Lockley, Fred.  "History of the Columbia River Valley, From The Dalles to the
Sea." Vol. 2.  S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1928.  p. 609.

OSCAR ALMAMEN NEAL

An able advocate and a wise counselor, Oscar Almamen Neal has long occupied a
position of prominence in legal circles of Portland and represents the third
generation of the family in Oregon. He was born October 11, 1870, in Hood
River, Wasco county, and his parents were Jesse and Lucy M. (Read) Neal, the
former a native of Indiana and the latter of New York. The paternal grandfather,
Peter Neal, made the overland journey to Oregon in 1843 and filed on a donation
land claim in Marion county. Later he removed to Hood River, in which he built
and operated the first sawmill, and was also one of the early agriculturists of
that locality. Kittredge Read, the maternal grandfather of Oscar A. Neal,
crossed the plains in 1853 and settled on a donation land claim in Marion
county. Jesse Neal also followed agricultural pursuits and passed away in Hood
River county in 1881.

Afterward his widow established her home in Marion county, at which time Oscar
A. Neal was a boy of ten, and his public school studies were pursued in Turner.
In 1890 he completed his high school course and left the home farm in the
following year, becoming an apprentice in a blacksmith shop. He mastered the
trade, which he followed until the fall of 18.97, when he matriculated in the
law school of the University of Oregon, and was graduated with the class of
1899. Previous to that time he had been a stenographer in the employ of A. King
Wilson, a Portland attorney, and began practice in his office. In 1906 they
formed a partnership and the firm of Wilson & Neal was intrusted with legal
interests of importance. Mr. Neal specializes in commercial law, on which
subject he is thoroughly informed, and his legal knowledge is much in demand. He
is also identified with business affairs and serves on the directorates of a
number of large corporations of Portland.

Mr. Neal was married February 18, 1902, in this city, to Miss Margaret J.
Sinclair, who was born in Illinois and came to Portland in 1900. Mr. Neal cast
his first presidential ballot in 1892, voting for Benjamin Harrison, and has
never wavered in his allegiance to the republican party. When a young man he
joined the Oregon National Guard, with which he was connected for three years.
He is an Elk, a member of the Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity, and the Multnomah
County and Oregon State Bar Associations and the American Bar Association. Mr.
Neal is highly esteemed by his professional colleagues, as well as those with
whom he has been associated in other relations of life, and shapes his conduct
by the teachings of the Methodist Episcopal church.

 
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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in November 2006 by Jeffrey L. Elmer.
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.