Edward E. Burns

O'Neil was born in what would later become East Dubuque, Illinois, on January 20, 1858.^[1] Shortly after he was born, his family moved to Jamestown, Wisconsin, and settled on a farm where he grew up. He attended the Platteville Normal School, later the University of Wisconsin–Platteville; and the University of Wisconsin Law School,^[2] graduating in the class of 1887. He practiced law for one year in Boscobel, Wisconsin, then moving to Platteville on December 1, 1890. Burns died on June 15, 1941, while visiting his brother in Galena, Illinois.^[2]

He was elected a member of the county board in 1895 and 1896, and was the city attorney of Platteville in 1897 and 1898.^[1]

In 1898, he entered the Army for two years and served in the Spanish–American War^[2] as Captain of Company C of the 4th Wisconsin Infantry Regiment.^[1]

He was elected to the Wisconsin State Senate's 16th District (Grant and Iowa Counties) on November 6, 1900 (Republican incumbent Charles H. Baxter was not a candidate), beating Democrat William Synon and Prohibitionist John W. Horsfall;^[1] and was re-elected in 1904. He was succeeded in 1909 by John J. Blaine, also a Republican.