Kintyre Magazine

Fairmont Park was established by the City of Philadelphia in 1812 as a public park. It lies astride the Schuylkill River on the outskirts of the city and contains among other attractions some eight Georgian Mansions.

Among these is Mount Pleasant described by John Adams, the Second President of the United States who dined there in 1775, as "the most elegant seat in Pennsylvania".

It was built in 1761 by John Macpherson out of a fortune he had made as a privateer captain. President Adams said he had a clever Scotch wife and that he had been nine times wounded in battle and had an arm twice shot off(!) He is believed to have been a native of Edinburgh and he claimed to be a nephew of Macpherson of Cluny.

Captain Macpherson married in 1772 in Campbeltown, his second wife Mary Ann McNeill, a great granddaughter of Lachlan McNeill Buidhe (1611-1695) of Tirfergus in Kintyre.

His first wife, Margaret Rodgers, died in 1770, leaving him with four children John, William, Margaret and Mary. John was born in 1754 and studied law in London before returning to Philadelphia. He was killed on 30th December 1775 while taking part in the disastrous attack on Quebec. William, after this event, obtained his release from the British Army and eventually became an Agrarian General. Margaret settled in Georgia with her husband John Berrien, where their son John Macpherson Berrien was born. He became a Senator and Attorney General for the U.S.A. in President Andrew Jackson's cabinet.

The house Mount Pleasant, which contains portraits of Captain Macpherson and the winsome Mary Ann, was sold to Benedict Arnold, who was, however, convicted of treason before he could occupy it with his bride, Peggy Shippen.

The genealogy runs as follows:-

i. Lachlan McNeill Buidhe of Tirfergus m(1) Mary McNeill of Carskey, by whom he had four sons and two daughters. By his second marriage to Margaret McAllister of Tour (or Cour?) he had four sons and four daughters.

ii. Neil Oig McNeill of Machrihanish, the eighth and youngest son, married Elizabeth, d. of Baillie John Montgomery of Campbeltown.
(1) *Lachlan (4th son) Tenant of Aros died c. 1799 married Peggy, daughter of Malcolm McNeill of Tarbert, Gigha and had
(a) *Isabella - Miss Bel McNeill of Arcs (Pigotts Directory 1838)
(b) *Neil, Merchant in S. Carolina.
(2) Margaret, Neil Oig's older daughter, who followed five brothers, married Hector McNeil, Saltpans, Machrihanish, and had six children, among whom were
(a) Lachlan McNeill, West Indian Merchant, who died in Jamaica in 1798 and appointed as his trustees in Scotland William McNeill, Merchant in Glasgow, and Captain Hector MacNeal R. M. of Ugadale.
(b) *Mary Ann married John Macpherson, Philadelphia.
(c) *Margaret m. Manners.
(i) *William Manners in W. Indies.
(ii) * Isabella.
(d) *Elizabeth d.s.p. and others.

iii. Mary Ann McNeill (1748-1827) m. 1772 John Macpherson (d. 1792)
(l) *Charles (1774-1832). He worked in Jamaica with uncle Lachlan in terms of whose Will he changed his name to McNeill and inherited the business interests. He is commemorated in "The Memoirs of Charles Macpherson", published by his kinsman, the poet Hector McNeill (1746-1818) (See D.N.B) which is in fact a self portrait of the author.
(2) *Amelia Sophia (1776-1831) m. Edward Hamlin Adams, M. P.
(3) *Mary Ann (1778-1829) m. - Allison.
(4) *John Montgomery 1780-1850 d.s.p.
(5) *Robert Hector 1784-1817 d.s.p.
(6) Elizabeth 1782-1787 d.s.p.

iv. Charles Macpherson or McNeill m. Gray.
1) Lachlan d.s.p. 1799.
(2) William Gray d.s.p. (1800-1818).
(3) Mary Ann (1802-1826) m. Barnett. (a) Mary Ann d. s. p.
(4) John Macpherson McNeill 1804-1868.
(5) Charles McLarty b. 1806 d.s.p.
(6.) Dorothy d.s.p. 1809.

v. John Macpherson McNeill
( 1) He had a daughter who married - Merriam who left his legal studies to command a company he raised in the Civil War. He made the Army his career and retired as a Major General. His son.
(a) Cyrus L. Merriam. Far Enough Farm, Brattleboro, Vermont, died in 1966 aged 80+, having spent a lifetime unsuccessfully trying to establish the ancestry of his McNeill great great grandmother, and these notes are dedicated to his memory and in the hope that some of his relatives may see them and find them of interest.

Note: . The names marked * are amongst those mentioned in Lachlan Jamaica's Will.

[ Added note from page 2 of Issue 26: "The book in the Mitchell Library" which contained the McKay genealogy quoted in the last number was obviously Collection Rebus Albanicis of which there is a copy in the Campbeltown Library. It contains a number of Highland Genealogies said to date from the 15th century.]

CONTENTS