BACKGROUND
In the 1960's, my dad began putting down on paper what he could remember about
his family who lived in the Steel Creek community of Mecklenburg Co. (Charlotte), NC. This
was interesting to me, so when I was transferred to Rock Hill, SC in 1971, I began to
visit the local libraries, cemeteries and the York County court house in nearby York, SC.
During this time I also happened to meet Mrs. Juanita Henderson Neeley who was about 80
years old at the time and living alone in her house in Rock Hill. This was a most fortunate
turn of events since Mrs. Juanita Neeley had been secretary to the Neeley Clan meetings in
the 1930's which was established to learn as much as possible about the Neeley family
history. She had the family bible of Thomas Neeley of Mecklenburg Co. NC (son of emigrant
Thomas Neeley I) and had published an excellent short history of our Neeley branch, the
descendants of Thomas Neeley who emigrated from Ireland to America with his young
family about 1730 and settled in PA. It was a treasure trove of information which allowed
me to tie together the other information I had gathered and trace my dad's family through
each generation to Jackson Neeley, another son of the immigrant from Ireland, Thomas
Neeley.
Our verbal family history claimed that Thomas Neeley came from Co. Tyrone and
was "Scotch Irish". His son's family bible also said that the family had
emigrated from Tyrone. Historical records showed the Neeley's were active Presbyterians
after arriving in America. After reading quite a bit of Irish history, I began to think
that perhaps the Neeley's were "Scotch Irish" who may have come from the lowlands
of Scotland to Ireland in the 1600's as part of the English "Plantations" of
Ulster (the northernmost 9 counties, of which 6 now comprise Northern Ireland). This is
because the Scots tended to be Presbyterian versus the English who tended to be Church of
England or its equivalent in Ireland, the Church of Ireland. The Scotch settlers of
Ireland during the "plantation" period of the 1600's became known as the
"Scotch Irish" when they emigrated to America by the boatloads in the 1700's,
but were known as "Ulster Scots" in England and Ireland. An excellent
social history of these people and their origins is now available in bookstores and
precisely fits the paths followed by the Neeley's who came to America in the 1700's and
where they settled. The name of this book is "The Scotch - Irish" by James
Leyburn, published by the University of North Carolina Press. I highly recommend it to
anyone interested in the history of these people. Of course this theory is in conflict
with the thinking that Neeley is a derivation of an Irish name and that they are native
Irish. Those of us who have tried to find Neeley among the listings of Irish names have
always been out of luck. Most of the reference books on surnames assume that Neeley is of
Irish origin and derived either from the anglicized "Cu Neeley" of western
Ireland or O'Neill of Northern Ireland. One or the other of these two theories are the
most popular among the American Neeley's as well as the three Irish Neeley's I have heard
from. Some people have also said that it came from McNeeley, but I subsequently have
learned that McNeeley's were very early settlers in Co Antrim from the MacNeill clan of the
Isle of Bara in Scotland. I visited a Mormon (LDS) computer center (Church of Jesus Christ
of the Later Day Saints) in NJ which can access quite a bit of the extensive genealogical
records in Salt Lake City, Utah. This provided quite a few records of Neeley's in Ireland
in the 1600's as well as some similar sounding names in England and Scotland. I will
discuss this in more detail later.
In September 1996, my wife and I toured Ireland and Scotland on vacation. I was
able to spend about 8 hours at the Public Records Office of Northern Ireland (PRONI),
which has most of the records pertaining to the 6 counties in Northern Ireland. I found
many additional records of Neeley's here. I also met a genealogist from Ulster Ancestral
Research there, Mrs. Macnaghten, who I hired to do some additional record searches. During
the trip, I also checked several of the telephone directories. There were 6 Neeley's
listed
in Dublin, but none in Galway. However, the six counties of Northern Ireland listed108
Neeley's. There were also 6 Neeley listed in Edinburgh, Scotland and one in Berwick
England (on the border). I initially wrote to 25 of the 108 Neeley's in Northern Ireland on
a random basis. Only one of these, Chris Neeley, has responded. Chris is knowledgeable of
Irish history and displays the deductive reasoning and perseverance of Sherlock Holmes. He
has helped add quite a bit of information to the records as well as the probable sequence
of events for the early Neeley's. We are corresponding regularly by Email. I subsequently
sent 8 more letters to Neeley's in the Londonderry area and have heard recently from Adam
and Willie (William). I plan to correspond with them after the Christmas season is over.
