Sunday, March 28, 2010

My Brick Wall - Eve and Samuel NEIL

I'm stuck, and I'm not sure where to look.  Maybe some of you out there will have some thoughts to point me in the right direction?

My goals of breaking down my brick wall are primarily to...

Find out where Levi NEIL was born
Find any siblings of Levi NEIL
Find Samuel NEIL
Find the maiden name, residence and migration of Eve NEIL

I am using the surname NEIL here as it is the modern day spelling, however in earlier documents it is found to also be spelled numerous different ways.

What I know:
About Levi Neil:
  • Born - May 9 1822
  • abt 1842 - Married Ruth Dean,  not sure yet  if the USA or Wentworth County
  • 1851 Census of Canada East/Canada West - Wentworth County, Saltfleet - says born in Saltfleet
  • 1861 - can't find him in that census
  • 1871 - Census of Canada, Ontario, Wentworth, Saltfleet - says born in Ontario
  • 1881- Census of Canada, Ontario, Wentworth, Saltfleet - says born in Ontario
  • Marriage record in 1864 to second wife (Elizabeth Hannon) says born in Canada. Says his mother is Eve Neal and his father is Samuel Neal.
  • Possibly died 1890 - no record yet.
 One of Levi's son's - Nelson Murray Neil - always lists his father as born in the USA in the census's so I'm not 100% convinced that Levi was born in Ontario.  Maybe he was born in PA?  I would need to find out when Eve came to Canada.



About Eve Neil:

I have found her grave in Tapleytown (which is in the same county as Saltfleet), it is next too Levi's first wife Ruth. I also have the census record for 1871 that lists her as dying that year.





From this I know:
  • Eve's last name spelled NEAL, Ruth's last name spelled NEEL
  • She is a "native" of Pennsylvania (I assume that means she was born there? or does it just mean she lived there?)
  • Died March 25 1871, and can figure out that she was born on Oct 20 1776
  • In 1822 when Levi was born, Eve would have been 46, so I would assume she would have children when she was younger, where would they be? I don't know of any siblings to Levi.

Samuel NEIL
  • I can't find him in Canada, and I am not sure where to look in the states.  I am assuming somewhere in PA but not sure.
  • There seems to be a Samuel Neil that others are researching, that would have been born around the same time, but he is in Tennessee so I have ruled him out, now that Eve is from PA


So some questions I have for you experts...

Was there some event in PA history, that caused migration up to this area of Canada.  I have read that mennonites may have migrated, but I don't think they were mennonites, it says their religion is E. Meth on all census's.  (I need to do some research on religion I think.  Maybe a topic for a future blog.)


So that's my brick way...if anyone has any thoughts I'm open for suggestions!

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