Tomás O'Neill y Salmón (5 October 1764 – unknown) was a Spanish colonial governor of the western Caribbean archipelago of San Andrés, Providencia and Santa Catalina, today part of modern Colombia.
O'Neill was the son of an Irish father and Canarian mother His family background made him bilingual and this ability would influence and aid his later career. He would be the interpreter on board the Spanish expedition sent to expel the English speaking population of the archipelago in 1789. He himself having arrived in the New World nine years prior to this at the young age of 16. Rather than their expulsion (agreed to by the colonial powers under the Treat of Versailles and the Convention of 1786) he would be instrumental in not only helping secure the position of the existing inhabitants (English speaking Protestants), but would become their Governor and have a significant impact on the islands at a pivotal time in their history.
Early life and career
Tomás Francisco O'Neill y Salmón was born in Puerto de la Orotava, today Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife, on October 5, 1764 to Patricio O'Neill (28 April 1740 - 18 April 1768) and Catalina Salmón. Puerto de la Cruz was part of the municipality of La Orotava at this time. His father, Patricio or Patrick was a native of Waterford Ireland, and was a vice consul for the British. He had arrived in Tenerife three years prior to his marriage to Catalina, which took place in January 1764. Patrick had close connections with the network of Irish merchants operating from Tenerife, including the wealthy Cologan family. His Mother, Catalina was born in Tenerife, though it´s possible both her parents, Thomas Salmón and Catalina (Catherine) Comerford were Irish. It is likely Tomás O'Neill was named after his maternal grandfather Thomas Salmón, though this was not the only thing they had in common, as Thomas Salmón was known to have acted as an interpreter in Tenerife. Sadly both O´Neill´s parents died when he and his brother Enrique were young and both were raised by their Aunt, María Salmón.
O'Neill was raised on the Canarian Island of Tenerife, by his Aunt on his Mother's side of the family, María Salmón. Leaving his native Tenerife he first tried his luck in the English speaking new world, spending two and a half years in Charleston South Carolina. However it would be in the Spanish speaking New World where he would pursue his career.
Together with his brother Enrique, he served in the Spanish military in the last two decades of the 1700s, and in the early years of the 1800s. Tomás O'Neill served in the Regimiento de Infanteria Fijo de Cartagena in Cartagena de Indias, together with Enrique. In 1791 Tomás was a lieutenant in the sixth company of the first battalion.
Tomás O'Neill arrives on San Andrés
In December 1789, O'Neill, at the age of 25, was part of a Spanish mission under captain Juan de Gastelú to the islands of San Andrés and Providence in the western Caribbean. He was a lieutenant and interpreter. Coming from Irish heritage he did speak English, although Ireland itself in the 1700s remained a bilingual country. The aim of the mission was to enforce the terms of the Treaty of Versailles by evacuating all non-Spanish settlers from Spanish territories. This included the San Andrés Archipelago, Corn Islands and the Miskito coast. O'Neill's bilingual skills were necessary as San Andrés, at that time, was populated with English speaking landowners, their families and slaves. Some of the settlers left San Andrés prior to the Spanish missions arrival however others remained. "On December 21, 1789, the mission arrived in San Andrés. At dawn, Gastelú summoned the inhabitants and ordered them to evacuate, giving them until April 1790, four months to collect and transport their belongings".
It seems that O'Neill did more than interpret and in fact assisted in the mediation process between the Spanish Crown forces and the Islanders". O´Neill assisted in formulating the petition to the Spanish authorities for the Islanders to remain on the islands with the promise that they would be loyal subjects. "Compunct the inhabitants sent to Cartagena as their representative, the Irishman Lorenzo Thine with their pleas to the Crown". This petition was funneled through the Viceroy Antonio Caballero y Góngora.