Epitaph:
In/Memory of/Colo./Thomas Neel/who departed/this life June 20/1779 in the 49th/year of his Age/The scepterd prince the burthend ?ave/The humble and the haughty die./The poor, the rich, the base, the brave,/In dust without distinction lie.
Description:
There are three granite lawn-style markers flush with the ground for Thomas Neel, Jr., Andrew Neel, and John Neel. Additionally, there is a soapstone tablet to the south of the three granite markers. In front of this soapstone tablet is a granite lawn-style marker with a bronze plaque attached to it. The bronze plaque has the following inscription: "REVOLUTIONARY WAR SOLDIER/THOMAS NEEL/COLONEL OF SOUTH CAROLINA/BORN 1739, DIED JUNE 20, 1779/MARKER PLACED BY KINGS MOUNTAIN CHAPTER,/NSDAR,/AND DESCENDANTS/JULY 1999. Colonel Thomas Neel and John Neel share the soapstone tablet.
Biography
Col. Thomas Neel, Jr., born in 1730, was the son of Thomas and Sarah Neel and the grandson of Henry and Susannah Simpson Neel. Col. Neel was married to Jean Spratt, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Clark Spratt. Their children were: Andrew and Thomas, twins, John, Sarah, who married David Johnston, Mary, who married Col. James Hawthorne, Jean, who married Robert Leeper, Jr., and Elizabeth, who married Pvt. Moses Shelby, Jr. Andrew, Thomas and John were all soldiers in the Revolutionary War and gallantly gave their lives for their country.
Col. Neel died June 20, 1779 and is buried in Bethel Church Cemetery, Clover, South Carolina.
A Harpe Consulting Project