The Kintyre Forum

Neil McNeill was brought out to Australia in 1838, he traveled with his wife (Mary), 2 children, brother (Alexander) and his wife and child. They sailed on the Minerva. Neil was the only family survivor of the trip. Neil is my 5G father on my grandmothers side.
Neil was listed as a "tanner", his brother as a "collier".
Neil was a son of Andrew and Margaret McNeill. This couple were married in Campbeltown in 1805.
I believe Neil lived in (or about) Drummlemble.
As he left before the first census I wonder if there is any way of finding his address ?
I will be in Campbeltown from 6 to 11 September (staying at the Dallmore Hotel), if anyone can help me.

Are there any (pre 1900) street maps of the Drumlemble area?

Neil McNeill's maternal grandparents are known. Neil's mother, Margaret, was also a McNeill (christened 115/1768), the only daughter of Torquill McNeill and Margaret McMath. There were also three sons of this marriage; John (c. 19/8/1764); Alexander (c.29/6/1773); and Malcolm (c.4/7/1777). At the time of the birth of this last child in 1777, the parents were said to he living at 'Colehill'. This is later spelled 'Coalhill'- and in the west of the parish?near West Drumlemble. From mid C19th maps, it is evident that this is the site of the parish coal deposits, from where a canal had been dug in the late C l8th to transport coal to Campbeltown itself.

Coalhill is also in close proximity to two other sites where Andrew McNeill, Neil's father, was resident. At the time of his marriage to Margaret McNeill (21/5/1804), and for the births of his first three sons Alexander, (4/8/1805), John, (16/8/1807) and Neil (7/9/1809), Andrew McNeill is listed in the parish registers as a weaver at ‘Tirefergus’.(=Gaelic, "the land of Fergus "), (modern Tirfergus), was a farming settlement in the South/Western part of the Campbeltown parish. In the last quarter of the C18th, there were 3 families of McNeills who were located there; Archibald McNeill and Janet Thomson; another Archibald McNeill and Katherin Brollochan; and Hector McNeill and Finuell McCallum. All three families had children given the name Neil McNeill, and it is possible that Andrew McNeill was the son of one of these families, (Archibald McNeill and Katherin Brollochan's being the most likely, as their marriage is not recorded in the parish registers either.)

Tirfergus, of course, had a long association with the name McNeill, and Lachlan Buidhe McNeill was said by the parochial records to be at ‘Teirfergus’ when these records began in Campbeltown, at the end of the Cl7th.

At the time of the birth of Andrew and Margaret McNeill's fourth son, Hugh (b.14/6/1813), the family had moved to Kilkivan, a settlement not far removed from Tirefergus, and near the ruins of the chapel of St.Coivin or Kevin, and the resting place of Lachlan Buidhe McNeill.

The exact relationships between the families are difficult to deduce, owing to the large number of McNeills in the parish at this time?and the movement of these families to different parts of the parish. Apart from families in the township itself, McNeills were at the western settlements of Losset, Knockhantymore, Saltpans, Laggs, Knocknahall, Killounan, Bealloch, Drumlemble, and Coalhill.

Finally made it here (for a few days) searching for McNeil history, particularly exactly where they lived before leaving for a better life in Australia.

Before leaving for Australia, a lot of people stayed for a while in the local jail.

Yes, I gather that. I don't have any of that lot in my forebears, all were the result of famine and the 'clearances' ... Which puts a connection to the YES/NO vote nowadays. Although in those days they voted with their feet !

A big 'Thank you' to the ladies at the Heritage Centre who went out of their way to phone around for information, and to the ladies at the Library.
I spent a fruitful week in and about town, savouring the different eating places, and checking the views (and food) from Southport, The lighthouse at the Mull, Carradale, Machrihanish, Westport to the isle of Gigha. An experience driving on the single lane, very narrow roads, dodging sheep and motorbike riders !
I've been (again) to the Drummlemble cemetery for gravestone names, and visited (several times) the Muneroy Tearoom.

A belated reply to your query.
I too have been carrying out some family research on my father's side and this may be of some interest to you.
My great, great grandfather Alexander McNeill, the surname changes on a regular basis during this period, was born in Heylipol in Tiree December 1801: his father was James McNiel and his mother Catherene MacLean.
Alexander moved to Campbeltown where he was employed as a labourer and married Janet C Campbell in 1828. His daughter, Margaret, was born in Drumlemble written as "Drumlimon" on her birth certificate in 1830. He had another daughter, Catherine, born in Campbeltown in 1832.
Alexander and his family then moved to Old Monlkland outside Glasgow where he became a miner. My great grandfather Lauchlan McNeill was born there in 1841 or thereabouts.
The family might be connected as Drumlemble is such a small place and the McNeill's were far and few between in that area I believe.
Regards,
Lachlan MacNeil