Copyright USGenNet Inc., 2012, All Rights Reserved U.S. Data Repository Please read U.S. Data Repository Copyright Statement on this page: Transcribed and submitted by Linda Talbott for the US Data Repository http://www.us-data.org/ ========================================================================= U.S. Data Repository NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization. Non-commercial organizations desiring to use this material must obtain the consent of the transcriber prior to use. Individuals desiring to use this material in their own research may do so. ========================================================================= Formatted by U.S. Data Repository Chief Archivist, Linda Talbott All of the above information must remain when copied or downloaded. =========================================================================== SOURCE: History of Genesee County, Michigan pub. Everts and Abbott - 1879 Page 261 THE McNEIL FAMILY The ancestors of this family were of Scotch and Welsh nativity, descendants of whom settled in New England at an early date. Charles McNeil was a native of Vermont, educated and reared a farmer. He married Jerusha Ly- man, daughter of Maj. Lyman, of Vergennes, who was a soldier in the war of 1812, and received his death-wound at the battle of Plattsburg. Charles McNeil came into possession of the old home-farm of his father, on the eastern shore of Lake Champlain, at Charlotte. The farm consisted of five hundred acres, on which he resided all his life. He also owned the ferry between Charlotte and Essex, across the lake. He reared a family of fifteen children, named as follows: Frances, Mary E., Nancy H., Laura L., John L., Charles, David, James B., Charlotte, Henry, Jane, George, Ellen, William, and Julia. Of this large family eleven are still living. Charles died in 1860, at the age of seventy-nine years, and his widow attained to the same age, her decease occurring in 1864. John L. McNeil, the eldest son, was born at Charlotte, Oct. 10, 1813. His boyhood was passed in attending the common schools and in farm-labor until he was twenty-one, when he worked for his father a few months (at five dollars per month), and for the next year took charge of his father's hotel in Charlotte. In 1836 he concluded to go West and select a location for his future home. On the 2d day of May, of that year, he started with a light, covered wagon, in which he carried some extra clothing, provisions, a couple of log-chains, an axe, a set of drag-teeth, and various other tools. He came by way of Saratoga, Johnstown, Auburn, and Geneva to Buffalo, where he shipped his team and wagon for Toledo. On account of storms they did not land at Toledo, but came on to Detroit, when, hearing ill accounts of the Toledo country, he decided to settle in Michigan. He followed the old Saginaw road into the wilderness of Lapeer County; selected and bought of the government three hundred and tweny acres in the township of Atlas, in the present county of Genesee, about sixteen miles southeast of the city of Flint. He then sold his horses and wagon, bought a yoke of oxen, built a small log house which he covered with elm-bark, and moved in and kept house, as happy as a king. About a year later he erected a commodious log house, in which he and his bro- ther Charles kept bachelor's hall until the fall of 1837, when he married Miss Sylvia Davison. He went sixteen miles on foot to obtain the necessary license of the county clerk. They were united on the 26th day of October, 1837. From that time he busily engaged in clearing and improving his land, and in erecting suitable farm-buildings. In 1838 he was elected one of the assessors of Atlas, and two years later justice of the peace, which latter position he filled for the ensuing eight years. In 1848 he was elected a repre- sentative to the State Legislature. In all of these positions he served the public in a satisfactory manner. For the last forty-two years he has been a zealous adherent of, and active worker in, the Democratic party. Mr. McNeil has become widely known as a fine stock farmer, making wool-growing a specialty, and has done much towards the introduction and improvement of the fine wool varieties in his locality. John L. McNeil and his excellent wife are the parents of three children. Charles, the eldest, died in infancy; Mary J. and Lyman are unmarried, and reside at home with their parents. Mr. McNeil is a man in whom the community have unabounded confidence, - shrewd and cau- tious in his business ventures, plain and unassuming in his manners, courteous and affable in his intercourse, and hon- orable in his dealings. He has never in the course of a long and active life had a suit at law. The ancestors of Mrs. Sylvia McNeil were also natives of New England and of Scotch descent. Paul Davison, the paternal grandfather, emigrated to Western New York, and settled on a farm at Lima, in Livingston County. He reared a family of seven children, - three sons and four daughters. Norman, the eldsest child, was born in 1786; was reared as a farmer, and also became a carpenter. Nov. 9, 1806, he married Huldah Brown. After his marriage he carried on farming for several years in various places in Monroe and Livingston Counties. In the spring of 1831 he and his two eldest sons made a trip to the Territory of Michigan in quest of a location for their future home. They came to Detroit, and thence followed the old Saginaw trail into the wilds of Lapeer. They selected and bought a government lot at the place now known as Davisonville, in the township of Atlas, now Genesee County. His was the second entry of land in Lapeer County. He erected a two-story frame house, which was the second house built in Page 262 Atlas. In the fall of that year he returned to New York, and moved his family to their new home in the wilderness. To the west of them their nearest neighbor was two and a half miles distant, and in the opposite direction none nearer than Port Huron. His family consisted of his wife and ten children, - viz., Sarah G., Paul G., Oliver P., Sylvia, George A., Henry P., Dewitt C., Benjamin F., Jane A., and Mary F. Mr. Davison was in the early and pioneer days of Mich- igan a man of much influence and consideration, and under the Territorial laws was made a judge of the courts by Gov- ernor Mason. He also served as supervisor and as magis- trate of his town. He died in 1841 at the age of fifty-five, and his widow in 1848 at the age of sixty-two years. Their fourth child, Mrs. Sylvia McNeil, was born at Lima, Livingston Co., N.Y., March 28, 1812. She re- ceived the wholesome lessons and practical education of a farmer's daughter, and possessed with it the vigorous con- stitution and robust habits common to the atmosphere of farm-life. She was about nineteen years of age when the family emigrated to the wild-woods home in Michigan, and she retains to-day a vivid remembrance of their early pioneer life, - of the days when the forests were alive with deer, wolves, and bears. She has always been an active, industrious housewife, and has nobly performed her full share of life's duties. She enjoys the respect and esteem of all her acquaintances, and the love and reverence of her children. On another page of this work may be found the portraits and a view of the home of this old pioneer couple. ===========================================================================