From Ireland to Santa Barbara via Utah: Adventures of Dr. Owen Hugh O’Neill

Join historian Bill MacKinnon as he shares the never-told tale of how a well-educated but now-forgotten Irishman, Owen Hugh O’Neill, emigrated to the U. S. and then made his way across the American frontier to Santa Barbara by way of involvement in two of our country’s greatest undertakings of the 1850s: construction of the Pacific Wagon Road project; and prosecution of the Utah War of 1857-58. The full story of O’Neill’s travels and adventures before arriving here to practice medicine, marry into the Hill-Ortega family, and die heroically in 1875 is unknown even to his descendants, some of whom still live in this part of California.

About the Speaker

Bill is a respected historian and longtime member of the museum. For sixty-five years he has researched and written about the American West, producing five books and more than 130 journal articles. He is a former sheriff (presiding officer) of the Santa Barbara Corral of the Westerners. In his parallel business and public service careers, he has been a vice president of General Motors, chairman of Children’s Hospital of Michigan, and a veteran of USAF. He is an alumnus of Yale and the Harvard Business School.

Host or Publisher Santa Barbara Historical Museum