.jpg)
The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]
Mr. John Mcneil
Mr. John Mcneil , the first Mayor and the first settler of Balclutha, went there in 1854 to take charge of his father's cattle farm, and resided alone for six months. He is the sixth son of the late Mr. James McNeil, and was born in the parish of Bonn Hill, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, in 1835. On the 16th of September, 1849, he sailed with his parents from Greenock, in the ship “Mooltan,” and arrived at the Otago Heads on Christmas Eve. On arrival, Mr. McNeil, senior, purchased a section of land between Dunedin and Port Chalmers, and it was cleared and sown down in wheat by himself and his family. In 1853 he sold the land to the late Mr. James Macandrew, and purchased a small cattle run on the south side of the Clutha, stocked it with cattle, and placed it under the charge of his son. That part of Otago was even then famous for its grazing qualities, and cows were sold at from £15 to £20 per head. About 1856, Mr. John McNeil bought 400 acres of land, which he cultivated until 1898, when he leased it to tenants. When Clutha was constituted a borough, Mr. McNeil was elected mayor, and filled the position for about eight consecutive years. He was also the first chairman of the Clutha County Council, and represented Clutha electorate in the Otago Provincial Council. He is still chairman of the Clutha River Board, and a member of the Clutha County and the Balclutha Borough Councils. Mr. McNeil was at one time Right Worshipful Master of Lodge Clutha, S.C., and is now honorary member of the same Lodge, under the New Zealand Constitution. He has been twice married. His first wife, who died in 1874, was a daughter of Mr. Peter Ayson, one of the pioneer settlers of Warepa, and by her he had four sons and five daughters. In 1878 he contracted a second marriage with a daughter of the late Mr. George Bannerman, of Edinburgh.