Included in Willie's letter is a telephone book listing of 15 Neeley's which I presume are
from Co Donegal. He also included several Neeley gravestone inscriptions from there.
The result of all this is a listing of records found to date of Neeley's
in
Ireland and speculation based on these of where they may have come from and where they
lived. This "Overview" is focused on those early Neeley's of Ireland. It does not
address the Neeley's who emigrated to America, although I have fairly extensive American
records of Thomas Neeley's descendants (my ancestor) and those of Robert Neeley, which I
got from family group sheets gathered by Roy H. Neeley of Fl. Thomas Neeley's descendants
settled in PA and the Mecklenburg Co. area of NC & SC after he arrived in PA about
1730 from Co Tyrone. Robert Neeley's descendants settled in PA and mainly in the
Shenandoah valley of VA after he arrived in NY in 1719 with his young family as an
indentured servant from Co Tyrone. I have begun to compile all this information on Family
Tree Maker software and have recently established a Neeley Family home page at their
internet site
( http://www.familytreemaker.com
). My hope is to gather enough information to
write a complete history of the Neeley Family after I retire in another 4 years or so and
have more time. In the meantime, I plan to issue "Overview" updates as I gather
more information and share it with anyone interested in the Neeley Family History.
RECORDS OF EARLY NEELEY'S IN IRELAND
Griffith's Primary Valuation lists 26 Neeley families living in Co Tyrone in
1860. It also shows 6 Neeley families living in Co Derry during this time. Co Antrim had
none. I did not check Co Donegal or Co Fermanagh. Those in Tyrone were clustered around
Clogher. I am hoping one of the Irish Neeleys will check Co Donegal and report the
results.
My search of the Muster Rolls of 1631 for Co's Donegal, Tyrone and Derry at
PRONI found only William Neeley in Co Donegal. Since the Muster Rolls supposedly included
all able bodied men (almost entirely Protestants) of 16 to 60 years of age on the
plantations, I conclude that William was likely the first Neeley in Ireland. He is listed
as living on the Chichester
Estate and having only a sword for a weapon. This area of Co Donegal is close
to Londonderry. Assuming he was at least 21 years old if he was "planted", he
would have been born before 1610. There is no clue where he came from. Chris has
determined that the Chichester Estate was not one of the regular English
"Plantations". He is trying to find out more of its history and where the
tenants came from. Other records show a series of Neeley's born from 1621 (William of
Burt) to about 1636 in the Londonderry area. It is possible they were William's children
since no other adult Neeley's were listed in the Muster Rolls of those areas and because
the circumstances suggest he was the right age. If so, this would place the first William
in Ireland around 1620 or earlier with a likely birth date of about 1595 to 1600. I did
make a note of a John "Neele"of Clougher, Co Tyrone being mentioned in a
Summonisters Roll of March 19, 1623. It seems likely that this man may have been a
"Neale" instead of a Neeley since the LDS records show many Neale records in
Devonshire area of England in the 1500's and Clogher was initially established as an
English Plantation about 1610 - 1620 with some tenants from there as well as other places.
The Hearth Money Rolls of 1666 list all the houses with at least one fireplace,
since each fireplace was subject to tax. Not all houses had indoor fireplaces. I have
assumed that anyone paying taxes on such a house at that time was at least 30 years old.
Robert and Matthew Neeley were listed in the Hearth Money Roll of Co Donegal and John
Neeley of Clougher was listed in the Hearth Money Roll of Co Tyrone as living in
Ballynasaggart on the Bellimakill Manor. I could not find any Neeley's listed in the
Hearth Money Roll of Co Derry. I did not check any other counties. This confirms that at
least one Neeley family (John) was living in Co Tyrone (Clougher) by 1666. The other two
listed families of Neeley's continued to reside in Co Donegal, presumably close to
Londonderry since there were many Neeley records in the Register of Derry Cathedral from
1621 to 1680. As mentioned before, it seems logical that these Neeley's were sons of
William and that John of Cumber migrated from Co Donegal to the Clogher area of Co Tyrone
after the birth of his son John, who was born in 1657 according to the records of the
Derry Cathedral. More about this later. As a matter of interest, maps of Ireland show
"GleNeeley" by Carndonagh in Co Donegal about 12 miles north of
Londonderry. There is also a "DunkiNeeley" (fort Neeley) about 5 miles west of
Donegal which is about 45 miles SW of Londonderry. These locations may or may not have
relevance to the Neeley name.
