McNEILL, AMOS

MCNEILL, GADYALE, HAYES, MUSSER

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 5/12/2019 at 22:16:14

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP

McNEILL, AMOS, farmer, Sec. 4 ; P. O. Denmark ; of Scotch origin, from Whiting, Vt.; in 1813, when in his 2d year, his father removed to the Western Reserve, now Medina Co., Ohio; his father refused to give a silver watch for 160 acres of land where Akron now stands, and settled six miles distant; when Amos was 12 years of age, his mother died, and, about the same time, his father lost his sight and became dependent upon his children for support ; they were scattered to different parts of the country ; Amos was bound to a farmer named Gadyale, who afterward joined the Mormons at Salt Lake City ; Amos learned the stone-cutter's trade, which he has since followed. July 6, 1837, he married Miss Linda McNeill (his cousin), daughter of John McNeill, who died in Lee Co. Jan. 20, 1852; her mother died in Mahaska Co. three years later. In September following their marriage, they moved to Warsaw, Ill., where he followed milling, and worked at his trade two and a half years ; thence to Lee Co., this township, and settled on the farm now occupied by O. T. Hayes ; three years after, he moved to the section where he now owns 146 acres, valued at $45 per acre. They have five children—Elias, born in September, 1840—enlisted with the Engineers of the West in 1861, and served through the war; Alvin,born in December, 1842, also a soldier in the late war; enlisted in the 7th I. V. I. in 1861, was discharged and re-enlisted in the 30th I. V. I., in 1862, in which he was detailed as forager, and, after many narrow escapes, mustered out at the close of the war ; he is now a resident of Colorado ; Alice E., born in December, 1844, the wife of W. J. Musser, a carpenter of Denmark, from Pittsburgh, Penn., married Dec. 15, 1878; Jonathan E., born in December, 1850 ; Reuben C., in December, 1853. Republican ; Mr. and Mrs. McN., with two of their children, are members of the Baptist Church, she of fifty years' standing. He has never sought office.

Source: BIOGRAPHICAL DIRECTORY
HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY IOWA
CHICAGO: WESTERN HISTORICAL COMPANY, 1879

Transcription typed/proofed as article was originally published in 1879