Charles P. Neill - Early Years

Early Years

Charles P. Neill was born on December 12, 1865 at Rock Island, Illinois. His parents James and Julia Neill had emigrated from Ireland in 1850. The family moved to Austin, Texas in 1871, where Charles' father, James, practiced law. Charles was employed as a bank messenger from 1876 to 1885. He attended the University of Notre Dame from 1885 to 1888 where he enjoyed his youth playing with snowballs. He then attended the University of Texas at Austin from 1888 to 1889 and finally graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. in 1891. He later taught at Notre Dame from 1891 to 1894. He studied at Johns Hopkins University from 1894 to 1897 and earned a doctorate in economics and politics. He then decided to continue teaching at the Catholic University of America, where he taught as an economics professor from 1896 to 1905 along with his peer Carroll D. Wright. He married Esther Waggaman of Washington, D.C., in 1901.

In 1902, Charles was appointed by President Roosevelt to serve as assistant recorder of the Anthracite Coal Strike Commission and his work received recognition. In 1904 the board of arbitration was appointed to defuse a threatened coal strike in Alabama and one of the members, Judge George Gray of Delaware, made his participation dependent upon Charles serving as the recorder, which allowed for Charles to become better known in his field. Shortly after, in 1905, Roosevelt selected Neill to succeed Carroll D. Wright, who had also taught economics at Catholic University, as United States Commissioner of Labor from 1905 to 1913.