Scanned and corrected by John O'Neall on 12 March 2004

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J. KELLY O'NEALL, attorney, Lebanon. Prominent among the legal fraternity of Warren County stands the above-named gentleman, who was born about two miles south of the village of Waynesville, Warren Co., Ohio, Feb. 15, 1820; his paternal ancestors were originally from Shane Castle, County Antrim, Ireland. The first to come to America, according to the family traditions, was a younger son of the house, named Hugh O'Neale, a Lieutenant in the British Army, who, while cruising in the Chesapeake Bay, owing to some difficulty between him and his Captain, left the ship and located at Winchester, Va., changing the spelling of his name to O'Neall. From Hugh is traced in a direct line William, Abijah, William, and our subject, J. Kelly. Abijah, the grandfather, came to Warren County in 1799 and settled in Wayne Township on land of which a part still remains in the family's possession. The maternal grandfather, James Smith, came from Virginia in the same year, and located on land in the same township, on the banks of the Little Miami River, but he died at Newtown, Ohio, and his family subsequently settled on the lands. The grandparents on both sides left their respective homes, in Virginia and South Carolina, to escape what they considered the evil influences of slavery. Mr. O'Neall's parents were William and Martha (Smith) O'Neall, the former a native of South Carolina and the latter of Virginia. Our subject remained on the farm until 16 years of age, in the meantime attending the common school of his district. But sickness at the time retarded his studies for a year or more, after which he began a course of study of the higher branches. In 1840, he attended the Miami University at Oxford, Ohio, where he completed his literary education. In 1843, he returned to his father's house and commenced the study of law, under the instructions of the late Judge George J. Smith. In the summer of 1843, he went to Montgomery Co., Ind, and read law in the office of Henry S. Lane, Esq. In February, 1844, he took up his permanent residence in Lebanon, and, in May of the year following, was admitted to the bar at Lebanon. He was married, in July, 1848, to Miss Anna M. Skinner, by whom he had six children, four now living, viz., Laura K., Eva S. (the widow of Granville E. Colbert, deceased), William A. and Annie T. Mr. O'Neall practiced his profession continuously up to the present, and for four terms served the county as Prosecuting Attorney. He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since November, 1864; was made a Master Mason in Lebanon Lodge, No. 26; he received the Capitulary degrees in Lebanon Royal Chapter, No.5, and was created a Knight Templar in Reed Commandery,
6, at Dayton, Ohio, in 1865; subsequently, he became a member of Lebanon Council of Royal and Select Masters; in 1872, was elected Grand High Priest of Ohio, serving three years; in 1875, he was elected Eminent Deputy Grand Commander of Knights Templar for the State of Ohio and served until 1879, when he was elected Right Eminent Grand Commander; in March, 18 he received the degrees of the "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite," in the Scottish Rite Bodies and became a 32d Degree Mason in the Ohio Sovereign Consistory at Cincinnati. In addition to the time given to the study of the