Wilbur A. McNeill

  Wilbur A. McNeill, capitalist of Oskaloosa, was born June 12, 1843, in Springfield, Illinois. The ancestry of the McNeill family in America is traced back to two brothers who came from Scotland to the new world in 1770. One of these, Archibald McNeill, was a physician and settled in Georgia. The other, Gen. John McNeill, won his title by service in the British army and while on leave of absence settled in Kent county, Maryland. This was only a few years before the outbreak of the Revolutionary war and he noted the conditions among the colonies that led to the outbreak of hostilities. His sympathies were aroused in behalf of the oppressed and he forfeited his commission in 1776 by taking sides with the American troops in the war of the Revolution. General McNeill was the father of four children. The eldest, John McNeill, J r., who became a lawyer by profession, removed to Cumberland, Maryland, in 1800 and was for many years judge of the orphans court of Allegany county. By his marriage to Miss Mary Myers there were born five sons and three daughters.

One of these. the Rev. Francis Asbury MeNeill, was the father of the representatives of the name now living in Oskaloosa. He was born January 1, 1809, and was married in Frederick City, Maryland, to Miss Mary E. Cronise, who was born in that city March 4. 1812. Dr. McNeill was baptized by the Rev. Francis Asbury, the first bishop of the Methodist Episcopal church in America. He joined the church when very young and was received into the ministry at the age of twenty years. In 1833 he was ordained a deacon at Baltimore, Maryland, by Bishop Hedding and was ordained elder in 1837 at Jacksonville, Illinois, by Bishop Soule. He found time to pursue a course of medical studies in addition to his work in the ministry and was graduated from the University of Maryland at Baltimore in 1834. Locating at Springfield in the spring of 1835, he there practiced medicine and at the same time maintained his pastoral connection with the church for over two years, after which he was located by the conference at various points. He not only did much for his fellowmen in the way of ministering to physical and spiritual needs but was also an active factor in political life and all ardent opponent of slavery. It was this that largely influenced him to leave Maryland. He made campaign addresses throughout the state of Illinois in support of William Henry Harrison in 1840 and was a delegate to the convention which nominated Henry Clay for the presidency. 'He also attended the Bloomington convention in 1856, which gave rise to the republican party in Illinois and at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war was a member of the state legislature. The newspaper which he published in Ogle county was among the first to advocate the cause of Abraham Lincoln and of the martyred president he was a very warm, personal friend and ardent admirer. After the outbreak of hostilities between the north and the south he was appointed surgeon of the Thirty-fourth Illinois, Infantry by Governor Richard Yates, but later resigned on account of ill health and was afterward appointed post chaplain at Paducah, Kentucky. Subsequently he filled a similar position in Louisville, Kentucky, but in 1865 left the service. His death occurred February 1, 1872, at Mount Morris, Illinois. He had always maintained a high standard of conduct in every relation of Jife and had entertained principles that constitute the basic elements of good citizenship and Christian living.

