Joseph Neal

Jane McGuffin, born in Ireland in 1811. From Ireland Jane and her mother ElizabethMcGuffin (born 1775) went to Canada and from there they traveled by covered wagon down to Louisiana in 1823. Jane was 12 years old.

Later Jane met and married Joseph West Neal. Joseph was born in Alabama. He had been married to another unknown woman and had five children, Joe born about 1825, Jesse born about 1826, William (Willis) Benjamin born about 1829, Thomas Franklin born about 1831 and George Washington born about 1833. Joseph and Jane married and had three more children, Menerva Evalina and William. Jane was pregnant with their third child, Susan Frances Neal when Joseph was murdered, Tuesday, December 9, 1845.

Joseph and Jane Neal owned a commissary in Many Louisiana. On December 9, 1845, two outlaws came in to rob Joseph. He refused to give the robbers his money and reached for his rifle that was standing behind the counter. The robbers shot and killed Joseph in front of his wife and children. They took his money and hightailed it out of town. Susan’s two brothers, Joe Neal and Jesse Neal started practicing their fast gun draw and got to be really good. Soon they went to work at a sawmill. They worked there for a few months, just long enough to earn a few dollars. One day, Joe and Jesse Neal collected their pay, went home and got the money they had been saving. They gave their brothers, Willis and George some of the money to give to their mother and told them to let their mother know they were going after the men that had killed their father. The boys lit out on the cold trail of the two outlaws. They crossed over into Texas checking the saloons in all the little towns and settlements and any known outlaw hideouts along the way. They finally found the two men in a saloon standing at the bar. When the two men looked into the mirror over the bar they saw the boys standing behind them. They turned and drew their guns but the young Neal boys were faster on the draw. They shot and killed the two men that had killed their father, then got on their horses and rode out of town. The law was hot on their tails. The Sheriff and his posse trailed the boys back to the family farm in Many, Louisiana. The boys had come back to tell the family that the two killers were dead and that they were ok. The boys grabbed some food and cartridges. From the family farm you could see someone coming before they could see you. When the Neal boys spotted the posse riding toward the family farm the boys lit out for the neighboring farm. The posse searched the family farm and neighboring farms but could not find them anywhere. When the posse got to the neighboring farm the boys had doubled back passing, and hiding from, the posse. The posse finally split up. Half of them camped on the edge of town, and sneaked back into town on foot, hoping to catch a glimpse of the two Neal boys. One of the men from the posse sat in a chair beside the front door of the Neal Commissary and another deputy sat across the street in front of the saloon owned by David Recknor.

The other half of the posse camped on the edge of the family farm watching for the boys to return home. In the dark of night the two boys sneaked back to the family farm, kissed their family goodbye, managed to turn the posse’s horses loose and headed out of town. After about six months the law finally gave up and went back to Texas. The trail was now too cold to follow. As far as the law was concerned the two boys had vanished from the face of the earth. The two Neal boys were never heard from again except for the few messages they managed to get to their family. Finally the messages stopped coming. The boys had headed for “No Man’s Land”. The area between Sabine in Texas and the Arroyo Hondo in Louisiana was called the “Neutral Ground” or “No Man’s Land”. It had no laws, no government and no one to enforce any kind of control over the people living in this zone. This made a perfect place for criminals and low life to gather. It was soon filled with desperados of the worst kind. Men who robbed and murdered without fear of any type of punishment. The United States and Spain finally put an end to this condition by agreeing upon the present day boundary between Louisiana and Texas. But it took time to bring law and order to this part of the country.

In about 1848 Jane McGuffin Neal married David Recknor, owner of the town saloon. They had three more children.

Other members of the Neal related families moved to San Augustine, Milam, Sabine, Liberty, Polk, Montgomery, Trinity and Leon Counties, Texas.

This also includes the families of Jesse Malachi Real I & II, Allen Zachariah {A.Z.} Real, John Neal, Hugh McGuffin and their descendants.