BIO: Robert McNEAL, Huntingdon County, PA

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Commemorative Biographical Encyclopedia of the Juniata Valley: 
Comprising the Counties of Huntingdon, Mifflin, Juniata and Perry, 
Pennsylvania, Containing Sketches of Prominent and Representative 
Citizens and Many of the Early Settlers.  Chambersburg, Pa.: J. M. 
Runk & Co., 1897, pages 177-178.
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  ROBERT MCNEAL, Shirleysburg, Huntingdon county, Pa., son of James and 
Mary (Glenn) McNeal, was born July 21, 1833, on the farm which he owns 
and on which he lives. His great-grandfather was born in County Down, 
Ireland, and came to America some time after his marriage, reaching 
these shores about 1772. Although poor in financial resources, he was 
rich in the possession of five boys and four girls. He made his home on 
the ridge in Dublin township, Cumberland county, now Tell township, 
Huntingdon county, taking up over 200 acres of land. He was of Scotch-
Irish extraction, and a member of the Presbyterian church, a devout 
Christian. He died about 1838; his wife, who was Miss Mary Cruikshank, 
surviving him a number of years and dying at a very advanced age. They 
had these children: Robert; James; Joshua; Archie; Alec, went to 
Bucyrus, Ohio, about 1836, and died there; Molly (Mrs. Jeffries); Peggy 
(Mrs. Lauther); Prudence (Mrs. William Irving); and Mrs. Stunkard. The 
first four brothers lived on adjoining farms near Three Springs, Pa., 
where they all died. Robert McNeal (1), eldest of this family, was born 
in County Down, Ireland, about 1770, and was a lad of twelve when his 
parents came to this country. He was reared on his father's farm in 
Tell township, and after his marriage to Miss Katy Campbell, pf Path 
Valley, he settled on Clear Ridge, near Three Springs. He with his 
three brothers took up their abode in the woods, and cleared a good 
farm. He died in this neighborhood in 1859, his wife having preceded 
him to the grave. Their children were: James; Alec; Archie; John; Ellen 
(Mrs. Campbell); Jane (Mrs. John Bolinger), Three Springs; and Eliza 
(Mrs. John A. Black), Fulton county, Pa.; all now deceased.
   James McNeal, father of Robert McNeal(2), was born in Tell township, 
March 23, 1808. He was brought up by his grandfather and received a 
common school education. Soon after his marriage to Mary Glenn, he 
settled on a farm of 111 acres in Tell township, inherited by his wife 
from her father, Hugh Glenn, a native of Ireland, who had come here 
before the Revolutionary war and fought all through it. Mr. McNeal 
improved the farm by the erection of new buildings and by making other 
changes required on a first class place. He was a member of the 
Presbyterian church at Shade Gap and was elected elder, but did not 
serve. He died in Tell township; his wife survived him several years, 
dying in 1890, aged eighty-one. Their children are: Robert; Mary M. 
(Mrs. Harper); Martha S. (Mrs. Thomas Appleby), deceased; Catherine C. 
(Mrs. Thomas Appleby), of Mount Union, Pa.; and John A. A., died in 
1851, at the age of eleven.
  Robert McNeal attended the public schools, and when he was old 
enough, worked at home on the farm until his marriage to Miss Susan, 
daughter of James and Margaret Ford, November 11, 1856. After this he 
removed to William McKnight's farm, which he rented for three years, 
and then rented a farm near Burnt Cabins. In 1861, he sold out and 
removed to Shade Gap, and was here about six months, when he bought the 
old Wilson farm in Dublin township. Here he remained until the fall of 
1863, when he enlisted at Huntingdon, Pa., in Company G, One Hundred 
and Forty-third Pennsylvania Volunteers, Col. E. L. Dana; joined the 
regiment at Culpeper, Va., and with it proceeded to the front, their 
first operation being in Meade's retreat to Centreville Heights. They 
were brought up in line at Thoroughfare Gap to support Kilpatrick's 
cavalry, and afterwards went into camp at Culpeper and remained until 
May, 1864. Then they moved on and later took part in the battle of the 
Wilderness. Mr. McNeal was wounded in the first day's fight, May 5, the 
ball passing clear through the right forearm. He was sent to the field 
hospital, remaining there two days, when he was ordered to 
Fredericksburg, then to Bell Plains Landing; thence by steamboat to 
Washington, where he remained for two weeks, and thence to Wilmington, 
Del., where he lay in contract hospital. While here food was so scarce 
that the boys determined to write to Governor Curtain about it. They 
did so, and the Governor sent his wife and other ladies down to 
investigate. It happened that when the visitors appeared the men were 
eating some soup, which Mrs. Curtain asked to be allowed to taste. Mr. 
McNeal remonstrated, urging that he had only one spoon; but the lady 
insisted, and having tasted the food threw it away in disgust, saying 
it was totally unfit to be eaten. Consequently the wounded Pennsylvania 
soldiers were soon after removed to the Haddington hospital, 
Philadelphia. On the 3d of March, 1865, Mr. McNeal with others was 
taken to Washington and assigned to the Second Battalion of invalids. 
He was honorably discharged May 31, 1865.
  Returning home he resumed farming on the Wilson farm until 1873, when 
he sold it to George Mills. In 1872 he bought the old home farm of 181 
acres, erecting thereon a new house. In 1891, he retired from active 
work, selling the farm to his son-in-law in 1892, but four years later 
he bought it back. Mr. McNeal is a Presbyterian, and has been for years 
an elder in the church. He has filled many township offices, also the 
office of county commissioner from 1887 to 1890. They have one child: 
Margaret E. Glenn, who married Samuel Goshorn, a farmer.