Introduction

Biography

Neal was the son of John Ar­chi­bald Mc­Aul­ay and Cath­arine Ni­col­son, and hus­band of Lu­cy Lee Ri­chards (mar­ried 1887, Io­wa).

He moved to Bos­ton, Mas­sa­chu­setts at age 21, and in 1876 to Port­land, Maine, where he learned the hat­ter’s trade.

He came to Christ in 1877, and in 1882 moved to Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, where for a year he de­vot­ed his time to mis­sion work, and to the Young Men’s Chris­tian As­so­cia­tion.

He en­tered Mc­Corm­ick Theo­lo­gic­al Se­mi­na­ry, Chi­ca­go, Il­li­nois, in 1883, re­ceived his de­gree in 1886, and the same year be­came pas­tor of the First Pres­by­ter­ian Church, Wi­lton, Io­wa (home town of song writ­er Charles Gab­ri­el). In 1907, he ac­cept­ed a call to Ly­ons, Io­wa.

He be­gan writ­ing Go­spel songs in 1889, and al­so wrote some Ma­son­ic po­et­ry. As of 1916, he was di­rect­or of the Clin­ton, Io­wa, Min­is­te­ri­al As­so­cia­tion.