James A. O’Neil (January 26, 1800 – September 1, 1874) was an American businessman and politician in the

Oregon Country Oregon Country was a large region of the Pacific Northwest of North America that was subject to a long dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been created by the Treaty of 1818, co ...

and later

Oregon Territory The Territory of Oregon was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from August 14, 1848, until February 14, 1859, when the southwestern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Oregon. Ori ...

. A

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

native, he took part in the

Champoeg Meetings The Champoeg Meetings were the first attempts at formal governance by European-American and French Canadian pioneers in the Oregon Country on the Pacific Northwest coast of North America. Between 1841 and 1843, a series of public councils was held ...

and helped form the

Provisional Government of Oregon The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, a ...

. Prior to the formation of a government he participated in the

Willamette Cattle Company The Willamette Cattle Company was formed in 1837 by pioneers in the Willamette Valley of present-day Oregon, United States. The company was formed with the express purpose of purchasing cattle in Mexican California. Nearly 750 head of cattle and ...

, and later served as a judge in the Provisional Government.

Early life

James O’Neil was born in the state of New York in 1800.Corning, Howard M. (1989). ''Dictionary of Oregon History''. Binfords & Mort Publishing. p. 179. He was partly educated in legal studies there.Flora, Stephenie
Emigrants to Oregon Prior To 1839.
Oregon Pioneers. Retrieved on February 18, 2008. In 1834, James joined Nathaniel Wyeth’s fur trading company, the Columbia River Fishing and Trading Company (CRFTC), that was organized to exploit the

fur trade The fur trade is a worldwide industry dealing in the acquisition and sale of animal fur. Since the establishment of a world fur market in the early modern period, furs of boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals have been the mos ...

along the west coast of North America.

Oregon

Wyeth’s party arrived in 1834 at the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers at present day

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. O’Neil helped build Wyeth’s Fort William on today’s

Sauvie Island Sauvie Island, in the U.S. state of Oregon, originally Wapato Island or Wappatoo Island, is the largest island along the Columbia River, at , and one of the largest river islands in the United States. It lies approximately ten miles northwest of ...

. The venture was a failure, and O’Neil moved up the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a long valley in Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. The Willamette River flows the entire length of the valley and is surrounded by mountains on three sides: the Cascade Range to the east, ...

and took a land claim near what is now

Wheatland, Oregon Wheatland is an unincorporated community in Yamhill County, Oregon, United States. It is near the Willamette River where the Wheatland Ferry takes traffic across the river into Marion County. Its elevation is ; it is in the Pacific Time Zone. ...

, in 1835. In 1837, the

was formed by area settlers, led by

Ewing Young Ewing Young (1799-February 9, 1841) was an American fur trapper and trader from Tennessee who traveled in what was then the northern Mexico frontier territories of Santa Fe de Nuevo México and Alta California before settling in the Oregon Country. ...

. O’Neil joined the company and sailed to

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

aboard the ''Loriot'' and then drove cattle back to Oregon. In 1838, he was one of the people to sign a petition circulated around the Euro-American settlements of the Oregon Country that was sent to the

United States Congress The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...

asking for the United States to extend its jurisdiction over the region. The U.S. did not do so until it formed the Oregon Territory in 1848 after settling the

Oregon boundary dispute The Oregon boundary dispute or the Oregon Question was a 19th-century territorial dispute over the political division of the Pacific Northwest of North America between several nations that had competing territorial and commercial aspirations in ...

with

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

. In 1841, settler Ewing Young died without an heir, leading to a series of meetings at

Champoeg Champoeg ( , historically Horner, John B. (1919). ''Oregon: Her History, Her Great Men, Her Literature''. The J.K. Gill Co.: Portland. p. 398.) is a former town in the U.S. state of Oregon. Now a ghost town, it was an important settlement in the W ...

on the

French Prairie French Prairie is located in Marion County, Oregon, United States, in the Willamette Valley between the Willamette River and the Pudding River, north of Salem. It was named for some of the earliest settlers of that part of the Oregon Country, Fr ...

. At a later meeting in 1843, settlers voted 52 to 50 in favor of forming the

with O’Neil voting with the proponents. Following this vote, he assisted in the creation of the government by serving on the first

legislative committee A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...

that wrote the

Organic laws of Oregon The Organic Laws of Oregon were two sets of legislation passed in the 1840s by a group of primarily American settlers based in the Willamette Valley. These laws were drafted after the Champoeg Meetings and created the structure of a government in ...

, and was elected as a

justice of the peace A justice of the peace (JP) is a judicial officer of a lower or ''puisne'' court, elected or appointed by means of a commission ( letters patent) to keep the peace. In past centuries the term commissioner of the peace was often used with the sa ...

for the

Yamhill District The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country, in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. Its formation had been advanced at the Champoeg Meetings since February 17, 1841, a ...

. This assistance included selling several legal texts to the legislative committee to help frame the Organic law.Scott, H.W. (1890)
History of Portland, Oregon.
D. Mason & Co. In 1845, he was elected as a judge for the district. O’Neil also built a

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

that year, the first in what became

Polk County Polk County is the name of twelve counties in the United States, all except two named after president of the United States James Knox Polk: * Polk County, Arkansas * Polk County, Florida * Polk County, Georgia * Polk County, Iowa * Polk Count ...

Later years

O’Neil then moved to Benton County and lived at Tampico where he operated a store. In 1853, he joined a commission working to build a railroad connection to California, remaining until 1854. The next year he married Tabitha C. Bowman. James A. O’Neil died in September 1874, at his farm in Polk County near the community of Lewisville. He was buried there, but later moved to the Hart Cemetery.

References

External links

Brown’s Political History of Oregon
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oneil, James A. Champoeg Meetings Members of the Provisional Government of Oregon People from New York (state) 1800 births 1874 deaths Oregon pioneers People from Yamhill, Oregon People from Benton County, Oregon