Embedded Files
January 2026: New picture added of James William O'Neal
Before war broke out in 1914, Daisy went to work for a wealthy family in Vienna, as governess for their daughter Lisa.
This is a card to her Brother Claud, from Vienna.
Daisy stayed there throughout the war. I assume she was unable to come home, as Austria was aligned to Germany. It appears she must have been well protected by the family she was working for.
In a letter to her son Claud (dated 3 November 1918), Selina O'Neal refers to having just received a letter from Daisy (dated 7 October). She says that Daisy
"appears to be alright, only had been very busy as one of the servants had left. The people are as nice as ever to her"
Much seems to be being said in two brief sentences!
The disintegration of society happened very quickly in Vienna at the end of the war.
"across central Europe ... The majority lived in a state of advanced misery by the spring of 1918, and conditions later worsened, for the summer of 1918 saw both the drop in food supplied to the levels of the 'turnip winter', and the onset of the 1918 flu pandemic that killed at least 20 million worldwide. Society was relieved, exhausted and yearned for peace."
Watson, Alexander (2014). Ring of Steel: Germany and Austria–Hungary in World War I. ISBN 978-0-4650-1872-7
This situation is briefly referred to in a letter from Daisy's Mother to her Brother Claud, dated 18 January 1919, when she wrote
"She is receiving parcels of food from the English - they can have no open fire all the Winter, and only a very little gas after 5th Dec, so she did not
know how they were going to cook & no hot water all winter - she mentions the hardships of the poor"
In the same letter she continues:
Daisy missed her Father's funeral. The letter her Mother sent to her telling her of her father's death would not have reached her in time, and she had already planned to return in the spring of 1919.
However, Daisy was also concerned about 'being a burden' on her Mother if she could not find work, being "out of practice with her shorthand &c", as well as many "girls having taken up her kind of work", as seen in the same letter as above.
I cannot be sure when Daisy arrived back in England, but life was clearly difficult for her and her Mother, as a mere few months later, they had both moved to the United States of America (where Claud was already naturalised by then).
The following, is an immigration record, declaring her intention to become a US citizen. - Ironically whoever typed this document, about ⅔ of the way down mis-spelt her surname as O'Hell!
In 1920 The US census shows Daisy and Selina living with Sidney Nourse and his mother Elizabeth (nee Alderson). Elizabeth was Selina’s sister.
Daisy remained living in the United States of America until her death in 1961, having never married, and was interred with her Mother.
Click for more images
This information from a memorial statement on Findagrave.com
Daisy Ida O'Neal was born May 14, 1886 in Derby, England and christened June 16, 1886. She worked for a time as a secretary in England but in 1913 she moved to Vienna, Austria to take a job as a governess for a prominent family there. While working as governess to the Scheu children Daisy was treated more like a member of the family than part of the household staff and the children affectionately referred to her by her nickname "Brownie".
For the first year things were going very well for Daisy but in 1914 that all changed with the outbreak of World War 1. After England cut all ties with Austria it became impossible for her parents to get letters to or from her and they were not even able to find out where she was or how she was getting along. Life became increasingly difficult during the war and even after it ended in 1918 life was still very hard in Austria, Daisy wrote home to tell of food shortages and a restriction on making fires even for warmth. In January 1919 her father died less than two months after the war ended, she was able to return to England and in October of that year she and her mother Selina came to the United States aboard the S.S. La Touraine. They settled in Washington State and stayed with Selina's sister Elizabeth Nourse. Daisy took care of her mother and even during the early days of the Great Depression when she was forced to take pay cuts in order to keep her job as a secretary she never revealed to her mother how bad things had gotten. A letter to her brother Claud reveals her anxiety about her financial situation and concern that she might need to find a cheaper place for her mother to live but that the move itself would create an additional expense.
Daisy became a naturalized citizen in 1933, her mother died later that year. After Selina's death Daisy remained in Seattle but in 1937 she moved to New York to join Helene Scheu-Riesz, her friend and former employer from Vienna. In 1957 Daisy moved into a retirement facility called Wesley Gardens in Des Moines, Washington and it was there on May 12, 1961 that she died of a heart attack. Daisy and Selina both had their ashes interred in the Nourse family plot in Bayview Cemetery on Whidbey Island in Washington.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse