Neal Friel was born around 1825 in Ireland. He immigrated to America by the 1850s and settled in Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania. He married Eunice McGee around 1854, and they had at least nine children: John, born around 1855; Margaret, born around 1859; Daniel, born around 1860; Rosa, born around 1865; Hugh, born around 1869; Caroline, born around 1872; Ella, born around 1875; Annie, born around 1877; and Josephine, born around 1879.
Friel worked as a laborer, and by 1860, he owned $500 of real estate and $75 of personal property. A decade later, he was working for a railroad company, and the family owned $250 of real estate and $100 of personal property. He died sometime in the early 1900s.