Archives And Old Newspapers Speak Volumes About Ancestors

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day To Our McDaniel Clan!

I discovered a timely treasure trove of ancestry hints and vintage newspaper clippings while researching my family’s history. The path that opened up to me was too tempting to pass up. The Scottish-Irish McDaniel family line of my son-in-law Brian goes back to his 10th Great-Grandfather, Sorley Boy (Somharie Buidhe) MacDonnell (1505-1590) of Dunnyveg and Antrim in Ulster, Ireland, and contains the castles Dunluce, Dunanynie, and Ballycastle, as well as nobility like Viscounts, Barons, Lords, and Ladies.

The surname “McDaniel” dates back to the early medieval period (5th to 8th centuries), when Ireland had several kingdoms under Gaelic kings. Around 800 AD, the names ‘Mc’, ‘Mac’, or ‘O’ denoting ‘son of’ or ‘grandson of’ respectively were adopted in Ireland. There are numerous spelling variations of McDaniel, including MacDaniel, MacDaniell, MacDanell, MackDaniel, MacDonnell, and McDonald. Even between father and son, spelling changes were frequent. County Antrim (Irish: Aontroim) remains the center of the McDaniel family in modern-day Northern Ireland. Daniel MackDaniel of Scotland (1660-1745) appears to be the first of 18 families to immigrate from Scotland-Ireland to Charles County, Maryland. His son Daniel McDaniel III was born there in 1723, followed by four other children, including William McDaniel who died in Wilkes County, North Carolina in 1796.

In Brian’s family, the name “Lyle” is also common. Since 1863, Lyle has been a middle name for four generations, including Brian’s father and half-brother. Lyle is the first name of Brian’s elder brother. In 1805, Elizabeth Ann Lyles of Calvert County, Maryland, married Allen McDaniel II (1796-1852) of Charles County, Maryland. It is believed that Elizabeth was the first to use her maiden name as a middle name when she named her son Enoch Lyles McDaniel (1822-1883, Brian’s second great-grandfather)–a common custom for carrying on a spouse’s maiden name. Enoch and his family migrated to the District of Columbia and lived their entire lives there. Enoch and his second wife Sarah Ann Taylor are buried in Congressional Cemetery.

In 1863, Brian’s great-grandfather, William Lyle McDaniel I, was born in the District of Columbia. He was one of eight McDaniels who lived in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. As a 23-year-old, William worked for the Union Switch and Signal Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he ended his career 50 years later in 1883. Richard B., Brian’s Great-Uncle, was a senior executive at Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, whose headquarters remain there. Richard resided in Wilkinsburg when has passed on December 9, 1943. Five McDaniels from Wilkinsburg are buried in Woodlawn Cemetery.

During World War II, the McDaniel family suffered more than its fair share of casualties in addition to the loss of Brian’s Great-Uncle Richard on December 9, 1943. The Chicago Tribune Newspaper article “Mock Execution by Japs As Told By Flyer,” published October 22, 1943, recounts Brian’s father (First Lieutenant William Lyle McDaniel III [1922– 2006] of Cook County, Evanston, Illinois–the only McDaniel born there) traumatic capture in Seoul, Korea, during the ending days of World War II. As a U.S. WW II veteran and prisoner of war, he received the Air Medal, Asiatic Pacific Ribbon, American Theater Ribbon, & the WW II Victory Ribbon.

Brian’s great-aunt Jane Taylor McDaniel (the sister of William Lyle McDaniel II) married Edward E. Ludwig (1893-1986), and had three sons: Edward, William, and James. Edward was a musician, like many in the McDaniel family. During the Italian campaign of 1944, Edward, a young husband and father, was killed when his Liberator bomber plane was shot down on December 19, 1944, (only 14 months after Brian’s dad’s capture). Just a year later, on January 4, 1946, Jane’s eldest son Edward was killed in a plane accident in Germany, earning her the incredible distinction of being a Gold Star mother of two of her three sons who served during the War.

Brian’s father, William Lyle (Bill) McDaniel III, passed away at age 83 on February 13, 2006. He married twice and fathered nine children. He met Brian’s mother Alice Virginia Sherry (1943-2017) of the District of Columbia through his love of music. She sang to his drumming and piano-playing and this family owned their home in District Heights, MD, for 48 years–until 2016, when Alice relocated to Calvert County to be near family.

Brian, as a teenager, continued his family’s love of music as a disc jockey at the local skating rink in Prince George’s County, MD. Following high school, he entered the printing industry (again following in his dad’s footsteps), where he worked until 1997 when he opened the five-star-rated Crow Entertainment, LLC, a company that services primarily clients across the Delmarva area and specializes in professional and highly-rated DJs, smile-and-click photo booths, production and live music, and digital services. Today, this love of music and following in your family’s footsteps continues. Brian’s son, (my grandson), Aaron Christopher McDaniel, age 22, joined his dad’s team of disc jockeys while still in high school, developing client services catering to young people’s events, and is one of those full-time, highly-rated DJs at Crow Entertainment in Calvert County, MD, that is proudly celebrating its 27th year in business.