The 1862 Federal Homestead
Act gave settlers 160 acres of free federal land. The Missouri
Schools Land Act said that if a school was not built on Section 16
on each parcel of federal homestead land, then that land could be
open to homesteaders.
William Patrick (Papa) O'Neill found a
beautiful piece of land in the Missouri Ozarks and in 1893, he moved
most of his family to the dog-trot log cabin standing on the acreage
he had homesteaded. (He took 80 acres of federal homestead land and
another 80 acres of school land that adjoined the homestead
land). Rose later bought another 12 acres along Bear
Creek "to save the large trees". The cabin had already
been built by it's former owner, one of the Cupp's, a Baldknobber,
who fled the county after the killing of a Taney County Deputy
Sheriff.
The cabin was filled with all of
Papa's book. Books were used for chairs, put under the eaves,
stacked against walls. The O'Neills tried their hand at
farming, making friends with their Ozarks neighbors. A year
later, Rose came for her first visit and fell in love with 'the
tangles'. Enchanted by the local people, the wildlife, and the
little brook that ran alongside the homestead, Rose named their land
" Bonniebrook" and later said that she loved Bonniebrook better
than any other place on earth.
When Rose went back to New York, she
became the highest paid female illustrator in the United
States. She also became a staff illustrator at Puck
magazine. Rose would send money home to her family, becoming
their sole support. With some of the money Rose sent home, her
father, brothers and local craftsmen built a 14-room
mansion. A mansion that was far ahead of it's time, the house
was built with fireplaces in the livingroom and diningroom.
Rose had a stove in her studio for heat and to warm her
paints. Lighting was coal oil lamps in each room. After
living in New York, Rose put a gas light system in the house, ran by
a carbide generator in the front yard. (Carbide is the
substance used in miner's lamps before electricity). She ran
gas pipes throughout the house.
In 1940, when the REA brought electricity
to the area, Rose had the electric wires run through the old gas
pipes and electrified the gas fixtures. She even had
electricity wired to the old dog-trot cabin. She also got a
steam heating system with radiators ran by a steam boiler in the
basement. When the boiler failed, Buck stoves were used.
Rose had a telephone installed. She then put telephones
in her neighbors houses so she would have someone to talk
to.
Bonniebrook was the first house in Taney
County with indoor plumbing. The bathroom boasted a flushing
toilet (water closet), and there was also water in the kitchen and
laundry rooms.
A good source to look through, to see
what Rose got for Bonniebrook, would be a turn-of-the-century Sear's
catalog. Sears would ship to Day, Missouri, so she ordered her
big items from their catalog.
In 1947, Rose's beloved Bonniebrook burnt
to the ground. It is suspected that Rose's youngest brother,
Clarence (Clink), left a space heater going to keep an ailing kitten
warm on that cold January afternoon. While Clink was having
supper with friends, an electrical fire started.
* Special thanks to Robert
H. Gibbons, former IROC and first BHS president for his
research,information, suggestions and moral support supplied in
the making of this site. Many thanks also to Lois Holman,
former president of BHS for information and pictures used in the
making of this site. *
--Chuck and Ingrid Taylor, February 2002
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