Captain James Neale (1615 – 1684) was an influential early immigrant to

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

Early life

Neale was born in 1615, to Jane Baker and Raphael Neale of Drury Lane,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and of Wollaston, Northamptonshire, England. One of his daughters was Henrietta Maria Neale, who married Richard Bennett Jr., son of Governor Richard Bennett of Virginia.

Career

Neale immigrated to the Province of Maryland in about 1636 or 1637.Maryland Historical Magazine. United States, Maryland Historical Society. 1912.
/ref> He was 21 years old. On June 19, 1641, Neale received 1000 acres (4 km²) of land for having transported himself and five servants to Maryland. He assigned these acres to Thomas Hebden. In a warrant dated July 25, 1641 in London from Lord Baltimore, Neale was granted another 2000 acres (8 km²) on October 31, 1642 for a manor which would be called Wollaston. The manor would prove to be the principal seat of the Neale family for several generations and was situated in what would later be called

Charles County, Maryland Charles County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 166,617. The county seat is La Plata. The county was named for Charles Calvert (1637–1715), third Baron Baltimore. T ...

. Neale was a member of the Maryland Council in 1643 and again in 1644. In 1644, Neale aided

Thomas Cornwallis Thomas Cornwallis ( – ) was an Kingdom of England, English politician and colonial administrator. Cornwallis served as one of the first Commissioners of the Province of Maryland (Proprietary Colony of Maryland), and Captain of the colony's mil ...

in arresting accused pirate

Richard Ingle Richard Ingle ( – ) was an English sea captain, tobacco trader, and privateer in colonial Maryland. Along with William Claiborne, Ingle revolted against Maryland Catholic leaders in the name of English Parliament and Puritans in a period known ...

for anti-royal behaviors. However, both Neale and Cornwallis set Captain Ingle free and were only fined and suspended. By 1647 he had returned to England leaving his father-in-law, Benjamin Gill, as his attorney and representative in Maryland. During his absence from Maryland he resided in Spain and Portugal, where he engaged in commerce, and was also employed in various affairs by the King and the Duke of York. In 1660 he was an agent of Lord Baltimore at Amsterdam to protest against the settlement of Dutch upon the Delaware. On January 9, 1659/60 Lord Baltimore issued a special order, reciting that whereas Neale, formerly an inhabitant of Maryland, has been absent from the province for some years, and now desires to return with his family there to reside and inhabit, he has full leave to do so as also to possess such lands as he has a right to, and to enter and trade freely in any port in Maryland. Neale died in 1684, leaving a will dated November 27, 1683 and proved March 29, 1684.

Personal life

He married Anne Gill, daughter of Benjamin Gill, Gentleman, and Mary Mainwaring (a descendant of Thomas Stanley, King of Mann). Anne Gill served as a

lady-in-waiting A lady-in-waiting (alternatively written lady in waiting) or court lady is a female personal assistant at a Royal court, court, attending on a royal woman or a high-ranking nobility, noblewoman. Historically, in Europe, a lady-in-waiting was o ...

Queen Henrietta Maria Henrietta Maria of France ( French: ''Henriette Marie''; 25 November 1609 – 10 September 1669) was Queen of England, Scotland and Ireland from her marriage to King Charles I on 13 June 1625 until his execution on 30 January 1649. She was ...

, wife of King Charles I. Their children included: * Henrietta Marie (named after

) * James Neale II (he married Elizabeth Lord, daughter of Captain John Lord who was a magistrate in Westmoreland County, VirginiaThe Maryland Semmes and kindred families : a genealogical history of Marmaduke Semme(s), gent., and his descendants : including the allied families of Greene, Simpson, Boarman, Matthews, Thompson, Middleton, and Neale by Harry Wright Newman, 2003, page 292.) * Dorothy Neale * Anthony Neale * Jane Neale

Legacy

Many of Neale's descendants became

Jesuit The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order (Catholic), religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rom ...

priests, including Bennett Neale, Archbishop Leonard Neale, Francis Neale, Charles Neale, and William Matthews. One of his descendants, William Gaston Lewis, became a Confederate General in the

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neale, James People from colonial Maryland 1615 births 1684 deaths