Crawford Co., AR - Biographies - Col. James A. Mcneely

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SOURCE: History of Benton, Washington, Carroll, Madison, Crawford,
Franklin, and Sebastian Counties, Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed 
Publishing Co., 1889.
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Col. James A. Mcneely, mayor of Alma, was born in Rowan County, N. C., 
in 1820, and is a son of Alexander and Ann McNeely, natives of North 
Carolina, where they passed their entire lives. They were of Scotch 
descent. The father was a merchant by occupation, and served as 
paymaster during the War of 1812. Our subject lost his father when an 
infant. In 1845 he married Margaret Morrison, who died in 1855, 
leaving five children, only one of them now living. In 1857 he came to 
Arkansas, and the following year married Jane McCoy, by whom he has 
had two children, one of whom is living. In 1868 Col. McNeely removed 
to Stoddard County, Mo.; in 1876 went to Carthage, Mo., and in 1877 
came to Arkansas, settling in Alma, where for some years he engaged in 
the drug business. During the years 1861 and 1862, and a part of 1863, 
he served in the Confederate army as major of the Thirteenth Arkansas 
Infantry, and after the battle of Shiloh was made colonel of the 
regiment. He resigned the office on account of ill health. In politics 
the Colonel is a Democrat, and his first presidential vote was cast 
for Polk in 1844. Prior to the war he served several years as 
postmaster of Greensboro, Ark., having a drug store at that place, and 
after the war he served as postmaster at Lakeville, Mo., where he kept 
a general store. In 1860 he took the first census of Craighead County, 
Ark., and for [p.1171] some time after the war was deputy clerk of 
that county. Since 1879, with the exception of two years, he has 
filled the office of mayor of Alma, his long term of office being 
sufficient proof of the satisfactory manner in which he has fulfilled 
the duties of the position. 

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