O'NEILL, Charles A., St. Mary Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller
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O'Niell, Charles Austin, associate justice of the supreme court of Louisiana,
was born in Franklin, St. Mary parish, Sept. 7,  1869; the son of John A.
O'Niell, of Tipperary county, Ireland, and of Isabella Margaret (Burnham)
O'Niell, of London, England.  Col. John A. O'Niell was a highly educated and
cultured Irish gentleman, who served in the Crescent regiment in the
Trans-Mississippi department, Confederate States army, from the beginning to
the close of the Civil war.  He took a keen interest in public affairs was
appointed a member of the council of the city of Brashear (now Morgan City)
when that municipality was created, and was afterwards elected to succeed
himself.  He served 2 terms as sheriff and several terms as treasurer of St.
Mary parish, and was one of its most prominent merchants.  He was a leading
spirit in all public movements tending to the good of his people.  Although
Charles Austin O'Niell was one of a large number of children, his father
managed to bestow upon him a classical education.  In his childhood he was
stricken with typhoid fever, which required his walking on crutches from the
age of 6 until he was 16 years old, and left him permanently lame.  He
attended the Tulane high school, in New Orleans, for 3 years, then went to the
Christian Brothers' college; in Memphis, Tenn., from which institution he
graduated with the degree of bachelor of arts, in 1890.  Returning to New
Orleans, he took up the study of law, and graduated from the law department of
Tulane university, in 1893, with the degree LL. B.  He practiced law in St.
Mary parish, with success and distinction until 1908, when he was elected
judge of the district court, serving 1 term of 4 years.  He was induced to
become a candidate for justice of the supreme court, to succeed Chief Justice
Joseph A. Breaux, whose term was then about to expire.  Although there were 5
other candidates for this exalted position, the most prominent jurists in
Louisiana, Judge O'Niell came very near having a majority over all of them in
the first primary, and in the second race with the next highest candidate, he
was nominated by an overwhelming majority, as the candidate of the democratic
party, and elected without further opposition.  He was inducted into office
April 6, 1914, to serve until the first Monday in April, 1926.  In June, 1914,
the judge's alma mater conferred upon him the degree of doctor of laws.  In
1904, Judge O'Niel married Miss Bettie Singleton Gorby, daughter of Capt. M.
T. Gorby, of Franklin, La.  They have 8 children.

Source:  Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events,
Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form, volume 3, p. 730. 
Edited by Alcée Fortier, Lit. D.  Published in 1914, by Century Historical
Association.