The Blount County News-Dispatch, 7 Sep 1899 Arkadelphia. On the 25th of July, W.R. McNeal, of Woodlawn, aged 49 years, then B. McNeal, of Dalton, aged 39 years, Mrs. Jane Griffith, of Woodlawn, aged 47 years, J.H. McNeal, ex-Tax Collector, of Sloan, aged 44 years, and J.F. McNeal, of Sloan, aged 41 years, children of M. McNeal, of Sloan, Ala., aged 76 years, and Mrs. Emaline McNeal, aged 70 years, met at the old homestead in a family reunion-the first all had gathered together in fourteen years. The morning hours were spent in family topics. At 12 o'clock the good old father and mother called the children around the dining table which was groaning with the [luxuries] of life, and an hour was spent in a general feast. The afternoon was spent in each one telling his ups and downs in boyhood days-an interesting session it was. Next morning the father and the boys took a stroll over the farm, eating a watermelon here and there after which they went to the residence of J.F. McNeal where dinner had been prepared and Mr. Pink Dean and wife joined the reunion. The afternoon was spent in discussing war and politics. Saturday morning we parted to meet one year hence. Mr. John McNeal, father of Mr. M. McNeal, died in Georgia at the age of 89 years. Old Rip. [Note: Jane Emeline McNeal, Michael McNeal, John F. McNeal, and others in the McNeal and Griffith families are buried in the Harmony Baptist Church Cemetery near the Walker County line]