My Genealogy Hound

Berkeley Neal, attorney at law of Fort Smith, was born in Crawford County, Ark., January 23, 1851, and is a son of William J. and Mouncy (Robinson) Neal. The father was born January 9, 1817, in Chatham County, N. C., and was a son of Younger and Susanna (Harrington) Neal, natives of the same county, born in 1778 and 1790, respectively. They moved to Hickman County, Tenn., in 1826, where he died in 1843 and she in 1867. Younger Neal served some time as sheriff of Chatham County. William J. was the third child, and when the Creek Indians came west in 1836 he was employed as cook for the officers, and went with them to Fort Gibson, Ind. T. After roughing it for some time he came to Van Buren, Ark., and in 1838 married Miss Mouncy Robinson, in Dickson County, Tenn., who was born in 1817. The following years he returned to Arkansas, and has since passed the remainder of his life in Crawford County. He has been a successful man, at one time owning a large tract of land, and still has in his possession 440 acres. He has seven children, all of whom are living and grown: Jonathan, probate and real estate agent; Francis M., justice of the peace; Elizabeth, Young, James, Berkeley and Willis H., attorney at law. Berkeley lived upon the farm until eighteen, and then clerked in a general store in Van Buren until 1872. He then began to study law under Benton J. Brown, and was admitted to the bar in 1873, subsequently practicing two years in partnership with his former preceptor. Mr. Neal soon became one of the leading members of the bar in the county, and about 1882 began to practice in the Federal court at Fort Smith, where he met with such success that January 2, 1888, he moved his office to Fort Smith, although he still retains an office in Van Buren, and spends two days a week in that place. In politics Mr. Neal is a Democrat, and although he has never sought office he was superintendent of the school board of Crawford County for two years. December 14, 1882, he married Miss Mary Edwards, daughter of Jesse Edwards, and a native of Crawford County. To Mr. and Mrs. Neal one child, Ollie May, has been born.