O'Neill, James (1847-1929)

O'Neill, Hon. James (1847-1929)

Hon. James O'Neill of Neillsville, was born at Lisbon, St. Lawrence County, New York, September 3, 1847. His father, a farmer, was born and still resides on the same farm on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, where James first saw the light. His father is of Irish and English extraction, and his mother is of Scotch descent, but was born in this country. Mr. O'Neill received his education in the district schools entered St. Lawrence University at Canton, New York, in 1863, and remained three years. He entered Cornell University at the opening of that institution in 1868, as a sophomore, graduating in the full classic course in 1871. At intervals in his college course he taught school, in all three years, commencing at fifteen years of age, at $15 per month, and closing as principal of the high school at Ogdensburg, New York, at $1,200. He studied law in the office of Joseph McNaughton, Esq. at Ogdensburg, for one year, and graduated at the Albany Law School in 1873.

In September, 1873, he removed to Neillsville, Wisconsin, where he has ever since resided and practiced his profession. He came here on the invitation of is uncle, Hon. James O'Neill, the founder of the town and a member of the Wisconsin Legislature in 1849 and 1868. Mr. O'Neill was a member of the Legislature in 1885, a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1888, appointed District Attorney of Clark County in July 1887, and elected to the same office in 1888 by the largest majority of all the received by the candidates on the ticket. He is president of the school board at Neillsville, and and has always taken a great interest in school matters. At the last meeting, in Chicago, of the Northwestern University Alumni Association of Cornell University, he was elected president for the present year. He has steadily devoted his energies to the practice of his profession, the law. Cases argued by him may be found in nearly every one of the last thirty-five volumes of the reports of the Wisconsin Supreme Court. In 1890, Mr. O'Neill received the nomination of the Republican party for Attorney General of the State of Wisconsin. Various causes combined to defeat the Republican candidates, and for the first time since the organization of the Republican Party the entire Democratic ticket was elected. Mr. O'Neill is an able lawyer, a public-spirited citizen, and a man of unqualified integrity, and is numbered among the most popular citizens of his county and State.
In 1876 he was united in marriage to Miss Marian Robinson, of Neillsville.

Surnames: Ainsworth, Briggs, Davis, Doolittle, Eustis, Hepburn, James, Kellogg, Lafollette, MacNaughton, McBain, O'Neill, Sparrowhawk

James O'Neill, formerly of this place, and recently of Neillsville, Wisconsin, has returned to Lisbon with his bride where he has been stopping for the past six weeks. During this time they have visited Philadelphia, stopping two days on the Centennial grounds. We understand he is soon to go back to Neillsville, and to business, which is that of attorney

We have received a copy of the first number of the Neillsville, Wisconsin Times. James O'Neill, Jr. and Lelon A. Doolittle are the editors. Mr. O'Neill is known to many people in this vicinity as a Lisbon boy. Mr. Doolittle Is a native of Russell, in this county, and a graduate of Lawrence University at Canton. The Times is republican, will be the official paper of Clark county, is of good appearance and seems worthy and sure of success.

James O'Neill died in Neillsville, Wisconsin, on the 28th day of March, in his 72nd year.

Mr. O'Neill was born in he town of Lisbon, St. Lawrence County, New York, May 4th, 1810. He was the third of nine children of whom only one survives, Andrew O'Neill, who resides on the old homestead where deceased was born.

Hon. James O'Neill, of Neillsville, Wisconsin, son of Andrew O'Neill, of Lisbon, was in town Monday. Mr. O'Neill is a leading Republican of Northern Wisconsin, and one of the successful lawyers of the State. He has served in the Legislature and been twice the nominee of his party for Attorney General. In conversation Monday, Mr. O'Neill, speaking of Charles Ainsworth, a former Lisbon boy, and for a time a practicing lawyer at Black River Falls, Wisconsin, but for several years a resident of Phoenix, Arizona, said that if Arizona was admitted as a State, it was likely to send Mr. Ainsworth to the United States Senate. Ainsworth was graduated from St. Lawrence University, class of '74, and was for a time a teacher in our city schools. Mr. O'Neill returned to Wisconsin Tuesday.

