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DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS
By Barbara Neel Blizzard, NSDAR

James Herbert Neel,
1917-2000, son of James Lee Neel and Ione Donalson

Weaving Webs: my Home Page
Contact Barbara: bj_neel@hotmail.com
My pictures were moved to my Neel page at Genealogy Dot Com.


WELCOME TO OUR NEEL AND SMITH FAMILY of TEXAS!

Hi! I'm Barbara Neel Blizzard, and I married Tillman Blizzard in 1958. Our children are Sybillina, Anthony Paul;and Elizabeth Blizzard. 

This is the family of my grandparents, Ione "Tony" Donalson and James Lee Neel of Texas, parents of my father James Herbert Neel.

My father told me our Neel name was originally Neely or Kneely. Possibly the earliest Neel ancestor in America was the father of John Neel who was born about 1765 in South Carolina. NEEL spelling is French in origin, but he couldn't remember if it was Neely or Kneely. Dad said no matter how often census takers, etcetra, tried to change it to Neal or Neil, our family felt strongly about keeping it NEEL in the French version, because we had different origins, which was proved by my brother, James C. Neel who had a y-DNA test at Family Tree DNA and is haplogroup R1a. Here is a photo of James' youngest daughter Brandee Neel Price. There are no other Neels to date with R1a DNA, but there is a Richard Kneeland with R1a y-DNA which brings our original surname closer to Kneely.

Our Neel family of John Neel born in South Carolina and probably his second wife Sarah Neel lived in Henry Co., Tennessee at the time of the 1830 census. Then in 1840 widow Sarah Neel and sons John T. Neel, James H. Neel and William Alexander Neel, (all born in South Carolina) as well as other Neel, Neely, Calhoun and Martin relatives, lived in the new Obion County, Tennessee, which was formed from the Indian Lands of Henry County in 1823. In 1850 when Sarah was 69 she was living with her son Alexander and his wife Amelia, and baby George. When Sarah was 79 she was living with John T. Neel in a census that was continued on the next census page.

In December of 1839 John T. married Rebecca Snider and had one son, Isaac Newton Neel. But John's brother James H. Neel, named John T. the guardian of his children, James and Lavinia who were living with John in 1850. In the 1860 Census teen-ager Lavinia is living with her brother Richard W. Neel, neighbor and the eldest son of James H. Neel. These Neel men should all have the same Y-DNA as our line if they are tested.

After Rebecca died John T. married Martha Lemmonds in 1843. Martha was the daughter of David Lemmonds and Esther Martin. Their son James Alford Neel married twice, first to Rebecca Roberson by whom he had a son, William C. Neel born about 1877. In the 1850 census of Sarah there were several Roberson families living near Sarah. His second wife was Mary Ann Dudley, daughter of Ransom W.  Dudley born about 1825 in North Carolina, however, the family was originally from Virginia.

In 1880 James Alford Neel married Mary Ann Dudley. James A. and Mary Ann Neel moved to and died in Tarrant Co, Texas. Their son James Lee Neel married school-teacher Ione Donalson, granddaughter of Algernon Sidney Smith son of Missouri and Arkansas Legislator Hans Smith.  Algernon Sidney Smith married Rebecca Geaslin, daughter of William King Geaslin and Ruth Lambert Pace. Ruth's famous Pace lineage goes back to the famous Richard Pace who saved Jamestown from an Indian attack. Ruth's father William Pace and wife Ruth Lambert are on the left side of the Family Tree at the Pace DNA web page, made by John Pace after studying DNA results. You can click on the link above the chart for a full sized view which takes our line back to Richard Pace and Isabelle Smyth of Jamestown, Virginia.

My father and sister-in-law Pat Neel, wife of my brother James C. Neel, visited relatives who gave them the history of his Smith and Owen lineage by Birdie Farrar Wynn. Further research took me farther back in time to our ancestors the Pharaoh Rameses, and Abraham.

Nancy Smith and Angus Donalson, and James Lee Neel, son of Mary Ann Dudley and James Alford Neel. They are buried at the Bourland Cemetery at Keller, Tarrant Co, Texas, near the parents of Angus Donalson, Lucy Bridges Shores and Warren Franklin Donalson, whose ancestors came from either Ireland or Scotland. Lucy's parents were Joseph Bridges Shores and Caroline Lasseter Jarvis were probably of Romany descent, but we need a descendant tested to prove that. What we do know is that Romanian Bridges of North Carolina said they were Indians (which was a fact, since Romany originated in India,) so they were gathered up with the Native Americans and re-located to Oklahoma.

