NORTHWESTERN IOWA ITS HISTORY AND TRADITION VOLUME II 1804-1926 H. C. McNEIL Henry Clay McNeil, one of the best known and best liked citizens of Sioux City, where he was actively identified with business interests for more than a half century, was at the time of his death the senior member of the firm of H. C. McNeil & Son, dealers in building supplies at Nos. 308 and 310 Jackson street.l He was in the eighty-seventh year of his age when called to his final rest on the 26th of March, 1924, his birth having occurred October 30, 1837, at Homer, Cortland county, New York, the scene of the novel, "David Harum." In the novel Homer is referred to as Homerville. The parents of Henry C. McNeil, James and Hannah (Billings) NcNeil, were natives of Connecticut and of New York, respectively. The family comes of Scotch lineage, the emigrant ancestor arriving from Scotland about 1640 and settling in Connecticut. James McNeil saw service in the War of 1812 and his death occurred in 1866, when he was eighty-seven years of age. Henry Clay McNeil attended the public schools of Homer, New York, but at the age of twelve years went alone to Sandusky, Ohio, where his brother Albert was in business. He remained there for a few months and then paid a visit to his brother, Orin S., in Crawfordsville, Indiana, spending two years in that place, during which time he attended school. He then returned to Sandusky, where he spent the succeeding year, after which he went with his brother Orin S. from Sandusky to Rock Island, Illinois. Not long afterward, in 1852 when a youth of fifteen years, he made his way to Davenport, Iowa, where he secured a clerkship in a grocery store and also learned the tinner's trade, remaining in that city for two years. He next went to Muscatine, Iowa, where he completed his trade, which he followed at that point for two and one-half years. Returning to Davenport, he established a retail furniture business, which he conducted until he enlisted for service in the Union army during the Civil war. The smoke from Fort Sumter's guns had scarcely cleared away when Mr. McNeil offered his services to the government. In fact, he had the distinction of being the first man in Iowa to enlist, joining the army on the 15th of April, 1861, at the first call for troops. He was assigned to duty as a private of Company C, Second Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and was mustered into the service of the state on the 24th of April as a sergeant. On the 28th of May the regiment was mustered into the United States service and on the 7th of October, 1862, Mr. McNeil was commissioned second lieutenant of his company, with which he remained until May, 1864, when he was mustered out at Pulaski, Tennessee, after more than three years of active service. He commanded his company for over a year and participated in the battles of Fort Donelson, Shiloh, Iuka, Corinth and many minor engagements. He was wounded in the arm at Fort Donelson and was also wounded at Shiloh and Corinth. His military record was indeed a most creditable and honorable one, and he proudly wore the little bronze button of the Grand Army of the Republic. Upon his return from the south mr. McNeil joined his brother in business in Davenport, Iowa, the relation continuing for about five years. In 1869 he came to Sioux City, where he entered the fire insurance business, with which he was connected throughout the remainder of his life, representing a number of the substantial old companies. In 1887 he began dealing in building materials, along which line he developed a business of constantly growing importance. the Sioux City Journal of January 23, 1921, contained the following interesting article concerning the pioneer experiences of Mr. McNeil in this state: "Sixty-eight years ago there was not a foot of railroad track in Iowa or west of the Mississippi river. Today in Iowa there is not a spot that is more than twelve miles from the railroad. That is what H. C. NcNeil, Sioux City pioneer and head of the building material company of H. C. McNeil & Son, thinks of every time he looks at the big map of Iowa in his office. And he pictures himself as a boy about fifteen years old hopping on the tender of the first locomotive that ever covered a foot of track in this state or west of the Mississippi and riding along on the little woodburner enjoying the sensation of being carried by the steam engine that was as truly a curiosity in those days as a purple cow would be to the present generation. Mr. McNeil counts himself fortunate to have lived in a period of such great achievement, and though he modestly believes that he is not the sole possessor of interesting information in regard to the early history of the state and Sioux City, he consented to relate a few of his experiences. When a boy Mr. McNeil came west, and it was while he was in Davenport, Iowa, that he saw the beginning of the railroad transportation in the state. Mr. McNeil came to Davenport in 1852, and it was in 1853 or 1854 that the Mississippi and Missouri Railroad Company laid its tracks from Davenport to Iowa City and planned to construct a line across the state. The Mississippi and Missouri company was afterwards taken over by the Rock Island company, which still owns the line. The first engine to run on the track laid in