Rose Summerall & Giles McNeil

Rosetta Summerall McNeil (1863 - DOD unknown )

“Aunt Rose”

Rossetta Summerall McNeil (Aunt Rose), like her sister Abby, spent her life in Appling County. As noted before, she was born about 1862 - 1863, around the same time President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. That gave her the opportunity to avoid the harsh life of slavery. She had the privilege of learning to read and write. She and her husband Giles McNeil (1847-DOD unknown) were the parents of eight children. Their children were as follows: 

1. Willie McNeal  1883-DOD unknown
2. Sunella McNeal (Senella)  1884-DOD unknown
3. Charlie McNeal  1887-DOD unknown
4. Levi Henry McNeil  1889-DOD unknown
5. David McNeal  1890-DOD unknown
6. Abraham Lincoln  McNeal  1892-DOD unknown
7. Mariah Estella McNeal  1894-DOD unknown
8. Birdie McNeil  1904-DOD unknown

Uncle Giles was a Deacon at Rachel Baptist Church, the first African American organized Church in Appling County. The 1900 census tract shows that he, like so many of our ancestors, was born in North Carolina in 1847.

Aunt Rose was my first Sunday school teacher. I can still hear her reciting the Ten Commandments. Her house served as the place where my mother would leave us on Saturday afternoon while she went shopping. Aunt Rose lived “up town,” on Comas street. A photo showing her sitting on the front porch of her old house is included in the photo gallery. Her original house was destroyed by fire in the 1970s. It was replaced with a red brick house structure that remains there today. 

Written by Rev. Rozell Gilmore (1931-2010), JSFG Historian Emeritus

Edited by LaVeta Gilmore Jones, JSFG History Committee