William Henry McNeal (1937)

KNIGHT, MCNEAL

Posted By: Kent Transier
Date: 11/8/2023 at 18:03:26

The Wayne Herald
Wayne, Nebraska
Thursday, July 29, 1937
Page 1, Column 4

FORMER EDITOR DIES IN OMAHA

Rites For W. H. McNeal Held In City And At Wayne This Monday

W. H. McNeal, editor and postmaster in Wayne for many years, died in an Omaha hospital Friday at the age of 75 years 4 months and 27 days. He had suffered a stroke 10 days before.

Funeral services were conducted Monday afternoon at 1 from the Crosby-Carlson-Meyer mortuary in Omaha with Omaha lodge No. 39 B.P.O. Elks in charge. Rites in Wayne were that afternoon at 4 at the Beckenhauer parlors with Rev. R. L. Williams of Carroll, and Rev. Rollie Poe of Pierce, officiating. Mrs. T. T. Jones saying “The Old Rugged Cross”. Burial was in Greenwood cemetery.

William Henry McNeal was born at Winterset, Iowa, February 26, 1862. He lived there until 1881, when he was 19, and at that time came here to edit the Wayne Herald. His newspaper plant was housed in part of the court house at Fouth and Main streets July 4, 1884, when fire destroyed both the court house and the newspaper office. The Herald was located in the Main street building recently dismantled in 1903 when Mr. McNeal sold the plant.

Mr. McNeal served as postmaster in Wayne 16 years. In 1916 he moved to Laurel and after three years there went to Omaha where he had since resided.

In the early days Mr. McNeal was a member of Wayne’s Silver Cornet band. He retained membership in the Presbyterian church here and belonged to the Elks, W.O.W. and Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha.

Mr. McNeal married Miss Blanche Elizabeth Wise in Sioux City 53 years ago. The latter died in Wayne in 1900. Mr. McNeal married Mrs. Cora Wilmot in 1901.

Surviving Mr. McNeal are his wife and four daughters, Mrs. Helen Alms of Crescent City, Calif., Mrs. Bessie Hartman of Salem, Ore., Mrs. Vivian Klopping of Wayne, and Mrs. Hester Knight of Pierce. One daughter, Esther died in 1917. There are six grandchildren. Mr. McNeal was the last of his family.

All members of the family were with Mr. McNeal during his last illness excepting Mrs. Alms and Mrs. Hartman, who were unable to come.
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The Winterset News
Winterset, Iowa
Thursday, September 30, 1937
Page 1, Column 1

Note: This is not an obituary per se. These are a few recollections of Arthur Goshorn, the Winterset News publisher, who was a contemporary and friend of the deceased.

"Billy" or "Mac" as we called him was raised in Winterset. He was a printer and worked for the Madisonian. He belonged to our baseball club.

My brother, Robert, who was a partner of Ben Adams, hired him to come to Stuart and work on a newspaper they owned. The newspapers were consolidated and Robert took Will with him and established a paper at Wayne, Nebraska. In a few years he was a partner and when Robert went to Santa Fe, he sold his interest to McNeal who published it for many years. He was postmaster of Wayne for over 15 years. He lived in Omaha a good many years before he died.

The McNeals were residents when the Civil War broke. McNeal (the deceased's father) was one of the Madison county men killed. After his death a few weeks a woman came into the Winterset store, where the Union State bank now stands, wearing a big copper cent, a badge of the "Copperheads", rebel sympathizers. John Stiffler, a young clerk in the store, walked up to her, pulled it off her dress and threw it out into the square. Mrs. McNeal was in the store and when the rebel sympathizer commenced to abuse John, she walked to her and slapped her in the face. There was a whirlwind fight for a minute. The copperhead woman was hustled out of the store and made to get out of town.

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