There was a Census of Ireland taken by Petty about 1659. It is incomplete,
without returns from Tyrone and several other counties, although Donegal and Londonderry
are included. I found no Neeleys in the summary listing I saw (not at PRONI), which seems
inconsistent with the numerous records of Co Donegal and Londonderry previously mentioned.
There were several families of McNeeleys listed in Co Antrim. I did not see the actual
Census, but this is probably worth reviewing to make sure what is included and what is
not.
Two Neeley's were listed in the book "Fighters of Derry" as defenders
during the siege of Derry in 1689. One of those was a John Neeley of Co Tyrone. Chris has
convinced me that the evidence and logic are that this man was the son of John of Cumber
who was born in 1657, because he was from Co Tyrone and was the right age (32). This same
man is most likely the John who married Martha Rankin in 1686 according to the records of
the Derry Cathedral. After his father and their family moved to Tyrone, he probably made
visits to his father's family in Donegal/Londonderry and met his wife there. He was listed
in the book as being "attainted". Mrs. Macnaghten found him in the list of those
attainted by the court of King James II in Dublin in May, 1689. He was listed as being
from the townland of Ballynasaggart in Co Tyrone. Those who were attainted by King James
were Protestants of substance and standing and thus considered a threat to the Roman
Catholic King. Perhaps he fled to Londonderry for protection since he was on a "hit
list". The other Neeley listed in the book was a Sergeant Neeley who was prominent in
the defense of Londonderry. We don't know where he was from. For the American Neeley's
not
familiar with the siege of Derry, Londonderry had been established as a Protestant
Plantation funded by the guilds of London. When the native Irish (Catholics) rebelled,
King James' army swept through Protestant controlled Ulster with little resistance until
they came to Londonderry which had town walls (Willie said that his father told him the
Neeley's helped build the walls). The army was ready to enter the town , but were spotted
by 13 young apprentice boys who closed the gates just in time. A siege was then laid which
lasted for months while those inside almost starved. The siege of Derry was the
Protestants "Alamo", except that it had a happier ending for them.
In 1740 a list of Protestant householders was compiled in parts of Cos Antrim,
Armagh, Down, Donegal, Londonderry and Tyrone. The list for Londonderry contained 8
Neeley's. The list for Donegal contained a William Neeley for the parishes included in the
survey. The Co Tyrone survey included only 3 parishes which were not in the Clogher area
and had no Neeley's listed. These records add to the evidence that the Neeley's
were
Protestant. Mrs. Macnaghten found a reference to Robert Neeley in the General Synod
(Presbyterian) of Ulster where he was the elder accompanying Mr. Thompson, the minister of
Ballybay in Co Monaghan in 1730. Ballybay is about 25 miles south of the Clogher area of
Co Tyrone. This indicates the Neeley's were Presbyterian in Ireland during the period
Thomas Neeley left for America where his family practiced Presbyterianism. Is it possible
Robert was Thomas' brother since they were from the same area and close in age?
I also looked through the microfilm that supposedly included the 1698 Poll Tax
Returns of Co Tyrone, but could not find any Neeley's. However, this was handwritten, hard
to read and listings were mixed in with many other documents....very difficult
to find
anything. This was especially disappointing since it might have given information on
Thomas' father and his family.
Chris was able to find records of a group of Neeley's who were prominent in
Glencull of Co Tyrone. One of these, John, was "Laird" (Lord) of significant
property there in the 1700's. Chris plans to photocopy the records on his next trip to the
PRONI. Glencull is very close to Ballynasaggart and may have also been part of the Moutray
Estate of Favor Royal, which included the Bellimakill Manor. Mrs. Macnaghten sent me
copies of 2 pages from "The Plantation of Ulster" by Rev. George Hill which
describes some of the details of the Moutray estate. All of these locations are in the
parish of Errigal Keerogue, which is immediately adjacent to parish of Clogher and happens
to be the parish where most of the Tyrone Neeley's were still living during the tithe
survey of 1833 and the Griffith valuation of 1860. The closest current town is
Balleygawley which is about 8 miles N.E. of Clogher. A good map of Ireland is available to
the American Neeley's from your local AAA.
Origin of the Neeley's
The records from early Ireland were amazingly consistent in the spelling of
Neeley. This is unusual since various spellings of names (by sound) were common in the
1600's and 1700's, especially in America. To me, the evidence seems very strong that
Neeley is not an original Irish name. Ulster, more than other parts of Ireland, was almost
entirely populated and controlled by the native Irish until 1603. Following the defeat of
the Ulster Irish in 1603 and the "Flight of the Earls" to the continent in 1607,
all the holdings of their clans in 6 of the 9 northern counties were declared escheated to
the English King.
