Biography of Robert Neill, Independence Co, AR *********************************************** This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Michael Brown Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgenwebarchives.org *********************************************** ---------------------------------------------------------------------- SOURCE: Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Northeast Arkansas. Chicago: The Goodspeed Publishing Co., 1889. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- page 703-704 Gen. Robert Neill, one of the best known lawyers of Northeast Arkansas, was born in Independence County, November 12, 1838. His parents were Henry and Dorcas (Stark) Neill, natives of Kentucky and Missouri, respectively. The father was principally reared in Southern Ohio, and from the town of Aberdeen in that State, he, about the time of his majority, went to New Orleans, the trip being made on a flatboat. He next came to St. Louis, Mo., by steamboat. After residing [p.703] in Missouri a year or two he rode on horseback from St. Louis to the then Territory of Arkansas, arriving at Batesville on May 1, 1832, and soon afterward settled in Greenbriar Township, on the place where he still resides. Job Stark, the maternal grandfather, a native of Kentucky, arrived in Independence County, Ark., with his family, in the month of December, 1832, and purchased a farm three miles east of Batesville, where he resided until his death. He was a noted Indian fighter in his earlier days, and took part in the War of 1815. Robert Neill, the paternal grandfather, was born and reared in the State of Delaware, and emigrated to Kentucky, near Maysville, about the year 1800, where he resided for some time, and then moved to Southern Ohio, where he remained until his death, when he was over eighty years old. Henry Neill was a tanner by trade, and soon after his arrival in Arkansas established a tannery, where he now resides, and did business in that line for forty-eight years. In 1846 he was elected a member of the legislature and served one term, and, in the years 1847-48, he held the office of register of the United States land office at Batesville. Later on he was elected judge of the county and probate court, serving from 1874 to 1876, and was, before that, a justice of the peace for several years. He was one of the most prominent citizens of Independence County, and a man of great influence, and though now in his eighty-second year, still enjoys much activity for his age. The mother is yet living in good health, in her seventy-third year. They were the parents of eight children, of whom four are yet living: Gen. Robert Neill, Elizabeth, wife of Dr. L. A. Dickson; Florence, wife of Maj- George W. Rutherford, and Delia, widow of Marion Hulsey. Gen. Robert Neill received a fair English education in his youth, in the schools of the county, and in 1859 went to Ohio and took a course in land surveying. He followed that profession until the outbreak of the war, in 1861, and then enlisted at Batesville, in Company K, First Regiment of Arkansas Mounted Riflemen, Confederate Army. He entered service as a private, but was soon promoted to the grade of first sergeant, and at Corinth, Miss., in 1862, received the rank of first lieutenant, and later that of captain of the company, on the death of his captain. His bravery was rewarded, and his gallant actions through the war won for him promotion up to his present title. Gen. Neill took part in the battles at Oak Hills, Mo., Richmond, Ky., and the skirmishing around Corinth, Miss., in 1862, and in the spring of 1864 was captured in Louisiana, while attempting to make his way back to his regiment. He was taken as a prisoner to Camp Chase, and from there to Fort Delaware, where he was confined for seventeen months. After the surrender, in 1865, he returned to his home and taught school for three months, and then entered into the tanning business with his father until 1866, when he was elected clerk of the circuit clerk, an office he held until the reconstruction of the State, in 1868. During this time he read law and in November, 1868, was admitted to the bar, but entered into commercial life until 1872, when he commenced to practice his profession, which he has continued ever since. He has the reputation of being one of the ablest lawyers in Arkansas, and as a speaker has but few superiors. In 1874 he was appointed lieutenant- colonel in the State Guards, by Gov. Baxter, and gave efficient aid to the State during the Brooks-Baxter embroglio. Gen. Neill was severely wounded and disabled for many months at the battle of Oak Hills in 1861, while fighting on “Bloody Hill,” by a musket ball passing through his left thigh; in the same battle his brother, Job S. Neill, a youth of twenty years, who belonged to the same company, was killed on the field, after displaying great courage and coolness. In 1877 he was appointed a brigadier-general in the State militia, by Gov. Miller, his former law partner, and assigned to the command of the fifth military district of the State, a position which his large army experience rendered him entirely capable of filling with credit. In April, 1869, Gen. Neill was married to Miss Mary Adelia Byers, one of Batesville's fairest daughters and almost a native of the town. Ten children have resulted from this union, of whom seven are living: Arthur, Ernest, Hugh, Clare, Ella Byers, Esther Annie and Robert, Jr. Gen. and Mrs. Neill are [p.704] members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, South; the former is a member of the order of Free and Accepted Masons, and a companion of the Royal Arch degree; has been a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1861, and has served for two years as a district deputy grand master of Masons of Arkansas. He is a stockholder in the Batesville Telephone Company, the Batesville Water and Electric Light Company, the Batesville Printing Company and the Batesville Building and Loan Association, for which last named corporation he is attorney. He is also the Arkansas attorney for the St. Louis Manganese Company, a foreign corporation, engaged in mining and shipping manganese ore from Independence County, and is the attorney for the Adler Bank, located and doing business at Batesville. In June, 1888, he attended the National Democratic Convention at St. Louis, as one of the delegates from the First Congressional district of Arkansas, and was the vice-president of the convention from his State.