George D. Neal

George D. Neal, lieutenant governor of Texas, son of Dr. Thomas W. and Elizabeth C. (Haskins) Neal, was born at Amelia Court House, Virginia, on October 7, 1853. In 1866 he moved with his family to Texas, where his father established a medical practice at Washington-on-the-Brazos. Neal was educated in the common schools of the state and at Baylor University and studied for a year at the University of Texas. He served briefly as deputy county clerk in Austin County, read law, and gained admission to the bar in Bellville in 1878. He married Fannie C. Brooks on October 7, 1880; they had two children. Neal moved to Navasota in 1881, served as county judge of Grimes County from 1884 to 1886, was city attorney in Navasota from 1888 to 1896, and in 1896 was elected to the Texas Senate to fill the unexpired term of W. P. McComb. He was reelected the next year and from 1897 to 1902 represented the Fifteenth Senatorial District in the Twenty-fifth, Twenty-sixth, and Twenty-seventh legislatures. In the last he was president pro tem. Neal was lieutenant governor of Texas from 1903 to 1907. He returned to Navasota in 1907 and practiced law there until his death on July 13, 1916. He was buried at Navasota.