During my childhood I was regularly reminded of our illustrious cousin, Presley Neville O’Bannon, who in 1805, as a United States Marine, led a successful action near Tripoli in what is now Libya. In raising the American Flag over foreign soil in time of war he achieved lasting fame, since he was the first to do so. The action is immortalized in the Marines’ Hymn, “…to the shores of Tripoli….” Three U.S. Navy ships, all destroyers, have been named for him.
As a movie critic, Edith Lindeman Calisch not only reviewed the 1950 film “Tripoli” starring John Payne and Maureen O’Hara, her attachment to the notion of Presley O’Bannon “cousinhood” was only intensified. There is a connection, but it is weak and dissatisfying. Edith’s grandmother on her mother’s side was Ann McIntyre Shields Elliott. Her mother, in turn, was an O’Bannon. The line then reaches back in the family tree to 1683 in Ireland. Along the way we encounter William O’Bannon of Virginia who had 13 children, one of whom was Presley Neville. Alas, we are not descended from him, but rather from his brother, Thomas.
Another source of confusion is the case of Hannah Elizabeth Shields O’Bannon, the sister of Ann McIntyre Shields Elliott, previously mentioned. She is an O’Bannon by marriage and married a distant O’Bannon cousin. Mae Lindeman referred to her as Aunt Hannah (not to be confused with Hannah Lindeman Schwarz). Hannah O’Bannon spent much of her adult life in Saint Louis, Missouri ministering to Civil War veterans.
The Shields line has been traced as far as William Shields (1730-1796). His son, Thomas Shields, whose silhouette is shown below is the father of William Henry Percy Shields, the grandfather of Mae Elliott Lindeman and the father of Ann McIntyre Shields Elliott.
Mae Lindeman’s mother, Ann McIntyre Shields Elliott, was previously married to Daniel Trigg, a farmer in Missouri. He was a 2nd Lieutenant in the 5th Missouri Cavalry. He died in battle in the Civil War. Later Ann remarried. However, there were two children by the first marriage, Mae’s half-brother William Shields Trigg, and half-sister Nannie Hickman Trigg.
