John Butler

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: John Neale. John (son of Thomas Neale and Goditha Throckmorton) was born in of Yelden, Bedfordshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Alternate birth: of Wollaston, Northamptonshire, England

Notes:

On 13 Apr 1618, William Rowe, gentleman, "enters recognizance to appear and answer for his part in an affray recently fought with drawn swords between him and a certain Raphell Neale of Wolleston, Co. Northampton, gentleman." (Middlesex Records II, 145)

Raphael married Jane on 9 Jul 1612. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

From Wikipedia (accessed 5 Sep 2021):

He immigrated to Maryland in about 1635. On June 19, 1641, Neale received 1000 acres (4 km²) of land for having transported himself and five servants into the Province of 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.

Neale was a member of the Maryland Council 1643 and again in 1644. 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 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. [...]

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.

Undated letter to the Washington Post from Gervaise A. Neale Jr.:

In 1635-36, Neale had a warrant of 1,000 acres in Maryland. He raised crops of that period and dealt in commerce with the Indians. Several years later, Lord Baltimore (Cecil Calvert) instructed his brother Leonard to assign 2,000 acres to Neale, thus granting him manorial privileges under English law. His holdings included all the land on the peninsula from Cuckhold Creek to Cobb Island on the Potomac river.

He performed many commissions for the governor in addition to his service as member of the assembly as one of the governor's Privy Council and as commissioner the treasury.

Just before his return to England in 1643 to assist his king in the war against the Cromwellian forces, an incident occurred that brought indictments against Neale for aiding in the escape of Richard Ingle, said to have been a pirate. Ingle was captured during a dispute over the ownership of Kent Island by a Virginian named Claibourne and for attempting to do trade at various Maryland ports without a license. With war raging in England and Maryland's desire to remain neutral, it was considered prudent not to create a political incident, and Ingle was allowed "to escape" to his ship and flee. Charges against Neale were quickly dropped.

Neale was in England from about 1644 to 1660 to fight for King Charles I and to serve Charles II and the Duke of York (later James II) on emergent matters in Spain and Portugal. Neale's wife, Anne Gill, was a lady in waiting to the Queen Henrietta Marie.

Neale also represented Lord Baltimore in Amsterdam to protest the encroachment of the Dutch on the Delaware River. The commissioners of the Dutch West India House threatened war with Maryland if English colonists tried to remove the Dutch from their territory. When Neale returned to Maryland, Lord Baltimore instructed him to mount an expedition to expel the Dutch, but before hostilities began, New Amsterdam fell to English warships. The Dutch then considered their position on the Delaware River untenable and halted the takeover of additional land.

About three years after Neale's return to the province with his family, he petitioned the Privy Council for the naturalization of his five children. His request was approved, and the descendants of Capt. James Neale became one of the first families of Maryland and Virginia.

Family/Spouse: Anne Gill. Anne (daughter of Benjamin Gill and Anne Maria Mainwaring) died between 28 Jun 1697 and 3 Jun 1698 in Charles County, Maryland. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]