lambert Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Simon Bagnell Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Robert Stacy Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Richard of Kent Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • John Locke Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Randall Adams Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Robert Danbie Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Daniel Shed Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Capt. Jerathmeel Bowers Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • William Graves Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • William Clarke Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Moses Baron Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Walter Tybbott Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • John Smith Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Samuel Cutter Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Thomas Burnap Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Thomas Miller Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • John Newhall Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Nicholas Potter Sr. Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)
  • Thomas Green Descendant Report (Ancestor of Cornelia Rockwell)

Cornelia Rockwell

• was a OSS Veteran of World War II¹⁶⁸

Charles K. O'Neill

• was a Veteran of World War II⁹³⁸⁰
• was a writer of history, radio and televesion scripts and short stories⁹³⁸⁰

Minneapolis Star-Journal, September 26, 1945⁵³⁵²

Frank M. Warrens to Entertain at Reception for Cpl., Mrs. O'Neill

Mr. and Mrs. Frank M. Warren, 3427 Irving avenue S, will be hosts at a reception at their home Friday for their niece, Mrs. Charles Kendall O'Neill (Cornelia Rockwell) and her husband Cpl. O'Neill. Hours will be from 8 until 11 p.m.

The O'Neills were married recently in Paris and are visiting Mrs. O'Neill's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Harvard S. Rockwell, 4819 Girard avenue S.

They plan to spend some time at the Warren's cabin on the north shore before going to Washington.

Mrs. O'Neill attended Smith college and was graduated cum laude from University of Minnesota. Cpl. O'Neill is a graduate of Dartmouth college and is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Chi Phi, Casque and Gauntlett and the League of American Authors.

New York Times, June 30, 1997⁹³⁸⁰

Charles O'Neill, 87, TV and History Writer

Charles Kendall O'Neill, a writer of history, radio and television scripts and short stories, died on June 19 at his home in Green Farms, Conn. He was 87.

Born in Bridgeport, Conn., Mr. O'Neill graduated from Dartmouth College and contributed stories to national magazines and scripts to radio networks in the 1930's. In World War II he served with the Office of Inter-American Affairs in Latin America and with the Seventh Army and the Office of Strategic Services in North Africa and Europe.

He worked as a screenwriter in California before returning east to write books on historical themes and fiction. He published ''Wild Train: The Story of the Andrews' Raiders'' (1956), a Civil War tale of the Southern railroader Alexander Boyd Andrews, and ''Morning Time'' (1949), a book of fiction.

At his death he was working on a history of Gen. William Nelson and the Kentucky Unionists of the Civil War. He had completed the manuscript and was making revisions, his family said.

Mr. O'Neill is survived by his wife, Cornelia Rockwell O'Neill; four sons, Bracken, of Fairfield, Conn., Denis, of Beverly Hills, Calif., Christopher, of Winston-Salem, N.C., and Trevor, of Manhattan, and seven grandchildren.

Westport News, June 12, 2008¹⁶⁸

Longtime Westport resident Cornelia (Connie) Rockwell O'Neill died May 31. She was 88.

A Minnesota native — and one of three sisters — Mrs. O'Neill attended Smith College and the University of Minnesota.

As a child in Minnesota, she enjoyed many summers at family cabins on Isle Royale, and later on the north shore of Lake Superior.

She served as an officer in the OSS in World War II. Following OSS training outside Washington, D.C., she was stationed in London, and near the end of the war, in Paris. While in Paris, she witnessed French General Charles de Gaulle's triumphant march on the fabled Champs-Elysees as that city was liberated from the Nazis.

Before her assignment in the European Theater, she met and fell in love with Bridgeport born Charles O'Neill, who oversaw the training and assigning of OSS recruited agents from various "Joe Houses" in North Africa and France.

The couple was married in the American Cathedral in Paris on Aug. 10, 1945.

After the war, Mr. and Mrs. O'Neill moved to Laguna Beach and Santa Monica, Calif., where Mr. O'Neill worked as a writer in the film and TV business. Their first son, Bracken, was born in California, followed by three more boys — Denis, Christopher and Trevor — all of whom were born following the couple's return to Connecticut.

Fluent in French and an accomplished piano player, Mrs. O'Neill was active in Ruth Steinkraus Cohen's U.N. hospitality program. In the 1960s and 1970s, she hosted Thanksgiving and other holiday dinners for dozens of U.N. representatives at her home.

In the 1950, she was approached by a Westport friend to invest in a Broadway-bound musical. After playing the sheet music for herself, she agreed to invest a modest amount of money in a show which became The Man of La Mancha. (A year later, one of the producers asked her to invest in his next musical featuring the same creative team. Mrs. O'Neill played the sheet music and passed. Sometime later, that show opened and closed in one night).

Connie raised her four boys in the 1950s and 60s, chaperoned an endless string of Little League and Pee Wee hockey seasons, and over the years hosted countless dinners for friends.

She enjoyed gardening — both for seasonal vegetables and flowers — and her love of books led her to take a part-time job at the Pequot Library in Southport.

Survivors include her sister Jean Rockwell Anderson; three sons, Bracken of Fairfield, Denis of Beverly Hills and Christopher, of Winston-Salem, N.C.; nine grandchildren; and several nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her husband in 1997, her sister Rowena Rockwell Langworthy and her son Trevor.

A private memorial service will be held in August.