A sign used to be on this house that stated it was built in 1822 by Lt. John O'Neill (1768-1838), the hero of Havre de Grace, for his daughter, Matilda O’Neill, and that he gave it to her as a wedding present. It’s said that Matilda, 15, during the War of 1812, persuaded British Admiral George Cockburn to spare her father’s life after he was arrested. The sign stated that in 1842 Matilda sold the house to her brother, William O’Neill. John O’Neill and his wife, Mary (1768-1842), had five children: Jane, Anne, Matilda, John Jr., and William. Matilda O’Neill (1796-1867) married John D. Wood and is buried in Greenmount Cemetery in Baltimore.

Deeds show that in 1879 this home was conveyed from John S. Morgan and Mary V. Morgan to Mary A. Jones. John Morgan was the Officer of Registration for the Sixth District in 1878. Mary Jones had three children, Armour Jones, Myrtle M. Boyd, and Samuel R. Jones. After the children inherited their mother’s property in 1914, Samuel Jones bought his brother’s and sister’s interest in the home. He lived in this house with his wife, Laura Jones, and is known to have had telephone service here in 1916. They had a daughter in 1910 named Emily who later married John H. Boyd, Jr. and she added his name to hers on the deed in 1932. Two years later, however, Emily Boyd removed her husband’s name from the deed.

The home stayed in the name of Emily Boyd for the next 40 years. In 1974, however, Emily, n/k/a/ Emily R. Whitby (1910-1993) sold this property to Terence H. and Amelia B. Collins, Emily having married Walter W. Whitby (1910-1975) during the intervening years. During those years, it appears that Emily had tenants in this home at least for some of the time.

One family in the home in 1957 was Edwin R. Jobes (1907-1983) and his wife, Mary, and this is where Edwin’s widowed mother, Laura G. Jobes, died in 1957. Laura had been married to Edward D. Jobes in 1928 when he was killed instantly in an auto accident while being driven by his young nephew, leaving her a widow with three children. At the time of the accident they lived at 723 Otsego Street.

Following the Collins family as owners in 1974 were a few others including William and Deborah Carrico from 1986 to 2001, when William Carrico sold the home to The Old Chesapeake Hotel, LLC. This was one of four houses in this block converted into attractive corporate suites as overflow for The Chesapeake Hotel. This building was converted into four one-bedroom units. In 2014, however, The Old Chesapeake Hotel sold this property to David Leroy Conklin of Phoenix, Maryland, for whom this was a real estate investment.

David Conklin died intestate in 2019 and after tenants had been successfully removed from the property it was sold the same year to Ruth Mary Bissell. Some repairs and renovations to the four large units were carefully made by Mary who has retained some of the house’s historic features including some interior brick walls and hand-made nails. The units are marketed via Airbnb.

County Records
Built 1900. Multiple residence. 3,600 sq ft, 6,000 sq ft lot.