pioneer settler and lumberman, b. Lisbon, St. Lawrence County, N.Y. He engaged in lumbering for several years in Canada and New York state, and in 1836 moved westward via the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He worked for several years on river boats on the Mississippi, and in 1839, with his brother, Alexander, journeyed to the present site of Black River Falls, and in the same year built a saw mill on O'Neill Creek (the present site of Neillsville, Wis.), and there James O'Neill settled permanently, while his brother moved to Burlington, Iowa, to establish a lumberyard to sell and distribute lumber from the Neillsville mill. James O'Neill held local offices in Clark County, served in the state assembly (1849, 1868), and operated a sawmill and hotel in Neillsville until his death. In 1856 Neillsville was named in his honor. Colls. State Hist. Soc. Wis., 10 (1888); E. B. Usher, Wis. (8 vols., Chicago, 1914); WPA MS.

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[Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin biography]