William Neill 1807-1880 & Mary Lawrence 1811-1901

December 8, 2019 Laura

William Neill was born December 7, 1807 in Ayr, Scotland to John Neill and Margery Ferguson.

Mary Lawrence was born July 6, 1811 in Coshocton, Ohio to John Lawrence and Rachel Anne Payne.

They were married September 13, 1832. in Coshocton, Ohio, at the home of her parents. William was 24 and Mary was 21 years old.

William and Mary had ten children- 5 boys and 5 girls (one boy, Emmens, died at age 1 month). The family at first lived in Coshocton, but in the 1840s, William, Mary, son John Andrew, and daughters Jane, Margery, and Rachel journeyed to Texas by flatboat.

They had come down the Ohio River on a flatboat in 1847, across Kentucky and Illinois and then down the Mississippi River crossing Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi. They arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi River at New Orleans, La. where they transferred to a sailing ship and headed across the Gulf of Mexico toward Texas. They were caught by a severe storm in the Gulf and totally wrecked the ship near the mouth of the Brazos River of Texas. It was with great difficulty that the passengers were saved. After suffering many hardships and privations, they traveled with their wagons and arrived in Seguin in 1847. They settled in Seguin, Guadalupe County, Texas on January 29, 1849

Story relayed by William Evans in 1909 and printed in the Guadalupe Valley Trails, Vol. 4, No. 3, 1988

Traveling by Flatboat engraving by Alfred R. Waud

According to the National Weather Service, a hurricane hit the “lower coast of Texas” on October 17, 1848. It is possible that the Neills traversed the country only to enter the Gulf of Mexico in the midst of a hurricane.

The family settled in Guadalupe County, Seguin, Texas in 1848. William was a blacksmith.

WC Baxter was William’s nephew. The Texan Mercury Vol. 1 No. 18 Ed. 1 Saturday, January 21, 1854

William and Mary had eleven children: John Andrew, Margery, Jane, and Rachel were born in Ohio. Nancy, Henry Clay, William Harrison, Agnes Lawrence, George Albert, Emmens, and Hellen were born in Texas.

According to local Seguin historian Willie Mae Weinert, “Uncle Billy Neill” was “quite a character about town” and “could eat more sardines than any six men in town.” (Willie Mae Weinert, Seguin Enterprise, 1938).

William died May 26, 1880 in Seguin. Mary died January 7, 1901, also in Seguin.