Age 48. 460 Chancery Street, New Bedford, MA. Born 8/14/1894, Fall River, MA. Died of burns (death certificate). Inspector, New Bedford branch, State Registry of Motor Vehicles. Wife Catherine, age 43, also died. Couple was in a party with his unmarried younger sister Miss Isabelle O'Neil, age 41, of Fall River, dead, and her companion Dr. William O'Connor, age 46 (Born 3/19/1896. Died 4/11/1980, age 84. Last residence New Bedford), a veterinarian from New Bedford, escaped. Mixed foursome attended the shocking afternoon Holy Cross 55-to-12 football upset of 28-point-favorite Boston College at Fenway Park. Had dinner in the main dining room at "a ringside seat, opposite the orchestra" (Dr. Connor to Boston Police, 11/29/1942). Others were waiting in the main lobby for Miss O'Neil who had stopped in the foyer ladies room before leaving when the fire broke. His body was identified at Massachusetts General Hospital early on Sunday. "Mrs. O'Neil...and Mr. O'Neil...apparently met death by suffocation rather than burns, relatives said today [Monday]. All...were readily identified" (The Standard-Times, New Bedford, 11/30/1942). Grandsons Christopher and Mark O'Neil in 2012 established "The Thomas H. and Catherine D. O'Neil Charitable Foundation," named in honor of their victim grandparents to provide support for burns patients and their families (Christopher O'Neil to The Boston Globe, 11/27/2012: "We started it as our own means of giving back on their behalf. We thought it was important to do something, even though it’s been 70 years"). With his unmarried sister was one of 16 sibling pairs both lost in the blaze (also half-siblings Earl Tattrie and Mrs. Harrilyn "Dolly" Taft, ages 31 and 21 respectively, plus the Fitzgeralds of Wilmington, MA, four brothers dead). With his wife were the lone Grove victims from the "Whaling City" of New Bedford. Surname (with his wife) was misspelled "O'Neill" (with two "l"s) on the official November 1943 Boston Committee on Public Safety master list of casualties (surnames of both were spelled correctly on their death certificates). Parents Mrs. Isabelle P. (Joyce) and the late Mr. James H. O'Neil. Burial with his wife at St. Mary's Cemetery, New Bedford. Middle name Henry.

‍