O'NIELL, Walter A., NY., then St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
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WALTER A. O'NIELL, BALDWIN.--Walter A. O'Niell was born in the city of New
York, September 22, 1855.  His father, John A. O'Niell, is a native of Ireland
and came to New York when quite young.  He married Isabella Burnham, who at an
early age emigrated from England to New York.  They were the parents of eleven
children, of whom eight are now living; viz;  Walter A., the subject of this
sketch ;  R. Emmett,  Florence, wife of Judge Smith;  Annie, wife of David
Todd, of Iberia;  Bella, wife of C. E. Schrenk;  John,  Charles and  George.
Of these, Bella and Annie are twins.  When Walter O'Niell was two years of age
his parents removed to Louisiana, stopping first at Morgan City, from whence
they removed to Franklin, where his father engaged in the mercantile business,
in which he is still interested, his store being the largest establishment in
Franklin.  He was formerly sheriff, and now hold the position of treasurer of
St. Mary parish.  During the war he served four years in the Confederate
States army.  The subject of this sketch received his education in the schools
of Franklin, and, after completing his studies, engaged for several years in
business with his father.  He was married, January 1, 1880, to Miss Carrie
Lienicke, a native of New Orleans.  She is the daughter of Conrad Lienicke, a
retired manufacturer, of New Orleans.  In 1882, Mr. O'Niell retired from his
mercantile business, purchased Linwood plantation and engaged in sugar
raising.  His place is situated on the east side of Bayou Teche and consists
of one thousand acres; three hundred of which are under cultivation in cane
and corn.  He averages about twenty-five hundred pounds of sugar per acre and
twenty bushels net corn per acre.  In addition to his own plantation he leases
Oxford plantation, nineteen hundred acres, on the east bank of Bayou Teche,
upon which he cultivates eight hundred acres of rice and corn, and makes an
average of twelve barrels of rice per acre.  The sugar house at Linwood is
open kettle process, he makes only syrup, which is shipped on barges down the
Teche to the Baldwin refinery, where it is granulated.  Mr. O'Niell gives
employment to from forty to seventy-five hands at different periods of the
year, and is the largest producer of rice in St. Mary parish.

He is the father of three children, viz:  Laura Isabelle,  Herbert Edwin and
Conrad Lienicke.  Mr. O'Niell is an enterprising planter and is fully alive to
the interests of his section of the country.  He gives his assistance in
furthering any worthy project.

Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section, pp.
377-378.  Edited by William Henry Perrin.  Published in 1891, by The Gulf
Publishing Company.