William Russell O'Neal was born in Ohio in 1864 and came to Orlando in 1886. Together with Frank Asbury Curtis, he owned a prosperous stationery store on Orange Avenue between Church and Pine beginning in 1889. He went on to conduct extensive business in insurance and loans. As for his involvement in the city of Winter Park, O'Neal was the secretary and treasurer of the Seminole Hotel Company, which owned what was once the leading tourist hotel in Central Florida. O'Neal was also deeply involved in Rollins College, serving as secretary and treasurer of the institution, as well as secretary and chairman of the Finance Committee. At the inauguration of President Hamilton Holt, O'Neal received the degree of Doctor of Laws in recognition of his efforts at the school.
Mr. O'Neal married Mabelle Copeland in Maine in 1886, and together they had two daughters, Helen and Mabelle. Mrs. O'Neal died in 1910. In 1914 Mr. O'Neal wed Jessie Malory Thayer, who died in 1923.
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| William Russell O'Neal |
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