The Luck of the Irish

My Irish immigrant family brought the Luck of the Irish with them. Maybe 8 year old Mary McGill had a lucky penny in her shoe when she came from Ireland to Canada in the early 1800s. Her life was hard; her husband, Patrick, who was 30 years her senior, worked in the timbers or building the canal. But the records show that at least they had a house, as opposed to the neighbors who lived in wooden shanties. When Mary was widowed, with 3 young children, she was lucky to join a group who made their way west to the United States. In Iowa City, although she was ill, Mary was lucky again, to find a man who would help her write a will, making sure her children were cared for. My Gt Grandfather, Daniel Patrick McGill, was her youngest child, age 5, when she died. The Shafer family, who fostered Daniel, were childless but raised him as their own and even sent him to the University. The foster father and mother just "happened" to be related to Eva Frost, who was eventually married to Daniel Patrick. There was illness during those years in Iowa, but Daniel was lucky to survive. Sadly, his sister, Bridget, brother, John, John's wife, and one baby died. One of Daniel's nephews remained, and that lucky boy was fostered by Daniel and Eva. Years later, after the family moved to western Iowa, Daniel was lucky enough to see a flyer that told of land opening for homesteads in Oklahoma Territory. In 1889, he made his way to Arkansas City, Kansas, and boarded a train for the new frontier. Daniel, and 3 other pioneers, jumped from the train, and set off west across the prairie. As luck would have it, they came to a place where 4 quarter sections were marked with stakes. Since McGill was the only one who had a large family, he was the lucky one chosen to claim the land with the best source of water. His family, including my grandmother, age 8, came from Iowa by covered wagon to join him on the homestead. And here I am, one of the lucky descendants to come from this family, and lucky to have that story preserved for more than 200 years after little Mary McGill crossed the Atlantic. The picture above is of Daniel P. (seated) and Eva McGill (standing center) and their family on the homestead west of Edmond, Oklahoma. This land is still pasture land and the pond is still there.

Samuel Huston and Celina Calista Frost

The story of Samuel Huston (or Hueston) is an interesting one. At age 18, in 1843, Celina Calista Frost was the local school teacher in Penn township's first school, in Johnson Co. Iowa. She met and married a 30 year old prominent man in the community, Samuel Huston. “John N. Headley and Samuel Huston came in March 1839 and settled one mile east of the present site of Tiffin, in Clear Creek Twp. They were from Ohio.”… p. 737 Johnson Co. Iowa History. Huston was actually born in Pennsylvania.

From p. 748, Johnson Co. History. “In 1843, a pretty good log schoolhouse was erected in section 7. Miss Frost taught the first school in this house, at a salary of eight dollars per month, boarding among the scholars and receiving her pay in wheat, etc. This house was used for all religious and business meetings for a number of years.”

“The first Justice of the Peace in the township {Town of Tiffin in Clear Creek Twp.} was John Hartwell who married Samuel Huston to his second wife, Miss Frost – a sister of his first wife. …. These were among the first marriages in the township.” [The Frost ladies were not sisters, but possibly cousins.]

Samuel and Celina had a daughter, Elizabeth, b. 1844, in Clear Creek, and a baby son, Phillip, b. 1847. But Celina and the baby boy died in 1847. Sam married again, Mary or Margaret _____ . She had children George and Emma. That is where our family connection ends, but his story goes on.

Samuel Huston was first cousin of Daniel A. Shafer, mentioned above as the guardian of our gt. grandfather Daniel McGill. Shafer's wife was Harriett "Hattie" Frost, sister of Celina mentioned above. Hattie helped raise Celina's daughter, Eliza, while her father went to the gold fields.

Around 1851, Samuel Huston got together about 100 men and 50+ wagons and went to the California gold rush at Susanville. He came back with more wealth and bought up real estate and stores. The daughter of Sam and Celina, Elizabeth, only lived to age 21.

In 1876 when he was about 65, Huston donated $9000 to build a school for black students in Austin Texas. Mr. Huston belonged to the Methodist Episcopal Church in Iowa, and I read that the local (or mission "board") had already planned for the school in Texas. Then they persuaded this well-to-do man to donate, promising that the college would bear his name. It took several years for it to come to fruition, but was named for Samuel Huston. It is still in existence after merging with another school, but still bears his name and is said to have a portrait and biography of Sam. The merger mentioned apparently produced what has now become Huston-Tillotson University.

It is a shame that young Celina and her children didn't live to join in his success.

The Johnson County History written in 1882 says on p. 599: “Mr. Hueston now lives at Koszta, Iowa County."

Daniel Shafer and Harriett Amelia Frost

Harriett “Hattie” Amelia Frost, older daughter of Johnson Lyman Frost, married Daniel Adam Shafer on April 8, 1843, Johnson Co., Iowa. By 1850, we find J. Lyman and son, Carlos, 24, living with the Shafer family in Johnson County. J. Lyman is listed as a farmer, age 56. (We will note later that the Shafers are the family that took in our great grandfather, Daniel Patrick McGill, as a foster child and raised him when his mother died.)