----Source: St. Lawrence Republican and Ogdensburgh weekly journal., January 15, 1896, Page 4

We are in receipt of a letter from Hon. James O'Neill, of Neillsville Clark county, Wisconsin in which Mr. O'Neill encloses an article from the Neillsville Times, prepared by himself from a statement made by Solon B Davis, a young man transplanted from Stockholm in this county. There are about 100 St. Lawrence county families how living in Clark county not all of whom have succeeded like Mr. Davis, but many of them are doing well. We republish Mr. Davis' statement as a matter of interest to the farmers of this county:

"Solon B. Davis is one of the prosperous farmers of the town of York, Clark county. He started with the purchase of forty acres of wild timber land seven miles northeast of Neillsville, paying therefore $700. Having paid for that he next bought twenty acres of timber, and in 1885 purchased forty acres more with some improvements, at $1,500. He had to borrow $1200 of this, and many of his neighbors predicted that he would never be able to pay for it. It had been the habit of many farmers in Clark county to leave their places in the winter and go into the lumbering woods with their teams. Mr. Davis, however, remained on his place and stuck by his dairy. In 1893 he paid the last dollar of his mortgage, and he says that it was all paid out of butter. He has now 100 acres, of which 80 acres are improved. He keeps 20 cows, and sufficient hogs to use up the sour milk. From records which he has kept we are able to give a statement of his business for three years. In 1892, from 19 cows he realized for his butter $511.07 and from hogs $160, making $671.07.

"In 1893 his sales of butter amounted to $987.38, and from hogs $175, making $1,162.38 This was a good year and his returns were so large that he was able to clear off the balance of the $l,200 mortgage. The year of 1895 has not been so profitable, for prices of butter have been low. He has been building and improving his place this year, and milked only 11 cows. His returns for butter amounted to $466 55, and from hogs $152.60, making $619.15.

"He has used for several years a U. S. hand separator, which cost him $122. He has sold no butter this year for less than 18 cents, and his last netted him at home twenty-four and a half cents. While other farmers are disposing of their products at country stores, taking their pay in trade, Mr. Davis has shipped his to commission houses and always gets the highest price in cash. Having now paid for all his property he is ready to buy another farm. He is a young man only 47 years old.

"He puts all his corn fodder into the barn and cuts it with oats in the sheaf with a cyclone cutter, manufactured by the Hartford Plow Works. He buys bran and shorts to mix with this for his cows, and makes his butter largely in the winter so as to command the highest prices. What Mr. Davis has done can be done by other farmers in the rich dairy country which may be found in this part of this State."

HON. JAMES O'NEILL, of Neillsville, Wisconsin, son of Andrew O'Neill, a respected resident of Lisbon, is a candidate for judge of the 17th judicial circuit of Wisconsin, an office to be filled by election in the spring. Mr. O'Neill was educated at St. Lawrence and Cornell Universities, and was graduated from the Albany Law School. He has been a member of the Wisconsin Legislature, the candidate of his party for Attorney General, and is regarded as one of the strongest men of Northern Wisconsin. Many friends in this county will wish him success.

ANDREW O'NEILL, of Lisbon, received a telegram Wednesday informing him of the election of his son, Hon. James O'Neill, of Neillsville, Wisconsin, to be circuit judge of his district, by 4,000 majority. It is a high honor, worthily bestowed, and the friends of father and son will extend hearty congratulations.

----Source: St. Lawrence Republican and Ogdensburgh weekly journal., April 14, 1897, Page 5

Andrew O'NEILL, of Lisbon, received a telegram Wednesday informing him of the election of his son, Hon. James O'Neill, of Neillsville, Wisconsin, to be circuit judge of his district, by 4,000 majority. It is a high honor, worthily bestowed, and the friends of father and son will extend hearty congratulations.

JAMES O'NEILL who was elected circuit judge for the northern Wisconsin district the past week received the unprecedented majority of 5,000. Political lines were slightly regarded and the fight which was a hard one, turned on the qualifications of the candidates. Lelon A, Doolittle, an Eau Claire lawyer, formerly of Russell in this county, led the fight for O'Neill. The salary of the office is $4,000, term six years from the 1st of January, 1898.

