James A. O'Neil

[1] Wyeth’s party arrived in 1834 at the confluence of the Columbia and Willamette rivers at present day Portland, Oregon.

[1] O’Neil joined the company and sailed to California aboard the Loriot and then drove cattle back to Oregon.

In 1841, settler Ewing Young died without an heir, leading to a series of meetings at Champoeg on the French Prairie.

[1] Following this vote, he assisted in the creation of the government by serving on the first legislative committee that wrote the Organic laws of Oregon, and was elected as a justice of the peace for the Yamhill District.

[1][3] This assistance included selling several legal texts to the legislative committee to help frame the Organic law.