A. C. Neal, a well known farmer and stockman of Benton township, came to this county when a mere boy, and belongs to one of the pioneer families of Butler county. Mr. Neal was born in Indiana in 1861, and is a son of J. W. and Christina Neal, both natives of Indiana. The father was a farmer in that State until 1865, when he went to Missouri with his family, driving across the country from Indiana. They located in Johnson county, Missouri, remaining there until 1872, when they came to Kansas and settled in Sumner county, and in 1877 went from there to Sedgwick county. In 1883, the Neal family came to Butler county, locating in Benton township where the father spent the remainder of his life, engaged in farming and stock raising. He died in 1909 and the mother now resides on the home place with A. C., who has never married. The father was an invalid for a number of years and thus A. C. Neal has

been the mainstay of the family from early boyhood. J. W. Neal, the father, was a native of Kentucky and early in life removed from his native State to Indiana, where he was married to Miss Brougher, a daughter of Jacob and Isabel Brougher, natives of North Carolina and of German descent.

A. C. Neal was only eleven years old when the family came to Kansas, in 1872, and therefore as a boy, he saw much of the pioneer life of this section of the State. In those days the children shared in the hardships and meager advantages of the new country. After coming to Kansas he worked for 35 cents a day and earned his first dollar binding wheat, which dollar he lost out of his pocket a few days later while threshing. This seemed to him to be quite a loss at that time, and his financial loss really could not have been greater, for that was all he had. His first investment was the purchase of a colt, for which he paid $13.50, and later sold for $95, which was the turning point of his luck, and since that time he has met with a fair measure of success.

When the Neals first settled in Sumner county, that section of the State was considered well on the borderland of civilization and the primitive conditions of the plains largely prevailed. There were lots of deer and antelope and buffalo could still be found in large herds only seven or eight miles away. Mr. Neal recalls with a shudder the first buffalo that he ever saw. He was out herding cattle on the open range with his Indian pony and the buffalo bull appeared on the horizon and made a wild charge into young Neal's herd of cattle. The boy had never seen a buffalo before and was sure that the devil was after him and his cattle. His Indian pony was a faithful little animal but young Neal knew that he was not speedy, so in order to make time he dismounted and ran home, which was about a mile away. Mr. Neal is a modest man and is not inclined to be unreasonable in his claims, but he is sure that if that mile had been officially recorded that it would go on record as the fastest mile ever made by a white man. He had many experiences in the early days, but this one is the prize winner.

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