A Gathering of the Clan
I went up to Valley Mills, Texas yesterday to attend a “gathering of the clan.”
Which, for me, meant seeing all of my Grandma’s kinfolks.
In attendance were probably 50-60 descendants —either by blood or marriage— of my great-great-grandparents, Andrew Jackson McNeill (1847-1914) and Mary Jane (Thompson) McNeill (1849-1922). There was lots of great food, pretty cousins, and amazing old photographs and stories.
A.J. came to Valley Mills with his momma around 1867 from Robeson Co., North Carolina where they had pretty much exhausted their welcome with the local Presbyterian church and community, which was overwhelmingly Scotch. It’s said that, as a teenager, A.J. had joined the Confederate Army in some capacity, maybe as a flagbearer or some sort of servant. I don’t know. There’s no record of it I’ve ever seen, but it’s certainly not unthinkable.
In any event, years later, A.J. met and married Mary Jane Thomspon there in Bosque Co., Texas. As a young girl, she had come from Cass Co., Missouri —by way of Lewisville, Texas— with her family of devout Baptists and lawmen. Her momma was either half or full-blood Cherokee, which is something you can still see in the faces of my Grandma’s kin.
A.J. and Mary Jane had five kids. There may have been a sixth, but I’ve never been sure.
Robert Alexander McNeill (1878-1950) was the eldest. They called him Bob. Bob was my great-grandfather. He had two sisters who survived to adulthood: Mary Melissa (”Aunt Lissa”) and Anne Elizabeth (”Aunt Annie”). There was also a little boy, James Lee, and a little girl, Sarah Mae (”Sally”), who died young.
Of my great-grandfather Bob’s eight children, five lived to have children of their own. I am proud to say that every one of them was represented yesterday by at least one descendant. I was the sole descendant of my Grandma’s children who was in attendance. I am also pleased to note that Lissa and Annie were both represented by their descendants, the many Moore families of Bosque County.
If you ever get a chance to attend such a gathering of a clan, I recommend you go. There’s nothing like being in a roomful of folks —who are mostly strangers at first —and knowing that you do your beloved grandparents and great-grandparents honor by remembering them in the flesh.
