Genealogical data intended "... (1) to establish as clearly as existing documents would allow the ancestry of Capt. William Lea who died in Person Co., NC in 1804, and (2) to begin the process of sorting out his Lea relations in Virginia and North Carolina." Includes all the data collected about individuals and families named Lea or Leigh in Virginia and North Carolina.

Thomas McNeill (ca.1724-1781), son of Robert (Robin) MacNeil and Mary Katherine MacKinnon and of Scottish lineage, adopted the Celtic spelling of his surname, married Ann Tolbert, and immigrated about 1750 from Ireland to Spotsylvania County, Virginia, probably moving later to Caswell County, North Carolina. Descendants and relatives lived in Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri and elsewhere.

Thomas McNeill was born near Londonderry, Ireland in about 1724. His parents were Robert MacNeill and Mary Catherine MacKinnon. He married Ann Tolbert in about 1750. They immigrated to America and settled in first Virginia and then in North Carolina. They had eight children. Ancestors, descendants and relatives lived mainly in North Carolina, Tennessee, Missouri, Oklahoma, Texas and California.