O'Neill Dynasty - The Caribbean O'Neills

The Caribbean O'Neills

There were many O'Neills that eventually moved into the Caribbean especially from the lines of the Counts of Tyrone of Hugh MacFerdorcha Aodh Mór mac Feardorcha Ó Néill. The close connection to the Spanish government after the final fall of the O'Neills in 1690 provided the opportunity for new territory. The English controlled the island of St. Croix in the Caribbean until 1650. In that year the Spanish sent a fleet of five ships and 1,200 men to St. Croix from Puerto Rico and slaughtered every man, woman and child. After a brief period the Spanish were replaced by the Knights of Malta under a French noble Phillippe de Longvilliers de Poincy. The Knights later sold the island to the French who sold it on to the Danes. Family documents that the O’Neill's had elements land on the Islands and were associated with the families of Rocco, Eammon, Constatino or Conn Eoghan, Edmundo, and Gill. These were men who served in the Irish regiments of Spain, Ultonia and Hibernia regiments for the Crown of Spain. Often they allied with the French to eliminate the English from these Islands. Recent findings show that other O'Neill's settled in Puerto Rico in the 18th century. The earliest record show that of a man named Don Juan O'Neill arrived in Puerto Rico in the 1710s, based on documents from the Spanish Royal Courts. There were two O'Neill officers serving in the Spanish Army forces of Bernardo de Galvez as he fought the English in Florida and Alabama during the American Revolution.

Most O'Neill families of Puerto Rico have for many generations resided in the districts of Hato Nuevo, Mamey, and Sonadora of the city of Guaynabo located on the northern coast of the island of Puerto Rico. Other O'Neill families have settled in the cities of Río Piedras and Caguas. Many other O'Neill families that immigrated from Barbados settled on the Island of Vieques. The O'Neill's have produced a few mayors in their respected cities.

The O'Neills of Martinique settled in the early 1700s; in the next century, they claimed to be Count of Tyrone and lineally descended from Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone. This claim (which rested on a single-sentence document in their own possession) is now regarded as unproven. The main stem of this family is now extinct in the male line; collateral descendants may exist.