♂Francis Wingfield Neal Jr

Francis Wingfield Neal was a landholder and Quaker in Talbot County, Maryland, in the first half of the eighteenth century. He was, it seems, the fifth great-grandfather of Floyd Amatus Delahorne (1922–2014), through his daughter Hannah Rachel Neal (1732–1816). Family trees give his birth as about 1680 and his death as 18 April 1745, both in Talbot County, but no record confirms either date. His parents were probably Francis Neal, a Talbot County planter whose will was proved in 1716, and Ann, the wife Francis Neal named in that will.

Land and wills

The earliest record that may name him is his father’s will of 1716, which leaves “my Eldest Son Francis Neale One hundd Acres of Land Out of the Land called Hickory Ridge whereon he now lives”. A published abstract of Maryland patents lists “Neale, Francis, gent” as patentee of a 137-acre tract in Talbot County called Hickory Ridge on 11 October 1738. The style “gent”, for gentleman, marked a man of some standing in the colony’s records. The same page lists two other Neal men of Talbot County, Edward Neale and Jeremiah Neel, so the patent is credited to him on the name and county alone. In his own will, dated 13 July 1740, he disposed of Hickory Ridge and named his wife, written Anna in the will, and his children.

A Talbot County register of deaths kept by the Quakers carries the entries “Wife of Francis Neall” and “Daughter to Francis & Ann Neall”, which name his wife as Ann. The same page has an entry dated the eighteenth day of the second month of 1745, which is 18 April 1745 in the Quaker reckoning of the time, beside an age of about 65; the entry is too poorly legible to show which name that date and age belong to, so it does not confirm the dates the family trees give. A compiled family history calls Hannah the daughter of “Francis and Ann Ferrell Neal, who were Quakers”, but no record confirms the surname Ferrell. In 1761 Third Haven Monthly Meeting^W appointed a Francis Neal to oversee a member who had confessed to disorderly conduct; if the 1745 death is right, that was a younger man of the same name.

Notes

The descent from him to Floyd Amatus Delahorne passes through John Dillahunty (1780–1830), whose descent from John Dillahunty (1750–1797) of Davidson County, Tennessee, is probable but not proved.

The parents

The will of Francis Neal is dated 19 October 1716, the eighth month in the Quaker reckoning, and was proved on 27 November 1716. It is recorded in the Maryland Prerogative Court will books for 1700 to 1719, and a compiled history gives its place as will book 14, page 168. The testator names “my Lov: wife Ann Neal” and “my Eldest Son Francis Neale”, to whom he gives a hundred acres of Hickory Ridge. The will does not name the subject of this bio, so the link from that son to Francis Wingfield Neal is probable, not proved.

The link to Hickory Ridge

The land is the link. The subject’s own will of 13 July 1740 disposes of Hickory Ridge, the same tract the 1716 will gives the eldest son. Christou and Wright, Colonial Families of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, vol. 4, a compiled history, lists Francis Neall, born about 1680, among the children of Francis Neale and makes the same identification.

The mother

The 1716 will names Ann as the father’s wife, and it leaves a son Edward to live with his mother; the compiled history calls Edward a minor. Ann may have been a later wife of Francis Neal rather than the mother of the subject, and the records do not settle it. The link to Ann rests on the dates and is not proved.

His will of 1740

His will, dated 13 July 1740, is recorded in the Maryland Prerogative Court will book 24, folio 71. Besides disposing of Hickory Ridge, it names his wife, written Anna in the will, and his children, and it leaves small sums to three daughters. The Quaker register gives her name as Ann.