Bartholomew Joseph Neville & Sarah Jane Barrett

Bartholomew Neville was perhaps my most industrious and well known ancestor.  He was a Teacher, Principal, salesman, and the successful owner of two businesses in the Pennsylvania city of Scranton.  At his death, the newspapers called him "one of the best known and most highly respected in men in Northeastern, Pennsylvania"; he was even considered for a time to be a Democratic Party prospect for the United States Congress.

"B.J." or "Bartley" as he was sometimes called was born in 1843 in the small town of Little Meadows in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania near the New York border.  By the time he was 17 years old, he was already a school teacher and probably taught in what was referred to back then as "Neville District No. 4", just outside of Little Meadows.  At age 19 he moved from his hometown to Pittston, Pennsylvania and became the Principal of the graded school there.  He remained in that position for four years. He left Pittston in 1866 and took up the tea business, becoming a member of the firm of Bronson, Brown & Company of New York.  It was around this time that he moved to the city of Scranton and made it his home.

It may well have been his travels as a salesman that led him to meet his wife, Sarah Jane Barrett.  Sarah's father owned a grocery store in the small Pennsylvania town of Hawley, on the shores of Lake Waulenpaupak and it is quite possible that B.J. Neville did business with him through his sales of tea and coffee.  However it occurred, B.J. and Sarah met and were married in Hawley at the Catholic Church in 1876.  They made their home in the residential section of West Scranton.

B.J. earned his living for 28 years as a salesman and enjoyed a rich family life.  It was said that he had the largest circle of customers of any salesman in his line and he enjoyed a large salary.  His business required a lot of travel but he loved his home and was never happier than when he was with his wife and family, after 20 years of marriage, the couple had 10 children.

In his later years, B.J. and a partner named P.W. Tague established a Furniture and Undertaking business in West Scranton.  The business became very successful and eventually they owned both the undertaking establishment and a livery stable across the street.  B.J. and Sarah's son, Thomas Neville ran the undertaking business.

B.J. always had an interest in local politics and often made comment through the newspapers on concerns of the citizens of the city of Scranton and of his business interests.  He also played an active role in the local Catholic Church in West Scranton.  He had become so well known and popular in the area that there was an effort to draft him as a candidate for the U.S. Congress from the 12th District, but Mr. Neville declined to run.

Bartholomew struggled in the last years of his life.  Apparently the shock of a sudden emergency health problem with his eldest son, William, may have weakened his own health.  He spent some of the final years of his life in a sanitarium called the Hillside Home in Clarke's Summit.  He died in 1911 of apoplexy after this lengthy illness.

After her husband's death, Sarah Neville eventually moved to a home at 1012 Myrtle Street in Scranton.  Mrs. Neville was described as "perhaps one of the best known women in the city", she lived until 1919.