Annie Vessie McNeil

 Annie Vessie McNeil (1836-1913)

My relationship: Me > Norma Haynes(mother) > Thomas Haynes(grandfather) > Annie McNeil (my great grandmother)

Annie was the youngest child of Matthew McNeil and Hannah Lutches Blois. She was born in Nine Mile River, Hants County, Nova Scotia on 26 June 1836. When she was almost 2, her mother died. She married Robert Hanes on 4 December 1860 at the age of 24 in Kennetcook in Hants County. Together they had 9 children, all born in Hants County. 

About 4 years after the last child was born, the whole family (except for their first child Ida Hanes who had married Fred Scott and stayed in Hants County) moved to Boston / Roxbury Massachusetts. The family in Boston all changed the spelling of their last name to Haynes from Hanes. They lived at 53 1/2 Kendall Street where Robert was listed as a laborer in the 1881 Boston directory. Robert died in 1883 of dysentery, preceded 2 weeks earlier by the death of their 11 year old daughter, Lucy Alice Haynes, also of dysentery. 

Annie was left with a large family to take care of, with little means of support. She is subsequently listed in several locations in Roxbury and Boston: In 1890 (22 Auburn Street), 1900 (17 Oakland Street), and 1910 (2800 1/2 Washington Street). It appears she rented places and subletted rooms to boarders to earn income. All of her children that left Canada settled in Boston for the remainder of their lives, except for my grandfather, Thomas. He settled and raised his family in Arlington, Virgnia, after marrying Lillian Laffin from Northfield in Hants County.
 

35 Elmore Street

Annie McNeil Haynes died on 13 April 1913 at 35 Elmore Street, Boston, a multifamily residence. Here she lived with her daughter, Lydia and her husband, John Tubman; their daughter Robina Tubman; and Annie's daughter Sarah (Sadie). The cause of death on her death certificate was "acute bronchitis" at the age of 76. She was buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain (a Boston suburb), where her husband, Robert was also buried.  I have visited the cemetery and checked their records. There is no headstone at their burial location.

[The story is that at some point the family changed the spelling of their last name to Haynes from Hanes, because they did not like the pronunciation of the name in Nova Scotia as Hines. However, all Boston records of Robert 1880 - 1883 have his name spelled as Hanes. The death record of their daughter Lucy in 1883 is also spelled Hanes. Therefore, it is likely that the name spelling was changed after Robert's death by Annie, as all records of Annie and their children from 1900 on are spelled Haynes].

Mathew McNeil (1795 - ?)

My relationship: Me > Norma Haynes (mother) > Thomas N. Haynes (grandfather) > Annie Vessie McNeil (my great grandmother) > Matthew McNeil (My great great grandfather)

Matthew McNeil was the son of John McNeil (or McNeal) and Elizabeth McLearn (or McLennan).  He was born in the Douglas Township of Hants County, Nova Scotia on 7 November 1795.  He married Hannah Lutches Blois (daughter of early settlers Abraham Blois and Sarah Margaret Kilcup) on 8 December 1823 in Douglas Township.  They had six children: John (1824 - 1885), Lydia Jane (1826 - 1902), Lavina (1829 - 1905), Hugh (1830 - 1910), Twins Olive (1832 -    ) and Oliver (1832 - 1911), and Annie Vessie McNeil (1836 - 1913) who was my great grandmother.

Hannah died at the young age of 32 (when Annie was almost 2 years old) and was buried in the Gore at the Blois family cemetery. After Hannah died in 1838, the family was broken up and Matthew moved away. I presume Annie stayed in Hants County, probably brought up by relatives, as she married Robert Hanes on December 4, 1860 in Kennetcook, Hants County.

Matthew married again (Bertha, born in New Brunswick) and lived the rest of his life in Clements, Annapolis County and Bear River, Digby County, Nova Scotia and was buried there. He had two children with Bertha: Margaret (1859 - 1947) and Willie (1861 -    ). There is no record of Matthew in the 1881 Canada census, or of Bertha or son Willie.

Matthew's occupation was listed as a shoemaker in the 1871 census and in the marriage record of his daughter, Margaret McNeil, who married James Winchester on July 9, 1878 in Hillsburgh, Digby County.