Pauline Marie O'Neill (née Schindler; January 13, 1865 – January 12, 1961) was an American

suffragist Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise is the right to vote in public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally in English, the right to vo ...

and

legislator A legislator, or lawmaker, is a person who writes and passes laws, especially someone who is a member of a legislature. Legislators are often elected by the people, but they can be appointed, or hereditary. Legislatures may be supra-nat ...

. In addition to her personal accomplishments, she is remembered as the widow of William Owen "Buckey" O'Neill.

Biography

O'Neill was born Pauline Marie Schindler in

San Francisco, California San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

on January 13, 1865. An only child, her parents, W.F.R. and Rosalie Young Schindler, had immigrated from

Prussia Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...

and her father worked as a purchasing agent for the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

. Around 1884 her father was transferred to Fort Whipple and she accompanied her parents to

Arizona Territory The Territory of Arizona, commonly known as the Arizona Territory, was a territory of the United States that existed from February 24, 1863, until February 14, 1912, when the remaining extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the ...

. Schindler met her first husband, Buckey O'Neill, while working as a school teacher. At the time he was editor of the ''Hoof and Horn'' newspaper. The couple were married on April 27, 1886. Their first child, "Buckey" Jr., was born January 1, 1887, and died two weeks later. They adopted a second son, Maurice, on October 15 the same year. O'Neill was widowed on July 1, 1898, when Buckey died during the

Battle of San Juan Hill The Battle of San Juan Hill (), also known as the Battle for the San Juan Heights, was a major battle of the Spanish–American War fought between an American force under the command of William Rufus Shafter and Joseph Wheeler against a Span ...

Life insurance Life insurance (or life assurance, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations) is a contract A contract is an agreement that specifies certain legally enforceable rights and obligations pertaining to two or more parties. A contract typical ...

US$ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...

200,000 along with property in Phoenix and monies from her husband's onyx mine left her financially secure for many years to follow. She remarried on May 16, 1901, wedding her late husband's brother, Eugene Brady O'Neill. Eugene was a Phoenix-based lawyer who served two terms in the Council (

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

) of the

Arizona Territorial Legislature The Arizona Territorial Legislature was the legislative body of Arizona Territory. It was a bicameral legislature consisting of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the council. Created by the Arizona Organic Act, the l ...

before he committed suicide in 1918. The same year she lost her first husband, O'Neill resigned her teaching position and was elected president of the Arizona Territorial Women's Suffrage Association while her friend

Frances Munds Frances Lillian Willard Munds (June 10, 1866 – December 16, 1948) was an American suffragist and leader of the suffrage movement within Arizona. After achieving her goal of statewide women's suffrage, she went on to become a member of the ...

was elected the group's secretary. Unlike earlier suffrage leaders in the territory, such as Josephine Brawley Hughes, O'Neill and Munds reached out to

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

ladies within the territory. This outreach enable to organization to lobby Mormon member of the territorial legislature to support legislation supporting women, the result being passage of a women's suffrage bill by the 22nd Arizona Territorial Legislature. The bill was later vetoed by Territorial Governor Alexander Brodie. O'Neill was quite productive in multiple women civil right's organizations following the passing of her first husband, such as being chairman of Women's Committee, member of the Council of Defense, playing a part in the Woman’s Relief Corps of the Grand Army of the Republic, and was an early member of th
Prescott Women's Club
In 1910, with the convening of Arizona's Constitutional convention, O'Neill joined other suffrage leaders in lobbying for women to be granted the vote in the new constitution. Her personal appeal was that unless they had governmental representation, women should not be taxed. Failing to achieve the desired outcome, she joined with Munds to launch a

ballot initiative A popular initiative (also citizens' initiative) is a form of direct democracy by which a petition meeting certain hurdles can force a legal procedure on a proposition. In direct initiative, the proposition is put directly to a plebiscite o ...

. O'Neill set out to establish a

nonpartisan Nonpartisan or non-partisan may refer to: __NOTOC__ General political concepts * Nonpartisanship, also known as Nonpartisanism, co-operation without reference to political parties * Non-partisan democracy, an election with no official recognition ...

club known as the Phoenix Civic League that assisted in this ballot initiative to collects signatures. The suffrage initiative passed during the 1912 election. O'Neill's first government position came with an appointment to the Yavapai County Board of Examiners in charge of teacher certification which she served as a member for from 1895 to 1899. This was followed in 1917 with her election to the first of two terms in the

Arizona Legislature The Arizona State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Arizona. It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the House of Representatives, and an upper house, the Senate. Composed of 90 legislators, the s ...

representing

Maricopa County Maricopa County () is a county in the south-central part of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2020 census the population was 4,420,568, or about 62% of the state's total, making it the fourth-most populous county in the United States and ...

from 1915–1920. As a member of the legislature she supported a variety of children's and women's issues, including her vote for ratification of the

Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution The Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution prohibits the United States and its U.S. state, states from denying the Suffrage, right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex, in effect recogni ...

. In 1924, O'Neill moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. She remained active in a variety of civic and charitable causes, even winning a commendation from the

American Red Cross The American National Red Cross is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit Humanitarianism, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief, and disaster preparedness education in the United States. Clara Barton founded ...

for her aid to soldiers and their families during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. She died in

Hollywood, California Hollywood, sometimes informally called Tinseltown, is a List of districts and neighborhoods in Los Angeles, neighborhood and district in the Central Los Angeles, central region of Los Angeles County, California, within the city of Los Angeles. ...

on January 12, 1961, and was buried in Los Angeles' Calvary Cemetery.

References

External links

Pauline Schindler O'Neill
from Sharlot Hall Museum * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oneill, Pauline Members of the Arizona House of Representatives Women state legislators in Arizona 1865 births 1961 deaths Suffragists from Arizona 20th-century members of the Arizona State Legislature 20th-century American women politicians