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Below is a family biography from the book, History of Kentucky, Edition 1 by J. H. Battle, W. H. Perrin and G. C. Kniffin and published by F. A. Battey Publishing Company in 1885.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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HON. BERNARD A. NEALE, of Graves County, was born in Henry County, Ky., June 2, 1833, and is a son of Alfred W. and Lucy (Roberts) Neale. His father was a farmer, and died in 1873, aged seventy-three years; his mother died in 1836, in Terre Haute, Ind. His grandparents were from Halifax County, Va., and settled in Kentucky, in 1804, when it was in reality the “dark and bloody ground.” Mr.Neale was brought up on his father’s farm in Calloway County, where the family had removed when young Neale was but six years old. His facilities for receiving an education were limited and confined to the public schools of the time. At the age of twenty he commenced work at the carpenter s trade, and at the same time read law. By his own exertions and perseverance he mastered the profession, and in 1859 was licensed to practice by the judges of the supreme court, and was admitted to the bar, in Marshall County. He practiced there until March, 1861 when he settled in Arkansas. In May, 1862, he entered the Confederate Army, and served in the trans Mississippi department until June, 1864. He then practiced law in Arkansas until May, 1867, when he returned to Kentucky, and located in Mayfield, and opened a law office. In 1874 he was elected commonwealth’s attorney for this Judicial District, which position he held for six years, and the duties of which he discharged with marked ability. Mr. Neale still continues in the practice of his profession, but is also engaged in farming. His beautiful farm “Woodlawn,” lying one mile south of Mayfield, is one of the best improved farms in the county. It contains 165 acres of fine land in an excellent state of cultivation, well stocked and improved in the highest degree. Mr. Neale was married April 28, 1861, to Miss S. M. Alexander of Paducah, formerly of Tennessee. They have three children: two sons, Eddie B. and Charles R. A., and one daughter, Lucy Lee. He is a member of the Masonic order, and of the K. of H. Mr. Neale has always been a studious man and a great reader, and few men in the country possess a greater fund of information, or a more perfect knowledge of all the great questions of the day. He is a natural statesman, though taking no active part in politics. In 1872 he was selected by a committee to deliver an historical address to the pioneers of Jackson’s Purchase at Wadesborough. This address was interesting as well on account of it accurate relation of facts, as the many traditionary legends he related as given him by the old settlers. Eighteen hundred copies of the addressed were published. Though in moderate circumstances himself, Mr. Neale is the liberal patron of the poor and oppressed, the widow and the orphan. August 3, 1885, Mr. Neale was elected by the Democratic party to represent Graves County in the General Assembly for the session of 1885-86.

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This family biography is one of 91 biographies included in the Graves County, Kentucky section of the book, The History of Kentucky, Edition 1 published in 1885 by F. A. Battey Publishing Company.  For the complete description, click here: History of Kentucky, Edition 1

View additional Graves County, Kentucky family biographies here: Graves County, Kentucky Biographies

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