Biography of Daniel Shafer:
Daniel Adam Shafer was born in NorthHampton County, Pennsylvania, on Dec. 23, 1818, son of Adam Shafer and Mary Buskirk, the oldest of eight siblings. The father, Adam, was a school teacher and soldier, having served as First Lieutenant, 176th Regt. Pennsylvania Militia, Company F.

Daniel Shafer is said to have been educated as an attorney and a civil engineer. He migrated to Iowa Territory as one of its earliest settlers about 1840, at about age 22, and lived in Iowa City, Johnson County. A first cousin, Samuel Huston, came from Pennsylvania at about the same time. According to the Shafer - Huston family history, he ran the Nebraska State Line for the U.S. Government and laid out the city of Omaha, Nebraska.

Daniel Shafer and Harriett Amelia Frost were married April 8, 1843, in Johnson County, Iowa. Miss Frost, also called "Hattie", was the daughter of Johnson Lyman Frost and Oriana Paine. She was born in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, May 19, 1820. Harriett's sister, Celina Calista Frost, married Shafer's cousin, Samuel Huston.

To show how primitive the state was at this time, D.A. Shafer received a bounty [probably $1.00] for one wolf scalp, in the Wolf Harvest of 1845. Ninety-five wolves were killed in that year's county harvest. This from an early history book of Johnson County.

In the 1850 Census of Johnson County, Iowa, Penn Township, the Shafers are farming north of Iowa City. The value of their Real Estate was $1,450. (Average for farmers of the community.) Harriett's father, Lyman J., and brother, Elias Carlos, live with them, as well as a young man, Levi Freeze, and Eliza Huston, the daughter of Harriett's late sister Celina Frost Huston, above. Eliza's father Samuel Huston, had gone to the gold fields of California at that time.

Daniel Shafer is the attorney of record for the will of Mary McGill in April 1856. He was appointed one of the guardians of her three children, along with her older son John S. McGill. The younger children were Bridget Jane, and Patrick D. McGill. The latter is our great grandfather, known as Daniel Patrick McGill. He was raised by Daniel Shafer and wife, Harriett. We do not know the relationship of Mary McGill and the Shafers. She had arrived in Iowa from Canada between 1852 and 1856, with her three children.

In August of 1862, Daniel A. Shafer enlisted in the service as a Lieutenant 1st Class, at the age of 43. He was commissioned in Company E, 28th Iowa Infantry, 10 October 1862, and promoted to Full Captain on February 1, 1863. Resigned 16 Mar 1864. He received a pension as an invalid in 1886, and his second wife, Mary, received pension after his death.

Shafer is listed as a Republican in 1865, and a Democrat in 1872 - History of Johnson Co. Iowa. The family identified with the Methodist Episcopal Church.

The census of 1870, North Liberty Township, Johnson County, Iowa, lists Daniel A. Shafer and wife Harriett, farmers with $12,000 Real Estate and $3,000 Personal Property. Daniel P. McGill, 19, is living with them and attending school, as well as working on the farm. We know he was enrolled at the University of Iowa at about that time. Others in the household are: Daniel S. Wise, Farm Laborer, age 14, Catherine Hack, domestic, age 22, and Catherine Wise, age 2, born Nebraska. The Wise or Weiss family of Johnson county consisted of Daniel Shafer's sister, Julia Shafer Wise, and her husband, Jesse, and children.

Harriett Amelia Frost died April 1, 1871. She is buried in the Oakland Cemetery, Iowa City, Iowa. About nine months later, Daniel married Mary E. Frost, niece of Harriett. Her father was Luther Paine Frost, brother of Harriett; mother was Caroline White. Mary was only 23, at the time of the marriage, while Daniel Shafer was 54. There were no children of this union or that of Harriett and Daniel.

In 1881 Shafer was nominated by Democrats in the election for County Surveyor of Johnson County, Iowa, but he was defeated by Mr. Worden, Republican candidate. Also in that year, D.A. Shafer was an officer of the organization of "Old Settlers" who held dinners and meetings to recall and record the early days of the territory.

He died July 19, 1888 and is buried in Oakland Cemetery, Iowa City, Iowa.

As Daniel A. Shafer was a father figure, who acted as guardian, and mentor who saw to the education of our Gt. grandfather, Daniel Patrick McGill, our family owes a debt of gratitude to this man and his wife, Harriett.
He was mentioned in Daniel McGill's obituary with pride:

"Mr. McGill's parents died when he was quite young. He was reared to manhood by Captain Shafer in Johnson County, Iowa. He received his higher education at a college in Liberty, Iowa. He spent a number of years surveying and teaching school, both in Iowa and after coming to Oklahoma."