William and Mary Neill had eleven children, nine who survived to adulthood.
John Andrew Neill 1833-1917
John Andrew Neill was born on June 26, 1833, in Coshocton, Ohio. William, was 25 and Mary was 21. He married Elizabeth Thompson on July 4, 1861, in Seguin, Texas. They had four children in 15 years. John was a wheelwright, and Mayor of Seguin from 1882-1887. He died on June 10, 1917, having lived a long life of 83 years, and was buried in Seguin, Texas.
Margary Neill Smith 1836-1884
Margery Neill was born June 29, 1836, Coshocton Ohio. She married John James Smith on November 22, 1855, in Seguin, Texas. They had nine children in 16 years. She died on August 14, 1884, in Columbus, Texas, at the age of 48, and was buried there.
Jane Neill Dillon
Rachel Neill Brooks Leech 1840-1907
When Rachel Neill was born on November 19, 1840, in Coshocton, Ohio, her father, William, was 32, and her mother, Mary, was 29. She married John Raney Brooks on May 2, 1860, in Seguin, Texas. He died in 1863. She later married James Leech. She was a dressmaker. She died on June 24, 1907, in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 66, and was buried there.
San Antonio Daily Express, Monday, June 24, 1907
Note: the following children give their birthplace in census records as Ohio; however, the account of the Neill family arriving in Texas during the storm only lists the children above.
Nancy Neill Jarratt 1843-1921
When Nancy E Neill was born on February 19, 1843, in Ohio, her father, William, was 35, and her mother, Mary, was 31. She married David Mitchell Jarratt on October 21, 1862, in Seguin, Texas. They had one child during their marriage. Nancy was a dressmaker. Nancy spent her later years widowed and childless, living with her sister Rachel, then living at Texas State Hospital (formerly Southwest Asylum for the Insane). She died on February 28, 1921, in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 78, and was buried there.
Southwest Texas Insane Asylum was constructed in 1892 to serve as a hospital facility for the mentally ill and handicapped. In 1925 the name was changed to the San Antonio State Hospital. (Elizabeth Huth Coates Library Special Collections, Trinity University)
Henry Clay Neill 1845-1879
When Henry Clay Neill was born on March 1, 1845, in Ohio, his father, William, was 37 and his mother, Mary, was 33. He married Ida Georgia on July 12, 1871, in San Antonio, Texas. He died in September 1879 in Seguin, Texas, at the age of 34, and was buried there. Henry C Neill enlisted in Company E, Texas 6th Infantry Regiment at age 16, as a fifer.
William Harrison Neill 1847-1885
When William Harrison Neill was born on January 27, 1847, in Ohio, his father, William, was 39 and his mother, Mary, was 35. He married Sarah Sue Ellen Guilley on January 8, 1871. The couple were later divorced. They had three children in 15 years. He died on October 12, 1885, in San Antonio, Texas, at the age of 38.
Agnes Lawrence Neill Smith 1848-1890
When Agnes Lawrence Neill was born on December 12, 1848, in Texas, her father, William, was 41, and her mother, Mary, was 37. She married James Madison Smith on April 26, 1863, in Seguin, Texas. They had five children in 14 years. She died on May 13, 1890, in Buffalo, Texas, at the age of 41, and was buried there.
George Albert Neill 1850-1940
When George Albert Neill was born on November 13, 1850, in Seguin, Texas, his father, William, was 42 and his mother, Mary, was 39. He married Sara Jo Leola (Kittie) Pruitt on November 30, 1892, in Concho, Texas. They had four children in 11 years. He died on January 8, 1940, in Eldorado, Texas, at the age of 89, and was buried there.
Growing up, we heard a story that George Albert Neill “killed a man in a bar fight with a log, and fled Seguin to avoid arrest. When his mother was dying, she wrote every post office to try to locate her son, to see him before she died.” Turns out, there was a grain of truth to the story.
