Born near near Chelsea, Massachusetts. Graduate of Massachusetts State Normal School in 1886. He studied in Paris at the Julian Academy and the Ecole des Beaux- Arts. Later he studied in Rome. Married Carol Louise Brooks December 25, 1895. She died in June 1944. They had three children. Married Cecelia Weick Muench February 1946. Instructor at the Art Institute of Chicago. He opened a studio in College Point in 1947.

He sculpted the McKinley Memorial in Columbus, Ohio. MacNeal specialized in Indian subjects. He served as president of the National Sculpture Society. He won the Saltus medal from the ANS in 1923.

MacNeal designed the Standing Liberty Quarter Dollar of 1916. His design won in a competition with over 50 artists.

He died in College Point, Queens, New York.

bio: DAB; Fielding (*reported him still living in 1953); NCAB 13, 34; P-F; WWWA-2; WWWAmArt

obit: NUM 60 Nov 1947 pages 779-780; NYT 10/4/47