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 Oregon boundary dispute, dispute between the United Kingdom and the United States in the early 19th century. The area, which had been demarcat ...

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 United States, Union as the Oreg ...

. A

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

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 he ...

and helped form the

Provisional Government of Oregon The Provisional Government of Oregon was a popularly elected settler government created in the Oregon Country (1818-1846), in the Pacific Northwest region of the western portion of the continent of North America. Its formation had been advanced ...

. Prior to the formation of a government he participated in the Willamette Cattle Company, 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 ecosystem, boreal, polar and cold temperate mammalian animals h ...

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 the List of cities in Oregon, most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon, located in the Pacific Northwest region. Situated close to northwest Oregon at the confluence of the Willamette River, Willamette and Columbia River, ...

. O’Neil helped build Wyeth’s Fort William on today’s Sauvie Island. The venture was a failure, and O’Neil moved up the

Willamette Valley The Willamette Valley ( ) is a 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, the ...

and took a land claim near what is now Wheatland, Oregon, in 1835. In 1837, the Willamette Cattle Company was formed by area settlers, led by Ewing Young. O’Neil joined the company and sailed to

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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, legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, including a Lower house, lower body, the United States House of Representatives, ...

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 north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. In 1841, settler Ewing Young died without an heir, leading to a series of meetings at Champoeg 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. The prairie area roughly corresponds to the traditional land of the Kalapuya peopl ...

. 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 legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of ...

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 for the Yamhill District. 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 grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist is grain that h ...

that year, the first in what became Polk County.

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