Person:Neil McLean (1)

Name	Neil McLean
Gender	Male
Birth`^?`	1 May 1837	Outer Hebrides, ScotlandNorth Uist Island
Marriage	7 Oct 1869	Strathroy, Middlesex, Ontario, Canadato Flora Campbell (add)
Death`^?`	19 Dec 1919	Ailsa Craig, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada
Burial`^?`		Nairn, Middlesex, Ontario, Canada

1 Birth in Scotland
2 Property in Canada
3 Home Life
4 Pioneering in Saskatchewan

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Birth in Scotland

Neil was born on the island of North Uist off the west coast of Scotland. His father Alexander was a blacksmith there. His mother, Rachel McDonald, died early, after the birth of his brother John. Neil and Alexander appear on the 1841 census of North Uist, in the settlement of Malaglet. The family, which by then included Alexander's second wife Catherine and children from that marriage, emigrated to Canada in 1849, settling in McGillivray township in Middlesex, Ontario.

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Property in Canada

On May 2, 1871 Neil and his wife Flora Campbell purchased the 50 acres of land that his father had acquired from the Canada Company, for $450 with interest at 9% per annum as follows: To pay the principal sum of $450 on May 2, 1875, and to pay interest thereon in the meantime yearly on the second day of May. The mortgage papers show $40.50 paid on or about May 2 of the years 1872 to 1875, with a final payment of $450 on May 1, 1875.

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Home Life

Neil's household was deeply religious, and of the Presbyterian faith. Morning and evening prayers were held daily. Everyone, including the hired man and hired girl were expected to attend. There was a small built-in bookcase on one side of the living room, and there one could find at least a dozen small bibles. Each prayer time one of the children would pass these out to each person old enough to read. Then Neil would open the big family bible and read a verse, and then they would proceed around the room, with each person reading a verse. When the psalms or chapter ended every one knelt and Neil said a Gaelic prayer. The blessing at the table was also said in Gaelic.

It is said that Neil had a rich singing voice. Often after prayers he would start a hymn and all gathered would join in. He led the singing school for years, and sang in public in Gaelic.

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Pioneering in Saskatchewan

Neil's son James settled in Saskatchewan around 1900. There he purchased land in his father's name as well as his own. In the 1906 census of the western territory Neil, his wife and two youngest daughters appear in Saskatchewan, on the same land as James and his new family. At some point, Neil and his family returned to their farm in Ontario. He died there in 1919.

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