John Neville was an American soldier. He served in the French and Indian War, American Revolutionary War.
Background
John Neville was born on July 26, 1731 in Gloucester, Virginia, United States. He was the son of George and Ann (Burroughs) Neville. George Neville apparently came to the colonies in his early youth, settled on the headwaters of the Occoquan River in Virginia, and acquired a large estate, which appears on Pownall's, Fry's, and Jefferson's maps and on the map accompanying the 1787 edition of Jefferson's Notes on the State of Virginia.
Career
Neville served under Washington in Braddock's expedition (1755) and then settled near Winchester, Virginia, where he was elected sheriff. He later made large purchases of land on Chartier's Creek, near Pittsburgh, and for his services in the Dunmore War (1774) received, with Valentine Crawford, a joint patent for 1, 000 acres. This region was in dispute between Pennsylvania and Virginia and the inhabitants elected Neville a delegate to the Virginia convention of 1774, but he was too ill to attend.
In August 1775 the Virginia Committee of Safety ordered him to proceed to Pennsylvania with the militia company which he commanded and occupy Fort Pitt. This accomplished, he was appointed justice of "Yohogania County, " the new county organized by Virginia for the government of the disputed area. Neville declined to take any further part in the boundary dispute and remained commandant at Fort Pitt during the first two years of the Revolution. With George Morgan, Indian agent, he tried to keep the tribes friendly, but only the Delawares responded.
On November 12, 1776, Neville was promoted lieutenant-colonel and later was ordered to join Washington's army, to which he was attached for the remainder of the war. He was promoted colonel in 1777 and brevetted brigadier-general in 1783.
After the Revolution he was elected to the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, to the Pennsylvania convention which ratified the federal Constitution, and to the Pennsylvania constitutional convention of 1789-90.
In 1796 he served as federal agent for the sale of public lands northwest of the Ohio. During his later years he lived at his estate on Montour's Island, near Pittsburgh, where he entertained visitors of note, including Louis Philippe, the duc d'Orléans (King of the French, 1830-48), and his two brothers, the duc de Montpensier and the comte de Beaujolais (1797).
Neville died in 1803. His descendants, bearing the surnames Neville and Craig, were of considerable importance in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati for the next fifty years.
Achievements
Connections
On August 24, 1754, Neville married Winifred Oldham. His son, Colonel Presley Neville, married Nancy, daughter of General Daniel Morgan.