His wife, Mrs. Mary E. McNeill, died at Springfield, Illinois, November 4, 1849, and Dr. McNeill was married again February 2, 1857, Miss Barbara E. Wagner, of Mount Morris, becoming his wife. Of the children born of his first marriage there are three living and two are residents of Oskaloosa. Mrs. Ann Norvella Little, born June 25, 1835, in Washington county, Maryland, lives in Chicago, Illinois. James Floyd, born October 15, 1841, in Springfield, where he was reared and obtained his education, enlisted for service in the Civil war, August 12. 1862. He joined the army for three years as a member of Company G, One Hundred and Fourteenth Illinois Infantry, and was promoted to the rank of sergeant major. He served until the close of the Rebellion and was honorably discharged August 15, 1865, after which he became clerk in the adjutant general's office in Illinois, acting in that capacity until the office was abolished. He was married November 18, I872, to Julia E. Hibbs, of New York city, and they became the parents of two children, Walter F. and Mabel. Wilbur A. McNeill, of this review, is the next of the family. Hobart W. McNeill, one of the leading citizens of Oskaloosa, was born June 18, 1847, at Peoria, Illinois. His mother dying soon afterward he was reared by an aunt in Allegany county, Maryland and he attended the University of Virginia until that school was closed by the Confederacy. He pursued the work of his senior college year in 1865 at Rock River Seminary in Ogle county, Illinois, after which he read law and pursued
a course of lectures in the University of Michigan in 1867. He was admitted to the bar in Springfield, Illinois, the following year and in 1869 located at Eldora, Iowa, where he formed a law partnership with Ex-Governor Enoch W. Eastman. In 1870 he entered the service of the Iowa Central Railroad Company, becoming their general agent in 1871. As special agent of the Iowa Valley Construction Company, which built the central railroad, he settled its affairs which in two years involved an expenditure of four million dollars and which were very much complicated. His report, made in New York city, was printed by the company and was accepted as a final and, complete settlement of the business. In 1872 he was the secret agent of the St. Louis & St. Paul Railroad and became president of the road. In 1873 in connection with W. A. McNeill he undertook the development of the Mahaska coal fields, organizing the Iowa Central Company with a capital stock of one hundred thousand dollars and of the company became president. The stock soon sold at a large premium, the lowest sales being fifty and the highest one hundred and twenty-five per cent above par. This corporation was merged into the ConsoIidation Coal Company, which absorbed several other companies. In 1881 the stock was sold to the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company for five hundred thousand dollars in cash. In that year H. W. McNeill became assistant to the president of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Company and in November of the same year resigned to resume the presidency of the Dubuque International Improvement Company. He formulated the financial plan whereby was built the Masonic Opera House in Oskaloosa. He organized and was president of the Oskaloosa Power & Land Company, capitalized at fifty thousand dollars; the Oskaloosa Tanning Company, capitalized at twenty-five thousand dollars; the Oskaloosa Edison Light Company, with a capital of twentyfive thousand dollars; was vice-president of the Western Union Fuel Company, capitalized at two hundred thousand dollars; vice-president of the American Coal Company, with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars: vice-president and manager of the Iowa Iron Works Company, of Dubuque, capitalized at one hundred and fifty thousand dollars; vice-president of the Dubuque Steam Heating Company, capitalized at thirty-five thousand dollars ; vicepresident and manager of the Rasmussen Western Railway Cable Company, of Chicago, Illinois, capitalized at two million dollars; was a director of the Fanners & Traders National Bank of Oskaloosa : and of the Oskaloosa Oatmeal Company with headquarters at Mason City, Iowa. Few men in the state operated more largely in business affairs than H. W. McNeill. He thought out new plans of action, ventured upon untried fields and carried forward to successful completion whatever he undertook, being systematic at all times in. his work and utilizing every opportunity to the best advantage. He became one of the most eminent and prosperous men of the state and was a typical American citizen, who while promoting individual success also largely contributed to the commercial and industrial advancement and prosperity of the county and the commonwealth. He was married May 15, 1869, to Miss Lizzie Phillips, of Eldora, Iowa, to which place she had removed from Allegany county, Maryland. She had been a childhood friend and playmate of her husband and was educated at Dr. Brooks College in Baltimore. There was one child of this marriage. Anna, born July 12, 1873. H. W. McNeill died at San Jose, California, January 27, 1900.

Of Dr. McNeill's second marriage there were born four children, of whom two are living: Catherine M., born in Mount Morris,. Illinois, May 20, 1860, received a liberal literary education and then devoted herself to the study of vocal music, spending two years in Chicago, after which she studied for three years under the best masters of London and Paris, completing her course abroad in 1886. She now lives with her husband, Dr. Walter Huffmann, in Honolulu. Hawaiian Islands. Frank A. McNeill, born October 26, 1862, is now living in Tishomingo, Indian Territory.

The life record of Wilbur A. McNeill has been closely interwoven with the history of Oskaloosa's development and upbuilding in later years. He acquired his early education in the old Sandstone Seminary at Mount Morris, Illinois, and in 1861, when but eighteen years of age, responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting in the Fourth Illinois Cavalry. He had a horse shot from under him at Shiloh and sustained such injuries as necessitated his discharge on account of physical disability, but his patriotic spirit was not to be quenched in this way and in 1862 he re-enlisted. While skirmishing at Griesson's Bridge below Memphis, Tennessee, and engaged in a hand-to-hand pistol duel he was severely wounded, being shot through the right breast, by reason of which he was again discharged from the service.

In 1873 Mr. McNeill associated himself with his brother H. W. in the coal business, operating first in Monroe county, Iowa, as secretary and treasurer of the Iowa Central Coal Company. Through all the changes that occurred in the organization of the corporations, as mentioned in the history of H. W. McNeill, W. A. McNeill had personal charge of the accounting and financial part of the business, which he managed with marked ability and signal success, and on his brother's death took entire charge of the business. In 1881 he established the Oskaloosa Livery & Transfer Company, his arrangements and appointments reaching such a degree of perfection that his business was unsurpassed by any similar concern in the state. He is now president of the W. A. Company. of Seattle, Washington, and the H. W Mc Neill Company, Limited. of Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

To Wilbur A. McNeill there has come the attainment of a distinguished position in connection with the great material interests of the state and his efforts have been so discerningly directed along well defined lines that he seems to have realized at anyone point of progress the full measure of his opportunities for accomplishment at this point. A man of distinctive and forceful intellectuality, of broad mentality and most mature judgment he has left and is leaving his impress upon the industrial and agricultural world.