JUDGE James O'Neill, of Neillsville, Wisconsin, is visiting his father, Andrew O'Neill, of Lisbon, and friends in this section.

We are in receipt of a pamphlet containing an address by Hon . James O'Neill, of Neillsville , Wisconsin, delivered before the State Historical Convention at Madison, Wisconsin, February 23rd, 1899, which was republished from its proceedings by the society. Judge O'Neill is judge of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Wisconsin and is well known in St. Lawrence county, hailing from Lisbon, where he is now visiting friends. His address was entitled "The Future of Northern Wisconsin," and he forecasts the development of that region in various lines.

----Source: The Ogdensburg advance and St. Lawrence weekly Democrat., September 20, 1906, Page 1

Judge O'Neil and wife and daughter left Wednesday for their home in Neillsville, Wisconsin, after having spent a couple of months with relatives here.

----Source: The Republican-journal., August 06, 1923, Page 5, Ogdendsburg, NY

Judge James O'Neill, a native of the township of Lisbon, but now a resident of Neillsville, Wisconsin, passed through Ogdensburg Saturday afternoon on his biennial trip back to the old farm where he was born. Here he will visit again his brother, William O'Neill for three weeks and see his sister, Mrs. Sparrowhawk. It is one half a century since James O'Neill, then a young man of 25 years, located in the Badger State, yet his love for the old home has not waned any, and his reminiscences of people and things hereabouts at that time are bright and interesting. When a boy he brought produce from the farm to Ogdensburg, then a good sized village, and becoming competent as a teacher he was engaged in the old brick academy in Washington street. This was at a time when A. B. Hepburn, after whom our city hospital is named, was a teacher in our public schools. Mr. O'Neill attended St. Lawrence university and Cornell college. He seemed unusually fresh appearing for a man whose birth dated back so far, and told a good story apout his introduction to a man in his Wisconsin town, when this point was touched upon. "Oh, sir have I the pleasure of meeting the son of Judge James O'Neill?" "I am my father's son but also the judge you mention." And the reporter told the judge that recalled though It has no connection with his story, what Hamlet said in his wandering over his father's death, "I am my father's ghost." The judge smiled pleasantly and hurried off for Lisbon.

Judge O'Neill, Famous Jurist of Wisconsin, Visits Boyhood Scenes; Lauds Worth of St. Lawrence Sons

On Annual Pilgrimage to Boyhood Home On St. Lawrence, Says Lafollette Will Do Well If He Carries Four States, and Expects President Coolidge Will Stay in the White House

Ogdensburg was honored yesterday with a visit from a distinguished son of this country in the person of Hon. James O'Neill, native of Lisbon, a famous lawyer and jurist of Neillsville, Wis., and who is now enjoying a well earned vacation after many years' service on the Superior court bench of Wisconsin.

Mr. O'Neill's grandfather, Andrew O'Neill, who was born in County Antrim, Ireland, was the first white settler in Lisbon, where he cleared a farm on the river bank in 1798. The homestead, a stout structure 30 by 30, which the pioneer reared with his own hands, still stands, a landmark in the vicinity. It is the home of the present tenant. Judge O'Neill and his only sister, Mrs. Mary Sparrowhawk, are joint owners of the land, and the adjoining farm, once the property of O. C. Platt, is owned by their brother, William O'Neill. Judge O'Neill said he was delighted with the crop conditions in St. Lawrence county and considered them among the best he has ever seen in this section with the exception of corn. "It is an abundant crop but I am in doubt whether it will mature," he declared.

The judge paid a visit to the Journal office yesterday and said it brought back to his mind the days of Henry and Ed James, who founded the Boys Journal in 1856.

Judge O'Neill, who has a distinguished record in the judiciary of the Badger State, will be 77 tomorrow. He retired from the bench three years ago and has since served in an advisory counselor, being associated with his son, F. D. Calway, who is a lawyer in Neillsville. A vigorous, erect man with a clear eye and a strong mind, the judge would pass for 60. "I have not begun to think that I am growing old," he said with the cheeriness of a born optimist.

