I grew up in the Philadelphus community of upper Robeson County near Red Springs. From the time I was about 7 years old I heard about the old Scottish immigrants -- particularly McNeills -- to that region, and learned their names, nicknames, and their children, as well as where they lived. In the mid 1980s I began to study them in earnest beginning in 1740 and working forward in time to about 1850. This allowed for a thorough understanding of almost all of the earliest McNeill families of the region.

I grew up in the Philadelphus community of upper Robeson County near Red Springs. From the time I was about 7 years old I heard about the old Scottish immigrants -- particularly McNeills -- to that region, and learned their names, nicknames, and their children, as well as where they lived. In the mid 1980s I began to study them in earnest beginning in 1740 and working forward in time to about 1850. This allowed for a thorough understanding of almost all of the earliest McNeill families of the region.