An account of the donor`s search for her Scottish ancestors in South Africa
Account of Gail Roethlin`s search for her MacNeill ancestors in South Africa, plus copies of the marriage record for Donald MacNeill of Hough and Mary Napier, and two census records for 1851 and 1871 giving Mary`s family.
Black and white photograph of Granny MacNeill in South Africa in the 1920s.
Mary Napier, wife of Donald MacNeill, with her daughter Sarah Currie MacNeill (b. 1892). Sarah married William Charles Vernon Hobden in September 1921.
Colour photograph of the descendants of siblings Donald and Marion MacNeill from Hough.
Descendants of the siblings Donald and Marion MacNeill from Hough, taken 6th January 2006 in the Eastern Cape, South Africa.
L-R: Gail Röthlin (née McAdam), Beverley Cawthorn (née Hall), Stanley Cawthorn, Ian Cawthorn, Tgetg Röthlin, and Lynda Green (née Baillie).
Tufthill Farm, South Africa
Photograph of Tufthill Farm in Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Courtesy of Mr Stanley Cawthorn
Marion MacNeill was born at Hough in 1841 and married Richard Brown in Glasgow in 1872. Five years later, her brother Donald married Mary Napier. Some time after that, the two couples emigrated to Eastern Cape, South Africa.
They had to contend with all that nature hurled at them, from torrential rain and hail storms to blazing heat and crop pests. Their nearest village and train station was Toise River about twenty-five miles away. Goods were fetched by ox wagon which took a full twelve hours for the round trip.
Births and deaths in the community were celebrated or mourned by all. When a neighbour died, the closest men turned out to lay out the body, put it into the coffin and hold the burial.
Black and white photograph of Tufthuill Farm in Eastern Cape, South Africa.
Marion and Donald MacNeill from Hough at Tufthuill Farm in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Marion married Richard Brown in 1872 and her brother Donald married Mary Napier in 1877. Some after that both couples emigrated to South Africa.