DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're looking at the Neale House in Cameron County — a Southern Colonial, and friend, that framing alone tells you somebody had ambitions. The lumber that went into this place was imported, every plank of it, and the workmanship was fine enough that the house has outlasted most of the stories told inside it.
Most of them, but not all. This was the home of Wm. Neale — an Englishman, which is already an interesting way to start a Texas story.
Before he ever laid eyes on this stretch of the Rio Grande, Neale had served in the Navy of Mexico in the early 1820s. An Englishman in the Mexican Navy. You can't make that up, and you don't have to.
He went on to operate the Matamoros to Boca Del Rio Stage Line, moving people and cargo back and forth across that borderland, and then he settled here and stayed — 1834 to 1896. That is a long time to call one place home, and this house held him through all of it. Now, a house with that much history in it is going to absorb some darkness, and this one did.
During Cortina's War in 1859, Wm. Peter Neale — a son of the builder himself — was killed. Not out on some open road, not in some distant field.
He was killed in the right front room of his father's house. That room is still there. The fine workmanship is still there.
And the marker makes sure you know exactly where it happened, because some things deserve to be remembered precisely. That's the Neale House — built by an Englishman who crossed oceans and borders to plant roots in South Texas, and it is still standing to prove he built it well.
What the marker says
Southern Colonial house of Wm. Neale, Englishman who was in Navy of Mexico in early 1820's, operated Matamoros to Boca Del Rio Stage Line, and lived here 1834 to 1896. Built of imported lumber. Of fine workmanship. During 1859 Cortina's War, Wm. Peter Neale, a son of the builder, was killed in right front room. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964