Spouse-1: *****

Child-1: James - b: 1835/1836 - IL - nra: 1850
          2: Margaret
          3: Robert - b: 1839/1840 - IL - nra: 1850

Spouse-2: Mary Lewis - b: 1818/1819 - KY
  m: 21/Nov/1844 - Mason Co., IL

Child-1: Charles - b: 14/Feb/1846 - IL
                            d: 4/Oct/1912 - bur: Kilbourne Cem., Mason Co., IL
                           m: Elizabeth Hughes - 27/Jul/1871- Mason Co., IL
          2: Allen - b: 1848/1849 - IL - nra: 1850
          3: George Lewis - b: 12/Jan/1851 - Kilbourne Twp., Mason Co., IL
                                      d: 5/Mar/1927 - bur: Kilbourne Cem., Mason Co., IL
                                     m: Louisa Hughes - 2/Jan/1876 - Mason Co., IL
                                     m: Rosa (Mayme) Payne - 27/Nov/1895 - Mason Co., IL
          4: Daniel - b: 1853/1854 - IL

Biographical Details:

Obviously, the surname "McDaniel" or "McDaniels" would seem to be evidently related to the Hebrew personal name "Daniel", which means "God is my judge" and is, thus, associated with the major prophet of this name as recounted in the Book of Daniel, which appears in both Hebrew and Christian Bibles.¹  Within this context, the prophet, Daniel, advocated steadfast adherence to his Hebrew faith despite persecution by Babylonian and Persian kings.  Accordingly, many miraculous stories have become attached to him, e.g., "Daniel in the lion's den", "Daniel and the fiery furnace", "The handwriting on the wall", etc.  He also was important to later Christian apocalyptic literature such as the Book of Revelation.  Consequently, the name was transmitted to nearly all western languages and remains popular as a masculine proper name down to the present.  Even so, the surname did not necessarily arise from association with the proper name, but also as an erroneous association of the Gaelic patronymic"McDonnell" with "Daniel".  As often happened, spelling was imprecise in earlier times; hence, both forms, viz., "McDaniel" and "McDaniels", appear in civil records.  nevertheless, "McDaniel" seems to have become the accepted standard form.

By his own statement in the population schedule of the 1850 US Census for Mason County, Illinois, William McDaniel was born in North Carolina about 1803.  It is not known when he moved westward; however, the family appears to have been living in Menard (later Mason) County as early as 1840.  Indeed, the population schedule of the 1840 US Census for Menard County, Illinois, includes the household of William McDaniel, which consisted of one male and one female child of less than five years old, a female child between five and ten years, an adult female between twenty and thirty years of age, and an adult male between thirty and forty.  This accords reasonably well with the family of William McDaniel, except for misidentification of the older child as a female instead of a male; however, such errors occur frequently in early census records.  Concomitantly, the name of William McDaniel's first wife is not known.  Indeed, many researchers do not recognize this wife at all; however, archived Illinois marriage records indicate that William McDaniel did not marry Mary Lewis until November of 1844.  Therefore, the mother of the three older children, viz., James, Margaret, and Robert, cannot have been Mary Lewis McDaniel; however, she was evidently the mother of the four younger children, viz., Charles, Allen, George, and Daniel.²  William McDaniel appears to have died about 1855 and his second wife somewhat later, but no burial places are known.

1a. Patrick Hanks (ed.), Oxford Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, periodically updated.
     "Altered form of Irish McDonnell 'son of Donal', from an incorrect association of the Gaelic patronymic with the personal name Daniel.
     Irish: variant of McDaniel, with redundant addition of English patronymic -s."

b. ibid.
     "1. English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Polish, Czech, Slovak, Hungarian (Dániel), Romanian, and Jewish: from the Hebrew personal name Daniel 'God is my judge', borne by a major prophet in the Bible. The major factor influencing the popularity of the personal name (and hence the frequency of the surname) was undoubtedly the dramatic story in the Book of Daniel, recounting the prophet's steadfast adherence to his religious faith in spite of pressure and persecution from the Mesopotamian kings in whose court he served: Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar (at whose feast Daniel interpreted the mysterious message of doom that appeared on the wall, being thrown to the lions for his pains). The name was also borne by a 2nd-century Christian martyr and by a 9th-century hermit, the legend of whose life was popular among Christians during the Middle Ages; these had a minor additional influence on the adoption of the Christian name. Among Orthodox Christians in Eastern Europe the name was also popular as being that of a 4th-century Persian martyr, who was venerated in the Orthodox Church.
     2. Irish: reduced form of McDaniel, which is actually a variant of McDonnell, from the Gaelic form of Irish Donal (equivalent to Scottish Donald), erroneously associated with the Biblical personal name Daniel. See also O'Donnell."
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2.   Anonymous, The History of Menard and Mason Counties, Illinois, O. L. Baskin & Co., Historical Publishers, Chicago, Illinois, 1879: pg. 808.
     "GEORGE L. McDANIEL, farmer; P. O. Kilbourne; was born in this township Jan. 12, 1851; his father's name was William and his mother's before marriage Mary Lewis, both of them natives of Kentucky; they came to this State during its early history; his father died when he was a small boy and he was then under the sole care of his mother.  Jan. 2, 1875, he was united in wedlock to Louisa Hughs, who was born in Kentucky April 24, 1857.  In 1879, he bought forty acres of land, which he now owns.  He and wife are members of the Baptist Church at New Lebanon."
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Additional Citations:

3. 1840 US Census Population Schedule for Menard County, Kentucky, National Archives, Washington DC:  pg. 291, (microfilm roll M704_65; imgs. 1090-1).

4. 1850 US Census Population Schedule for Mason County, Illinois, National Archives, Washington DC:  pg. 170B, (microfilm: roll M432_120; img. 177).

5. Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Illinois State Archives & Illinois Genealogical Society, Springfield, IL, 2014.  ("Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, 1763-1900", www.cyberdriveillinois.com/departments/archives/databases/marriage.html)

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