Britton or Britten Neal is a challenge to those of us who hope to separate the South Carolina Neals from the O'Neals or Neallys. Spelling was far from certain, as I have a record of a deed from John Neel of Union County in March 1800, and his name is spelled Neel, Neal and O'Nall in the same document.

I have been working on a database for the colonial land grants and later state land grants to anyone named Neal or Neel (and several variant spellings) in upcountry South Carolina between 1750 and 1800.

Given the constant in-migration from Ireland, separating out some of these families is almost impossible, but I have made a little progress.