Daniel Clarence McNeil, son of Daniel McNeil & Elisabeth B. (Brown) McNeil, was born in Sangamon county, near Springfield, Ill., Sunday, Jan. 16, 1824. His religious preferences were with the Methodist Episcopal church, which he joined in 1842 in Henderson county, Ill. The next year he studied medicine and surgery at Monmouth, Ill. In 1846 he was mustered into Co. A, First Illinois Volunteers, commanded by John Harding, at Alton, for the Mexican war. They arrived at San Antonio, Texas, Sept. 2, when he was at once placed on detached service as hospital steward, where he served till December. In January of the following year they encamped within the bounds of Mexico, first at Monclova, then on the other side of Saltillo. He was in the battle of Buena Vista of Feb. 22 and 23, and subsequently served as assistant surgeon in the hospital until they were permitted to march homeward June 1, 1847. They were soon after mustered out.
He soon gave up his home in Monmouth, and July 11 located for the practice of medicine in Cambridge, Ill. He married, Dec. 9, 1849, Elizabeth Ann Graham, born in Carmi, White county, Ill., April 27, 1828. She died at Osceola, Mo., March 21, 1882. After various experiences, mostly in the drug business, he found himself located, at the breaking out of the Rebellion, in DeWitt, Iowa. As early as Feb. 27, 1861, he commanded the DeWitt Riflemen, afterwards the DeWitt Musketeers, and in September of the same year accepted a commission as captain of Co. A, 1st Regiment United States Lancers, and acted as general regimental recruiting officer. He was subsequently appointed assistant surgeon of the 16th Iowa Infantry, and shared in a skirmish at Bolivar, Tenn., and the battles of Iuka, Miss., and Corinth. Dec. 23, 1862, he was placed in charge of the general hospital at Lagrange, Tenn., and afterwards at Vicksburg.
He resigned, June, 1863, and retired to his home, but Feb. 25, 1865, was again called for and appointed first assistant surgeon 2d United States Volunteer Infantry and ordered to the plains, then to Fort Ellsworth, finally to Fort Larned, where he was in charge of the post hospital. July 16 of the same year he was appointed medical director for one of the sub-districts of Arkansas, but later was assigned the position of surgeon-in-chief of the Indian commission, which met at Wichita, Kan., composed of General Sanborn, General Harney, Col. Kit Carson, Colonel Bent, and others. The treaty was with fourteen different tribes, and the women and children were collected in ambulances under his direction.
He was mustered out of the service at Fort Leavenworth in November, and on the 8th of January succeeding was appointed examining surgeon for pensions. At the organization of the G. A. R. at Indianapolis, Nov. 20, 1866, he was elected first surgeon general. The next year he established the drug business and practice of medicine and surgery at Osceola, Mo., but in 1869 turned his attention to divinity, and was ordained a deacon in the Methodist Episcopal church, and at once organized a circuit. He organized St. Clair Lodge, A. F. & A. M., No. 273, and R. A. C, No. 43, and was commander of Dawn Post, No. 384, G. A. R., and was coroner of counties in Missouri and Iowa. Jan. 25, 1883, he married, second, Kate S. (Baker) Schoening of Lawrence, Kan., born June 9, 1844, in Harrisburg, Pa. Financially, his fortunes varied. He was often on the wave of prosperity, when his golden hopes would be dissipated by the evil star of adversity.
He died at his home in Osceola, April 6, 1890, of paralysis, after ten days' illness. He was buried by St. Clair Lodge, A. F. & A. M., Dawn Post, G. A. R., attending in a body. Wrapped in the American flag, which he loved so well, his body was laid in its last resting-place in the presence of a large concourse of mourning friends.
Children Of Daniel C. And Elizabeth A. (Graham) McNeil:
- George Clarence McNeil, b. in Cambridge, Ill., Feb. 19, 1850; m., Dec. 26, 1876, near Warsaw, Mo., Mollie Ramsay, b. in that place July 23, 1855, and d. at Clinton, Mo., July 19, 1879. He is a practical printer, and has occupied the editorial chair on several papers in different states; is now on the Missouri and Kansas Farmer, Kansas City, Mo. He has one daughter, Anna Lord, b. Dec. 12, 1877.
- Oscar Quincy McNeil, b. in Winterset, Madison county, Iowa, Oct. 30, 1854; m., near Osceola, Mo., Josie E. Deming, March 20, 1882. Has one daughter, Reba, b. in Osceola June, 1883. He learned the printer's trade early in life, and has been editor and publisher at different times and places; studied law, and in 1883 received his "sheepskin." Now located at Pueblo, Colo.
- Cora Leonie McNeil, b. in Camanche, Clinton county, Iowa, Oct. 18, 1857. She, like her mother, is something of a writer, contributing to a number of papers and magazines. She m., Jan. 20, 1882, in Osceola, Mo., Edward Jarrett Deming, who was b. in Chariton, Union county, Iowa, Aug. 30, 1857; is engaged in mercantile business in Colorado Springs, Colo. Children: Lloyd Earl, b. in Osceola, Mo., Dec. 11,1882; George Clarence, b. in Bolivar, Polk county, Mo., July 27, 1884, and Wynne, b. in Kansas City, Mo., Oct. 24, 1890.
- Daniel Summers McNeil, b. in Osceola, Mo., Dec. 21, 1868; m., Jan. 6, 1892, in Kansas City, Mo., Edith Hapgood of Humansville, Mo., where they reside. He is editor and publisher of the Humansville Star Leader. Children: Elvie Zoe, b. in Omaha, Neb., Dec. 7, 1892 &. Daniel Hapgood, b. in Humansville, Mo., Augi 4, 1896.
SOURCE: Abstracted from John Dickey, Genealogy Of The Dickey Family, p. 73-5 &134-6
