Our subject's mother, whose maiden name was Martin, returned to Winchester and still resides at that place with her son, William Neat, our subject. William Neat was taught the elementary branches of an English education, obtained in the primitive common schools of the days of his boyhood in Scott County, and was thus occupied as a student at the outbreak of the Rebellion. Early in Feb. 1862 at Glasgow, Ill., he enlisted as a private soldier in Company I, 28th Illinois Infantry and served until discharged at Jackson, Tenn., in 1863. At the battle of Hatchie, Oct. 5, 1862, a grape shot so mutilated one of his legs as to necessitate immediate amputation. Either the field operation was unsuccessful or else it was exposure or lack of proper attention that brought the surgeons to the conclusion that a second amputation was necessary. Indeed it appeared that before the final recovery of the unfortunate victim, a third part of the limb sloughed off virtually making three several amputations of the wounded member. And so was added another victim to incompetent surgery or necessary exposure incident to the great war of the Rebellion.
Having returned to Glasgow from the army, young Neat as soon as physically able resumed his studies at school and was shortly afterward graduated from Aurora (Ill.) Business College. Some time during the sixties he was appointed government storekeeper in the Internal Revenue Department, but this occupation being uncongenial, it was abandoned after he had held the office one year. In 1871 he engaged in the grocery business at Winchester, and a year later sold out and returned to Glasgow, where he was in general merchandise until 1879, when he removed to Alsey, Ill., and engaged in business until 1883 when he returned to Winchester. Here he engaged in grain business to which he has since devoted much of his time.
The banking house of Neat, Condit & Co. was established in 1886; mr. Grout came into the firm in 1887 thus making a strong financial combination. The concern does a general banking and deposit business and is justly recognized as one of the solid, reliable and substantial financial institutions of Southwestern Illinois.
Mr. Neat is an enthusiastic member of the order of G.A.R. and counts it a privilege to belong to such an institution; he also belongs to the I.O.O.F. He is a sound Republican and believes in his party. He was married at Glasgow in 1871 to Miss Alice Cumbey, a native of Wisconsin. She died April 1st, 1877, leaving two children, John Carrollton and Cora S.
Our subject was married Feb. 2, 1881 to Miss Armetta Blair, the accomplished daughter of Robert A. Blair, Esq., of Winchester. Of this union there was one child, Robert, who died in infancy. Mrs. Blair-Neat died Aug. 17, 1883.