James Neale

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

Early life Neale was born in 1615, to Jane Baker and Raphael Neale of Drury Lane, London 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. He was 21 years old. However, both Neale and Cornwallis set Captain Ingle free and were only fined and suspended.

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 to Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of King Charles I.

Their children included:

Henrietta Marie (named after Queen Henrietta Maria) James Neale II (he married Elizabeth Lord, daughter of Captain John Lord who was a magistrate in Westmoreland County, Virginia ) Dorothy Neale Anthony Neale Jane Neale

Legacy Many of Neale's descendants became Jesuit 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.