Aunt Nan told me my grandmother Ione Donalson, Lucy's granddaughter, was dark complected with brown eyes. Grandmother's uncle Walter sent Ione and her sisters to the women's college in Denton, where Ione became a schoolteacher. She died several years before I was born. The children of James Lee Neel and Ione Donalson were James Herbert, Nancy Lee, Mary Bernice, and Hazel Ione. The 1930 census of James Lee and Ione has Mary's name as Mabel B. but it was James Alford Neel who had a daughter named Mabel, Mary's aunt. Mary was living in New York with her daughter when she passed away recently. Hazel is still living in California. James H. and Nancy have also passed on.

William F. Donalson was the son of William Donalson and Rachel Bush, the daughter of Sanders and Mary Bush. Sanders was an American Revolution soldier with Captain Kennedy's company July 6, 1777. Sanders was the son of Abraham b. about 1720 in Craven Co, NC, and his wife Rachel Bush, whose y-DNA was Haplogroup R1b, a widely distributed DNA of Europe.

Abraham's descendant #B- 019 at the y-DNA site. Abraham lived in Dobbs County, North Carolina in the 1700's. Sanders Bush, Abraham Bush and Richard Bush all lived in Dobbs County when they entered the military. Sanders, however, recorded his will and died in 1810 in Pulaski County, GA, as well as his wife Mary Bush. Abraham was the son of William Bush, Jr., son of William Bush, Sr. and Martha Hill according to earlier research of Colonial Bertie Co. GA, by Mary Bell Best and Glenn Bush. William Bush Jr. was born about 1685, the son of William Bush Sr. William Sr. was born in 1655 in England according to William Glenn Bush's DNA information, the #B-010 at Bush y-DNA web site. Glenn generously sent me the last few records I needed to submit Sanders Bush as a new DAR ancestor because no one had ever succeeded in claiming him before. Sanders new DAR Ancestor number is A205525.

Although Sanders Bush lived near Andrew Bush in Georgia, they were cousins, not brothers. Y-DNA testing has shows Abraham was probably a descendant of William Bush Sr, and that Sanders was closely related to John Cooper Bush and Andrew Bush. The link Our Family Heritage, found below has more of my Revolutionary ancestors.

I entered the DAR through the service of Thomas Owen with our cousin, Annelies Mouring, a descendant of George Washington Smith, brother of my gg-grandfather, Al Sidney Smith. Their parents were Nancy Owen, granddaughter of Thomas Owen, and James Hans (aka Johannes Schmitz) Smith.

A Hollander, but more likely Pennsylvania Dutch, James Hans Smith was born in Pennsylvania, 11 Sep 1799, son of school-teacher William Smith, Jr. and Miss Rebecca Mans. He was married 15th September, and the family probably celebrated both his birthday and anniversary at the same time, and everyone forgot he was born 11th of September. Hans was in the war of 1812 exactly 19 days before he was released, probably because he was so young. In 1818 Hans was a School-teacher, then he along with his servant, Jerry---a free black man in Pennsylvania---moved on to Kentucky where Hans also taught school. In 1826 Hans married Nancy Owen, daughter of Bourbon County distiller Robert Owen and Nancy Foster. Robert was the son of Rev. War soldier Thomas Owen, and wife Salley Farmer.

Hans and Nancy were married in Kentucky, then moved to Lincoln Co Missouri where Hans became a Senator and Congressman. Hans moved on to Crawford, Arkansas where he was also a Legislator, finally settling in Ellis County Texas. Hans was murdered 20 March 1852 in Houston, Texas for his money where he went to buy supplies for himself and his neighbors. His wife, Nancy and servant, Jerry went to Houston to bring his body home.

The Owen line was of Welsh descent. Welsh families didn't have a surname such as Smith or Jones. The Welsh had, as an example for a male, Robert ap Thomas, or for a female, Jane vch Thomas ap John. When they came to America their father's name became their surname. Therefore, everyone with the surname Owen meant only that their father's given name was the same, and not necessarily that they were related. To make a lineage harder to trace, the Quakers moved as a group forming new settlements, not because they were related, but often because they belonged to the same church.

Thanks cousin Annilies, and to Birdie Farrar Wynn and Thomas Allen Glenn for doing so much Owen research for us. Thanks to Randy Farrar for pictures, and thanks also to Bruce Baker and his brother Glenn for including me on the Acknowledgment page of their Todd books.

Some Family Files to aid your research