| Birth Date: | 1864 |
| Death Date: | January 23, 1946 |
| Birth Place: | Ohio, U.S. |
| Party: | Republican |
| Resting Place: | Greenwood Cemetery |
| Spouse: | |
| Children: | 2 |
| Death Place: | Orlando, Florida, U.S. |
William Russell O'Neal (1864 – January 23, 1946) was an American lawyer and businessman who was involved in banking, insurance, real estate, was a passenger agent for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in Orlando, Florida, owned newspapers, and wrote a newspaper column.[1] He was a trustee of Rollins College.[2] A Republican, he ran for governor, U.S. Senate, and Florida Superintendent of Public Education, losing each time to the candidate of the then dominant Democratic Party.[3]
He was born in Ohio. He married in Maine and moved to Orlando in 1886.[4]
He served as postmaster in Orlando[5] and was president of the city council for 10 years.[4] He wrote for the Orange County Reporter[6] and Orlando Sentinel.
He led Florida's provisional League to Enforce Peace delegation.[7]
His political campaigning in 1920 for the Republican Party after the Ocoee Riots was seen as a threat to the white supremacist policies promoted by the dominant Democratic Party.[8]
In 1886, O'Neal married Mabelle Copeland in Maine. They had two daughters, Helen and Mabelle. Mrs. O'Neal died in 1910 and in 1914 O'Neal married Jessie Malory Thayer. She died in 1923.[4]
He is buried at the Greenwood Cemetery in Orlando.[9]