58 FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2019
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Y^ IMAGESAnother researcher, Cassandra Neilsen,
has also selected a new hero after uncovering
a troubling era in her family history. Nancy
Katherine Nash (born during the late 1830s)
lived in Illinois most of her life, where she mar-
ried and had seven children. Her death certifi -
cate listed her parents as Andrew J. Nash and
Leah Misenheimer.
The problem? Andrew Nash, a “notorious rake
and drunk,” was married to Leah Misenheimer’s
sister. Indeed, he confessed to an aff air with
his wife’s sister, and fathered three children by
her. What’s more, he stabbed a man in 1851 in a
drunken rage, going on the lam. The authorities
eventually caught up with him, sentencing him
to be hanged. Though his sentence was commut-
ed to life in prison, he hanged himself.
In response, Neilsen claimed Nancy as
one of her heroes. “She went on to make her
life her own and not let the stains of her past
determine her destiny,” she said. “She mar-
ried respect[ably], raised her own family and
became a pillar of her community.”
Though Neilsen was initially shocked by
Nash’s behavior, she accepted he was gone now.
“I can’t change the past,” she said. “[But] I can
take a page from my grandmother’s book and
make my life my own.”I
n preparation for a trip to Ireland a few years
ago, Angela Baker tried to identify the over-
seas hometown of her O’Connor ancestors,
immigrants who settled in Iowa. She stum-
bled upon a jarring newspaper article about
the father of the family: “Daniel O’Connor, of
Case County, Attempts an Outrage upon His
Own Daughter.”
Daniel abused his wife, Catharine, prompting
her to return to her mother’s home in Connecti-
cut—leaving their children behind. He then tried
to sexually assault his younger daughter, but the
daughter escaped to an uncle’s house. The police
found Daniel locked in his room, and he commit-
ted suicide before they could arrest him.
“It was heart-wrenching,” Baker said. “I’d
been so proud of our O’Connor name. I’m still
trying to make peace with how Catharine left
her children with that monster. She may have
been forced to do so, to escape w it h her ow n life.”
Further research revealed the name of Catha-
rine’s Irish hometown: Leitrim. Barker visited
the town and the church where another line
of ancestors, the Caseys, were baptized. While
there, she chatted with some distant relatives.
“My Irish pride has shifted from the O’Connor
name to the Caseys and her maternal side, the
McKiernans,” Baker said.Choosing New Heroes