Hardy and Howard O’Neal

There are many brothers and sets of twins in northeast Texas today who bear the first names Hardy and Howard. Some don’t know how they came to be so called except that the names were passed down from older generations. It all started with two of Cass County’s most respected citizens, the brothers Hardy and Howard O’Neal. Their father, Henry Francis O’Neal, ran away from a private school in Mississippi at the age of sixteen and joined the American army that was about to invade Mexico. Following that service he moved from Mississippi to Harrison county, Texas, and married Melantha Cooley. Their son Hardy was born in 1851.

At the outbreak of the civil war Henry Francis was among the first volunteers and was soon a captain in the Jeff Davis regiment. He had moved to Linden in 1857. Somewhere along the way he studied law and was admitted to the practice in Linden. Hardy attended a private school in Mt. Pleasant, Texas, graduating with honors in 1873. Returning to Linden, he read law in his father’s office and was admitted to the bar and was elected county attorney before reaching his 21st birthday.

Howard Francis O’Neal was born in 1853 in Marshall, Texas and educated in the same private school in Mt. Pleasant that his brother Hardy had attended. He followed in his brother’s footsteps again by studying law in his father’s office and passing the bar examination. Howard remained in Linden for some years, while Hardy moved to Atlanta. Later Howard joined him in practice there, but not before they fought many legal battles on opposing sides. One family historian wrote that Howard could wipe moist eyes with a clean white handkerchief and often move the jury to tears of compassion for his clients, only to have Hardy break the spell by admonishing the jury not to be too moved by Howard’s sad tale. “That’s just Howard’s way,” he would remark, “I saw him blubber for a whole week when his hound dog died.” Hardy was a charter director of the First National Bank of Atlanta; Howard an early director of Atlanta National. Hardy was a charter member of the Atlanta Rotary Club and an organizer of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and Agriculture. He was honored by the citizens of Cass county in 1930 by being named “Cass County’s greatest benefactor.”

Hardy O’Neal served the State of Texas with marked distinction as a member of the 29th and 30th Legislatures to a resolution passed by the House of Representatives at his death. It read in part, “Throughout his long and useful life he has stood for the highest and best principles of government, and has rendered every service in his power to his fellowman, in order that the world might be a better place in which to live.” In 1873 he married Mollie Nelson, member of a prominent Linden family. There were eight children, three of whom died in their early years. The oldest, Henry, married Nuggie Miles of another prominent Atlanta family and sister of Mrs. M.J. Brooks. They made their home in Shreveport. Henry O’Neal was well known and served as president of the Shreveport Chamber of Commerce. A son, Hardy O’Neal, lives in Shreveport.

Howard Chesley O’Neal a civil engineer, a staff member at the local district headquarters of the Texas Highway Department. He married Mary Hutchison who taught school in the Atlanta system for many years. Janie Love O’Neal married Dr. David C. Johnson, a dentist, they had four children. The oldest died of burns at an early age. Davis Chesley Johnson, is the mayor of Atlanta at this time, as was his father before him. He married Sybil Bickham, they have one son, David O’Neal Johnson, who has been busy in Atlanta civic affairs. Another daughter, Alice, was principal of Atlanta High School for some fifteen years. The youngest daughter, Mary, married Horace Coulter and lived in Atlanta.

Howard O’Neal served in several public offices including the district judgeship of Cass and Bowie counties. He married Ida -Sheffield of Linden and had two children. Ora married Bob Arnold and had one son, Bob, Jr. Herschel O’Neal, had no children.

The Hardy O’Neal family home stands today at the corner of Buckner and Wood Streets in Atlanta. Two large magnolia trees on the front lawn were planted at the same time as the magnolia still at the corner of Miller and North West Streets, homesite of the Howard O’Neal’s. Those old magnolias and the names Hardy and Howard will live on for many years yet as reminders of the O’Neal’s.