Sources, Permissions & Disclaimer
A work of fiction, from a true record. A Sound and Disposing Mind is a novel. It is closely based on the real probate case of Neely v. Neely, heard at the Londonderry Summer Assizes in July 1919, and on the surviving case papers, civil records, and newspaper reports of the period. The people in it lived; the documents quoted in it exist. But their thoughts, conversations, and inner lives are imagined, and the book should be read as a work of imagination built on a documentary frame. The Author’s Note within the book distinguishes what the record establishes from what the novel supplies. No disrespect is intended to the memory of any person depicted, nor to their descendants.
Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. The case papers in Neely v. Neely are held by the Public Record Office of Northern Ireland under reference D2649/9/1. The image of the will reproduced on the back cover of this book and on this website is reproduced with the permission of the Deputy Keeper of the Records, Public Record Office of Northern Ireland. The author gratefully acknowledges PRONI’s assistance throughout the research for this book.
Other repositories and sources. The author also acknowledges, with thanks: the General Register Office (Ireland) and irishgenealogy.ie, for civil registration records; the National Records of Scotland and Scotlands People; the National Archives of Ireland; the archives of the Londonderry Sentinel, the Londonderry Standard, and the Derry Journal, whose contemporary reporting of the case and its times informs the book; and the Ulster Historical Foundation, in whose journal Familia the author’s earlier research on the Laird family was published. Quotation from documentary material is made for the purposes of comment, criticism, and historical study.
Copyright. Text and original photographs © Rex Calloway, 2026. All rights reserved. Cover design by Laguna Media. No part of this website or the book may be reproduced without permission, except for brief quotation in reviews or scholarly discussion.
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Contact. Corrections are welcome. This book rests on twenty years of research, but the record is never closed, if you hold documents, photographs, or family knowledge touching the Laird or Neely families, please get in touch via bogstown.com.