Judge O'Neill is spending a month at his old home and will visit friends in neighborhood towns. "To me," he said, "Ogdensburg is a dear old town. I taught school here in 1870 and 1871. The other day I went to Canton and passed three schools where I once taught. One was in the Craig district near Flackville, where I received $15 a month and boarded around with the farmers. When I taught in the Ogdensburg Institute I received $1,000, which was a good salary in those days.

Today I dropped into a book store on Ford street and saw the 'Life of A. Barton Hepburn,' the famous banker. I knew him well in my early days, as he began his career as a school teacher here. I attended St. Lawrence university three years and then spent a year at Cornell. In 1872 and '73 I attended Albany Law school. One of my classmates was Judge John M. Kellogg of Ogdensburg, now retired like myself. After graduating I went to Wisconsin and settled in Neillsville, where I practiced law for twenty-four years, and was on the bench for the same length of time. My uncle, James O'Neill, was the first settler in Clark county, of which Neillsville named for him, is the county seat. He was a member of the second Legislature of the state in the year 1849. Clark county is a sort of sprout of St. Lawrence county, from which some of its pioneers emigrated. Today, it has a population of 35,000, and has 54,000 cows. Farming conditions in Wisconsin are good and the state ranks first in dairy products in the Union. There has been some trouble where farms were bought at a time when high prices prevailed and produce took a drop.

Neillsville has a population of 2,500 and is the largest community of Clark county. It is in the north central part, 290 miles north of Chicago and 150 miles west of Lake Michigan. Eau Claire, 60 miles away, and La Crosse, 100 miles distant, are the nearest cities of importance.

"Wisconsin is very much interested in the St. Lawrence canal project. It is a live topic and the whole state is strongly behind it."

Of St. Lawrence county men who have made their mark in the west, Judge O'Neill spoke first of Frank B. Kellogg, United States Ambassador to London, which post the judge rated the second highest in the gift of the nation. Judge O'Neill and the ambassador have been correspondents for many years. Four prominent western lawyers who came from St. Lawrence county stock are Judge Henry McBain, municipal court judge at Eau Claire, who was born in Chase Mills. Judge W. Singleton of Eau Claire, born in Louisville and a law student in Joeph MacNaughton's office in Ogdensburg; Leland A. Doolittle, native of Russell and a lawyer of excellent reputation, and Judge Herbert F. Briggs of Fresno, Cal., who came from the judge's own town of Lisbon. Ex Gov. W.H. Eustis of St. Paul also is a St. Lawrence county man. He is a very wealthy and has made some large gifts to the city of St. Paul.

A recent letter from ambassador Kellogg to Judge O'Neill made the following reference to Mr. Kellogg's early life in St. Lawrence county: "I was born in Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, December 22, 1856. When I was a very small child my father, Asa F. Kellogg, moved to Long Lake, Hamilton county, in the Adirondacks, where we lived until the close the war in the autumn of 1865. We then went to Minnesota, settled on a farm in Olmstead county about fifteen miles from Rochester, Minn. My schooling, I am sorry to say, was very limited--a school in the Adirondacks as a boy and a few years country schooling in Olmstead county, after we moved to the farm. Most of my summers, however, were taken up working on the farm. About 1871 or 1872 we moved over in to the Wabash county, Minnesota, where I lived until December 1875, when I went to Rochester to study law."

Judge O'Neill believes La Follette will not receive the electorate vote of more than four states and that his entry in to the Presidential contest will not harm Coolidge to any great extent. "I have known Senator La Follette the last 40 years and served with him in the legislature of Wisconsin," said the judge. "I think he may carry Wisconsin and possibly Minnesota and the two Dakotas. In my opinion that is the extent of his strength this year. I expect that Mr. Coolidge will be the next President."

JAMES O'NEILL, Jr. attorney, Neillsville was born in St Lawrence Co. N.Y., Sept. 3, 1847. He remained there till 1873, studying law. He graduated at Cornell, Utica, N.Y., then attended law school at Albany, graduated, and was admitted to the Bar in 1873. He then started west and the same year located in this State and entered a steady practice. In 1876, he married Miss Marion Robinson, of Neillsville. They have one child, Ernest, aged four years.

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Bio:	ONeill, James (1847-1929)
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Surnames:	O'NEILL ROBINSON