Cornelius O'NEAL seemed an unusual name, until I started researching the man who married my gt-gt-grandfather's sister. Sarah SWADLING came to NSW with her brother William and his wife and children via the James Pattison in Dec 1838. Six months later, she married this Irishman, Cornelius, at St Philip's CE in Sydney. He was a widower, she a spinster. Her brother William was one of the witnesses to the marriage. I assume my great-grandfather, William's son Cornelius, was named after his uncle, as his is the earliest occurrence of the name in the SWADLING family.

They lived at and ran the Darling Harbour Inn for some years, and had two sons:

1. Patrick Francis O'NEAL, b. ca. 1840
2. Stephen O'NEAL, b. 1846

Sarah died in October 1852, as detailed in the Sydney Morning Herald on 20th Oct 1852, page 3 column 6:

On the 19th instant at her residence, Darling Harbour Inn, Sussex St, after a short and painful illness, Sarah, the beloved wife of Mr Cornelius O'Neale [sic], aged 41 years, leaving a husband and two children and a large circle of friends to deplore their irreparable loss.

Sarah was buried at the Devonshire St cemetery on October 21, with a simple inscription:

Sarah wife of Cornelius O'Neal
died 19 October 1852 aged 41 years
leaving a husband and two children.

Cornelius remarried on July 2 1853, to Eliza HANLY. This couple had three daughters:

1. Mary O'NEAL, b.17 Aug 1854 Sydney
2. Eliza L O'NEAL, b. 1856 Sydney
3. Catherine O'NEAL, b. 1858 Sydney

Cornelius was the licencee of the Odd Fellows Arms in Dowling St Sydney in 1858. Eliza died in early 1859.

Cornelius remarried yet again to Amelia STACK, in Sydney in 1859. They must have moved soon after this to the Shoalhaven, where they ran the Royal Hotel. Cornelius is shown as the licencee there in April 1860. He died there in December 1863:

Sydney Morning Herald 30 December 1863 page 1
On the 17th instant at his residence, Royal Hotel, Greenwall Pt, Shoalhaven, Cornelius O'Neal, aged 55 years.

The details on his death certificate state that he was a native of Bantry Bay Ireland, and had been in NSW for 32 years. The only marriage mentioned is the last, to Amelia, who probably supplied these details. He was buried at the Nowra cemetery, but there is no stone on his grave. I haven't yet discovered when he arrived in NSW. There was a Cornelius O'NEAL, storekeeper on Norfolk Island, on a list of those in Government employ in 1810, appointed by Governor Macquarie. I have no evidence of a connection with "my" Cornelius as yet.