Family Research
The Neel Family of Geiger, Alabama
I am the self-assigned family historian for the Neel Family of Geiger, Alabama.
I've had a lot of help.
My mom kept names and dates in little notebooks and scraps of paper, held together by rubber bands. She wrote names, places, and dates on the backs of old photos. Her work has been invaluable.
My cousin Elise is the expert on the Lee side
Kady is the keeper of all things Dennis and Bragg. AJ's mom has been instrumental in filling in the newest limb on our tree and KS has her family memorized.
I began by logging all of the information onto a spreadsheet, and then built a tree on Family Search, filling in the gaps. I have had a lot of luck answering family questions with the help of Family Search volunteers.
Below is a non-specific strawman of my information.
A Note on the Family Name
My family is adamant about the spelling of our last name. The prevailing opinion has always been that it has always been spelled "Neel" from before the time we arrived in America. While others may use Neal, Neil, Nell, O'Neal, and McNeal, those people are either from a different family or branch of the family, can't spell, just don't care, or are trying to link up with Scot Clans. I've watched the arguments between my dad and his cousins when one of them would suggest that the Neels came from the MacNeil of Bara clan. What Nonsense!
OK, Maybe DISTANTLY.
I was drinking in a pub in St. Mere Eglise France, in uniform, when a French guy came up to me and said, "Néel. This is a French name." My buddies had a good time with that - "First Sergeant Neel is French!"
We can trace the Neel name back to the American War of Independence. I believe we came from France, moved to the Island of Jersey, and then to the United States. We still pronounce it like the French - Nee-ell.
John Clayton Neel
Neel oral history says that John Clayton Neel, my great-great-grandfather, came from the Carolinas or Virginia, married Caroline Lagrone of Noxubee County, Mississippi, and died at the battle of Shiloh, decapitated by a cannonball.
John and Carrie's marriage license is the only source document. It is dated December 1851. Carrie would have been eighteen.
They had two children, Nicholas Clayton and Molly A. Neel. By 1860, Caroline and the children were living with her father in Noxubee.
Nicholas, my great-grandfather, married Georgia Ann Byrd. They settled in Binnsville, Mississippi, and raised nine children. Their eighth, Emmette Conwell Neel, was my Grandfather.
Nicholas Clayton Neel & Georgia Ann Byrd
Felto Hill Williams - Martha Christiana Cook
Lee - Griffith
Andrew and Donnie
Johnson - Winter
James and Cornelia
Georgia Ann Byrd Neel with her children
Edna, Byrd, Mamie
Charlie, Eugene, Bud, Emmette, Malcolm
Emmette Conwell Neel & Myrtle Wicks Williams
Emmette was a farmer and Postmaster for the Geiger Alabama area. He and his second wife, Myrtle, once ran Neel Eats, a small restaurant in town owned by his brother Mal.
Myrtle Wicks Williams was a housewife and raised five children.
Emmette died in 1949 of a heart attack at the young age of fifty-four. Myrtle continued to live in Geiger until 1981, dying at eighty-one. They are buried at Soul's Cemetery in Geiger.
The Children, Grandchildren, and Great-Grandchildren of Emmette C. and Myrtle Williams Neel
Family Reunion, Timilichee Club House, Geiger, Alabama, Summer 1990
Barnie Emmet Lee & Evie Leigh Johnson
Barnie was a farmer and storekeeper for Yellow Front Stores in Havanna and Geiger Alabama. When those stores closed, he ran his own country store and farmed a small garden in Berry Alabama.
He was married to Evie, who worked in the stores, and, as a housewife, raising three children. Evie jarred all of the vegetables that Barnie grew in his garden.
Barnie died in 1972 of a heart attack at the age of seventy.
Evie passed away in Birmingham, where she lived with her daughter, Juanita, in 1999, at the age of ninety. Both are buried in Tuscaloosa Alabama at Memory Hill Gardens.
Emmette and Juanita
Emmette Williams Neel grew up in Geiger Alabama, and joined the Army during World War II, in the Signal Corps assigned to the 8th Army Air Corps. a signal repairman. After the war, he received his BS from Livingston State and taught high school while running a radio repair shop. Southern Railway hired him as a signal maintainer and he became a Supervisor of Communications for the company. He was a 32nd Degree Mason and 33rd Degree Shriner, a former Worshipful Master for Birmala Lodge. Emmette died in 1991 of cancer. He was 68.
Juanita Ann Lee grew up in Moundville, Havana, and Geiger married Emmette right out of high school and raised three boys. She worked for the University of Alabama in Birmingham in payroll, managing the Monthly Payroll. Nita died at 87 in 2015 after suffering from Alzheimer's and Dementia. She was a former president of the PTA at Kennedy School and a Member of the Order of the Eastern Star.
They were members of 67th Street Methodist Church in Birmingham and members of the Concordia Club.
They had three children: James, John, and Donald.
They are buried together at Jefferson Memorial Gardens in Trussville, Alabama.
Dennis - Thompson
Joseph and Nell
All I know about Joseph Dennis is that he was the son of a Syrian immigrant, whose actual name was Choueri Sawaya. Joseph ran a Venetian blind business in Fairfield, Birmingham.
He married Nell Thompson and had a girl, Barbara, who is named after his mother.
Nell had Bill by another man while married to Joseph, Earl Holland, to whom she had been engaged before marrying Joseph. Joseph raised Bill as his child. Out of respect for Bill and IAW his wishes, I have kept Joseph as his "father" in this tree, though I have changed the info on Family Search.
We confirmed this with DNA testing (Barbara and Bill show different geographical areas) and in conversations with Bill and Barbara. Earl may have also had a child with Nell's older sister, which is what caused Earl and Nell to break up. One story has Nell's sister lying about the situation to get Nell to break up with Earl. Earl must have been a rascal.
Joseph and Nell broke up for a while but got back together and are buried together at Elmwood Cemetery in Birmingham. I'm guessing that Joseph must have been a very honorable, forgiving, and loving man. I wish I had met him.
Bragg - Terry
Edwin and Margaret
All I know about these folks is that Mr. Bragg worked at US Steel most of his life and was some kind of engineering genius.
I have asked Sylvia's brother Ed to send me all he has and he says working on it.
Kady is also working with her sister on what she has.
The Bragg family, supposedly, has a very extensive library online.
Bill and Sylvia
William Edward was born and raised in Fairfield, Alabama until joining the Air Force, where he was a Mechanic and Crew Chief on the F-84 jet fighter. After the service, he became a Real Estate Agent and worked for the Jefferson County Zoning Board.
He married Sylvia Terry Bragg.
They had three children: Sharon, Michael, and Kimberly
Sylvia Terry Bragg was a housewife and Court Reporter. She raised three children. She and Bill were active and founding members of Doctrinal Studies Church in Roebuck.
Sylvia died of Pancreatic Cancer in 2016 at the age of eighty-two. Bill died in 2016 at the age of eighty-seven. They are buried at Jefferson Memorial Gardens in Trussville, Alabama.
The Dennis-Neel Family
Neels, Millers, and Thorntons
Kady's DNA Map
John's DNA Map
If you are family and want more information, just ask. If you'd like to add something to this page, I would appreciate the help. I am always looking for collaborators. You can help me build the family tree on familysearch.org by signing up for a free account.