The Plantations and re-settlement of the lands taken from the native Irish of
Ulster began about 1610. The new settlers were Protestant and the Scotch among them were
mostly Presbyterian as opposed to the native Irish who were Catholic. While there were
exceptions to this, they were rare during that period. The fact that William was in the
1631 Militia indicates that he was most likely not a native Irishman and was most likely
Protestant. Certainly, the 1740 Protestant surveys seem to confirm the Neeley's
were
Protestant and Robert in 1730 was Presbyterian as well as the Neeley's who left for America
during that period. Many of the Scots who were "planted" in Ulster beginning in
1620 brought their religion with them. However, to be completely objective, it is possible
that the Protestant Neeley's were converted to Presbyterian after the Scottish ministers
began evangelizing in Ireland in the mid 1600's. I would wager that you will find your own
Neeley ancestors were all Presbyterian until recent times. This, and the fact that the
Irish who emigrated to America in the early 1700's were almost without exception Ulster
Scots, makes me believe that the Neeley's were indeed "Scotch Irish", although we
will not have absolute proof unless we can find estate records that show where William
came from. There is a record of Elizabeth Neeley born in Berwick, England (Scottish
border) to Robert Neeley in 1574. However, I checked with the public records office of
Berwick and that was the only family they had listed and no William or John was included.
LDS records also show the birth of Alse Neeley in 1610 and Ursula Neeley in 1612 in the
vicinity of London. Someday, I hope to have time to check the Public Record Offices in
Edinburgh, Scotland and London, England to see what can be discovered of the Neeley name
in the1500's. My own speculation now is that the original Neeley's probably lived in the
lowlands of Scotland along the border with England (because of Presbyterianism) and
migrated to Ireland as well as southern England in the early 1600's looking
for better
opportunity because of the well known poor living conditions in that area of Scotland.
Maybe we will know for sure someday.
Irish Neeley Families
I have included a "speculation" family tree of the Neeley families in
early Ireland using the records gathered so far. It is based on assumptions regarding ages
and relationships. In some cases the records list the father, but in most cases the
records have been fit together like building a jigsaw puzzle using family names, ages and
location, but without all the pieces. You can review this and see if you think the
relationships may have been different. The biggest problem is the missing children of the
second and third generations. The family tree shows William Neeley of the Chichester
Estate of Co Donegal as the first Neeley in Ireland, probably arriving about 1620. One of
his children, John of Cumber, probably migrated to Ballynasaggart in Co Tyrone about 1660.
Thus, there are 2 branches of the Neeley tree in Ireland; the original and main branch of
Donegal/Derry Neeley's and a secondary branch of the Tyrone Neeley's. I have shown my
ancestor, Thomas Neeley, as a 3rd generation descendent of John of Cumber because he was
from the Tyrone branch and because that is where his age places him. His father would have
been the John Neeley who was attainted and was in the siege of Londonderry. The Glencull
Neeley's would probably have been descended from a brother (unknown) who may have been
rewarded through his father with land. Further information on this family may be learned
from the Glencull records. I did not show the Robert Neeley family who emigrated to
America in 1719 from Co Tyrone because there were no likely records of him nor of his
father, Rufus. Since his first child was born in 1700, Robert was probably born about 1675
and Rufus about 1650. the most likely case is that Rufus was John's (1657) older brother
born to John of Cumber. The alternative is that one or more of the Donegal/Derry
Neeley's migrated to Co Tyrone after John of Cumber became established there. Without a listing of
2nd generation children to match names (Robert's father, Rufus) and dates, it is
impossible to pin this down. I also did not show Charles, who migrated to America in 1758,
for the same reason. Charles was most likely from Donegal/Derry, but it was not stated.
This is about as far as we can go on our ancestry until we uncover more
information. Even though the remaining records are scarce, both Chris and I are continuing
the search to gather tidbits of information that will allow more pieces of the jigsaw
puzzle to be put into place. I am hoping that Willie, who is 79 and lives in Londonderry,
may be able to find more history on early Donegal since the area is close by. Adam is not
too far from the PRONI records in Belfast and also could gather information on Donegal
which is near his mother in Londonderry. Maybe other Neeley's will be interested in
searching for information that will add to the Neeley Family History. I am looking forward
to hearing from you.
Jim Neeley