Davenport was brought in pieces across the ice on the Mississippi and put together on a temporary track laid along the river. There was no bridge there then. When young McNeil and a few other boys of his age heard that the phenomenon was actually going to move, they ran down the track and, hopping on the tender of the little engine that was but a toy compared to the powerful locomotives of today that speed across Iowa's length and breadth, were carried along over the first track ever covered by a steam engine west of the Mississippi river. Mr. McNeil came to Sioux City in 1869 and has been in business for himself continuously since that time. He is past eighty-three years of age and takes pleasure in walking to work and in being in his office daily. He was in the insurance business when he first came here and keeps up that interest in the Peters, Guiney, McNeil and Powell Company. The only railroad in Sioux City at the time he came was the Sioux City and Pacific, which ran one train a day each way and was a combination freight and passenger train. There were no business houses in Fourth street and only a few in Pearl street and along the river front. Sioux City developed to a greater extent for its size between 1869 and 1872, Mr. McNeil believes, than it has in any other period. At that time, he pointed out on a map of Old Sioux City, it spread north about as far as Ninth and Tenth streets. The past century, Mr. McNeil stated, he believes to be the most remarkable century in history. In one line of accomplishment alone, it has seen transportation by railroad develop upon the plains of Iowa a network of railroad lines, all of which have been laid in less than one man's lifetime." The following article appeared in the local press in 1923: "Can you remember away back when Pierce street was known as Honeymoon Glen? If you can, then you can remember when Henry C. McNeil, of the firm of H. C. McNeil and Son, built the residence that is still standing at 901 Pierce street. That was fifty years ago, and Mr. McNeil is still occupying the house. But the business center of Sioux City has grown until now it practically surrounds the McNeil home, so Mr. McNeil and his wife have decided to move. They have purchased the residence at 1427 Douglas street, which was the property of the late R. C. A. Flournoy. When Mr. McNeil built the house which he lives in now, the region in the vicinity of Tenth and Pierce streets was still country. The open prairie extended beyond his dooryard, stretching away northward towards the level sweeps of northwest Iowa and southern Minnesota. There was only one other house in the block at that time, for Sioux City had not yet exerted her commercial cha rms upon the people who were flowing through toward the vacant west, where land could be had for a 'song.' But shortly after Mr. McNeil and his wife had settled in their new home other young people who had lately contracted matrimonial bonds, began to move into the section and it wasn't long until the first comers were living 'right down town.' It was because so many newly married couples built their homes on the north edge of the city, that Pierce street was known by the sobriquet of 'Honeymoon Glen.' The Home Insurance Company, of New York city, recently presented Mr. McNeil with a gold medal, in commemoration of fifty years of service with that company. He was the recipient of a silver medal from the same firm twenty-five years ago when he completed that number of years of faithful service. As above stated, when Mr. McNeil came to Sioux City in 1869 he took up the insurance business. From 1878 until 1898 he was in the building material business with C. T. Hopper, under the firm style of Hopper & McNeil, after which the firm of H. C. McNeil & Son was organized. For about thirty years he was a director of the Security National Bank, so continuing to the time of his death. On the 8th of June, 1871, at Davenport, Iowa, Mr. McNeil was united in marriage to Miss Marie B. Wilber, a daughter of Lorenzo D. Wilber, and to them were born two children: Carrie, who is the wife of Jerome P. Schnabele of Sioux City; and Wilbur C., who with his wife, Mrs. Virginia (Hearne) McNeil, was killed in an automobile accident near Hull, Iowa, September 6, 1914. Both were graduates of Leland Stanford University. They left two children: Joseph Herne, born February 8, 1904, who was graduated from Yale University with the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1926, and who is now attending Oxford University; and Eleanor Marie, who is a student at sweet Briar College at Sweet Briar, Virginia. Mr. and Mrs. McNeil attended the Unitarian church. In politics he was a progressive republican. He never sought nor desired political office and the only public position he filled was that of secretary of the school board of Sioux City for twenty years. He was honored with various official preferments in fraternal circles, however, being identified with the Masonic order for about six decades. He joined the Masonic order at Davenport, Iowa, and later when he came to Sioux City he was instrumental in founding Sioux City Lodge, No. 103, which became known as Landmark Lodge. He also was a member of Chapter No. 26 of the Royal Arch Masons, of Columbian Commandery and of Abu-Bekr Temple of Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. During the many years of formation and growth, Mr. McNeil assumed a position of activity and responsibility in lodge work. From an undernourished child laboring for breath, he saw and helped Sioux City Masonry develop into a potential power of beauty and strength. He attended scores of meetings and conventions, state, district and local, and was persistent worker through thick and thin for the higher achievements. During his career, Mr. McNeil was worshipful master of Landmark Lodge; high priest of the Royal Arch chapter; eminent commander of Columbian Commandery; and grand high priest of the grand chapter of Iowa. He was appointed grand high priest in 1888, and he was a past grand warden of the grand lodge of Masons in Iowa. He belonged to the Hawkeye Club and the Sioux City Boat Club and in all these different organizations had many warm friends and admirers. His life was an active and useful one, characterized by loyalty in every relation as well as during the days when he served his country as a soldier upon southern battlefields. He became a member of the Military Order of the Loyal Legion and was chosen commander for Iowa. He likewise belonged to Hancock Post, G. A. R., of Sioux City, and was one of the organizers and a charter member of August Wentz Post of Davenport, which was the third Grand Army post organized in the United States and the first in the state. The following newspaper paragraph appeared under date of March 29, 1924: "Old comrades of the Civil war, their heads bowed in sorrow, were among the many Sioux Cityans who paid their last respect Saturday afternoon to H. C. McNeil, the first Iowa man to enlist in federal forces when the call came to save the Union. Lodge brothers, business associates and friends made in the long years in Sioux City, when, as a pioneer city builder and business man, the late Mr. McNeil was prominent, gathered for the funeral ritual in the Masonic temple to hear the eulogy of Rev. Charles E. Snyder of First Unitarian church. A short service and prayers preceded the eulogy. "The unbroken prairies have yielded to the husbandman's plow. The haunts of the buffalo no longer resound to their mighty tread. The builders came. They came with the working tools, the plumb, the level and the square, and they made the foundation and erected houses and temples and they smoothed the rough ashlers. A city grew with homes for the wives, who also endured the pioneer life, and for the children whose laughter rang o'er the hillsides,' said Rev. Mr. Snyder. "Today we have gathered in a lodge of sorrow for one of those builders, who out of his vision and strength contributed to the growth of city and its institutions. He remained active, interested, quick of mind, firm of judgment and finally lay down as one who wraps the draperies of his couch about him to pleasant dreams. We are gathered this sorrowful consistory to speak our tribute of farewell, but I cannot say, I shall not say, that he is dead. The grand master has called him into the lodge room beyond whose doors we cannot see. But I think, if we might see him just now, it would be with a wave of his hand and a smile of good cheer to say to us that the order he heard was, Let there be light, and there was light." The following is an editorial tribute which appeared in the Sioux City Journal under date of March 28, 1924: "In the death of Henry C. McNeil, Sioux City has lost one of its best known citizens, one who had been a part of the community's progress for more than half a century. Also Sioux City has lost one if its best liked men. Mr. McNeil's friendships were many. It is doubted that anyone here had a wider acquaintance. Many interesting things are connected with the life of Mr. McNeil in Sioux City. An outstanding feature of it was the fact that he was in business constantly for some fifty-two years, during which time he built up a reputation for integrity, public spirit and business activity all of which reflected the character of the man. At eighty-six this pioneer of the long ago had not retired, as he might have done and as many business men much younger have preferred to do. His friends knew his attitude toward life to be that of one who wanted to go on, active and energetic to the end. Such an outlook may be recommended to anyone approaching the natural end of a career. He saw the paving of the streets, the extension of the city limits to take in many square miles, the coming the street car, the automobile, the telephone and electric lighting. He saw, in a word, the growth of a village to a modern city. And he was a part of it all, a part of its business life constantly expanding, a part of its fraternalism, of its social activities, aiding, meanwhile, in undhanging confidence the community's advancement. Henry C. McNeil was one of Sioux City's formost citizens throughout his long residence here. Dependable, trustworthy and energetic, he was, like many others of his time, responsible in a large degree for Sioux City's progress. His familiar figure will be missed by the hundreds who knew him. Debbie Clough Gerischer Iowa Gen Web, Assistant CC, Scott County http://www.celticcousins.net/scott/ IAGENWEB: Special History Project: http://iagenweb.org/history/index.htm Gerischer Family Web Site: http://gerischer.rootsweb.com/