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  Archibald "Scribblin Archie" McNeill and Jennet "Jenny Bhan" Smith
Chart No:
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LINKS:

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History
Associated Grants/Deeds:
1756 - Malcolm Smith to Daniel McNeill son of Archd McNeill, 200A part of John Smith land, Malcolm's father, Cumberland Co., NC;
1783
- Robert McKay to Archibald McNeill, 100A Upper Little River "above the Indian grave lands", witnessed by John McNeill, Cumberland Co. NC;

Sources:
1801 will of Scribblin Archie; Cumberland Co., NC;
Research on the family of Archibald Bhan McNeill by Brent Fallin via McNeill family genealogical chart in the Southern Historical Collection at the Wilson Library of UNC Chapel Hill (Collection #: 03042-z);
1795 nuncupative will of Laughlin McNeill; Cumberland Co., NC;
1777 will of Archibald McNeill, Cumberland Co., NC;
1807 estate of Laughlin McNeill; Cumberland Co., NC;
• Publication: "The McNeill Family' from "McNeill's Ferry Chronicle and Campbell University" by Everette McNeill Kivette;
• Daniel McNeill Parker, M.D.; His Ancestry and a Memoir of His Life; Daniel McNeill and His Descendants, By William Frederick Parker, 1910;

HUSBAND

  "Scribblin Archie" McNeill, known as "Archibald Bahn" in records

Birth c. 1720 Place (Skeroblin farm?) Scotland
Chr Place
Death 26 June 1801 Place Cumberland, now Harnett Co., NC
Burial The grave was moved. Place Moved to the Church of the Covenant, Spring Lake, Cumberland Co., NC; near the site of the Massacre at Piney Bottom
Father Mother
Marriage by 1748 Place
Other spouses Marriage
WIFE   "Jennie Bhan" Smith (Bhan is pronounced 'Vahn' and Bahn is pronounced 'Bann')
Birth c. 1729 ("no' quite 40" in 1768) Place Scotland
Chr Place
Death 1791 Place Cumberland, now Harnett Co., NC
Burial The grave was moved. Place Moved to the Church of the Covenant, Spring Lake, CumberlandCo., NC; near the site of the Massacre at Piney Bottom
Father John Smith Mother Margaret Gilchrist
Other spouses Marriage

Notes:  Malcolm Fowler claimed outright in his book, They Passed This Way, that Scribbling Archie was the son of Laughlin and Margaret Johnstone McNeill of Scotland but offered no proof. I do not support Fowler's claim, and do not believe that Daniel of Taynish was Archie's father, there being no proof for that claim either. In researching Daniel of Taynish, I strongly feel it is more likely that Daniel of Taynish and Archibald Bahn McNeill were most likely brothers, sons of Neill McNeill of Taynish and his wife Marie Campbell.
     I do still question the order of Archie's sons' births if only because Laughlin and John (two of seven sons), figure so prominently in their father's legal initiatives around the time of the Revolution, a time when Archie's oldest children were coming of age. The two co-signed many deeds with Scribbling Archie and the two sons bought land together early on with the help of their father.
    "Archie Bahn" probably arrived in 1739 with the Argyll Colony. Archie was too young and being as yet unwed he did not head a family at that time, so he did not receive a grant in 1740. If Farquard Campbell, a baronet — nearly the same age as Archie, also unwed and a new arrival with the colonists — did not get a grant in 1740 it isn't likely Archie recieved one. Doubtless there were any number of able-bodied, unwed men their age in the colony in 1740 who did not measure to grant specifications. "Bluff Hector" McNeill was also of that age and it appears he, too, did not receive a grant. However, in 1741 it appears Archie may have purchased one, at the mouth of New Hope Creek above the forks of the Cape Fear River at the Haw and Deep Rivers and in his will in 1801, bequeathed it to his son Daniel in Nova Scotia.
    Fowler also stated that Archie got the nickname 'Scribbling' by possessing a character that was "insignificant, below standard, scrubby" and that he "liked to take life easy", a claim which in the light of more recent and intensive research by A.I.B. Stewart is possibly only partly accurate. It seems that "Scribbling", "Scrubblin", or whatever deviant the nickname takes, are colloquial pronunciations of Skeroblin, there having been a set of Skeroblin McNeills in Scotland (Skeroblingorry?). Even in his will Scribbling Archie mentions John Skeroblin McNeill, his son-in-law from Skeroblin, a farm in Scotland. Yet, a double intentre—Skeroblin morphing into something like Scribbling—would have proved a catchy joke by Archie's contemporaries. "Archibald Bahn" was a contemporary and more accurate moniker for him as it is said he was blond (Bahn meant blond and fair in Gaelic) as well as heavyset like the Bahn McNeills, while the Bluff McNeills were taller and less handsome.
    It is not known when exactly Scribbling Archie was born, though his tombstone states 1720, as does his wife Jennie's tombstone. However, a letter exists dated 1768 that states Jennie was "no' quite 40" that year, thus the date of her birth is accepted as about 1729. Their marriage took place, it is said, in 1748. The true birth order of their children is unknown; and though Daniel and Margaret's birth years are known, the general birth order of his sons seen below comes from Everett Kivette's detailed, and reliable, research. I, however, am of the belief that Laughlin and John were two of his oldest sons.
    According to Daniel Parker's history of Daniel McNeill and his descendants written in 1901, Archie and his wife Jennie may have been living on Lower Little River as early as 1752, the year their son Daniel was born. Some sources say they moved from the Bluff area to Lower Little River after the Revolution. The original grave sites of Scribbling Archie and his wife Jennie at that location, and all other graves in that cemetery, were moved a few years ago. Here is an extremely interesting, if long, video of the graves'
removal.

Children Birth Death Spouse Cht #
1. Laughlin McNeill
c. 1749?
11 Nov 1795
unmarried; died suddenly; nuncupative will of 1795
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2. John McNeill,
"Cunning John";
HMS, Revolution
british flag
c. 1750?
before
Dec. 1808
1st: Flora Black. 2nd: Agnes Shaw. John's only son, Archibald (alive in 1795), by his wife Agnes, died in gunshot accident. There are Cumberland Co. estate settlements for Agnes McNeill dated 1819, and for John dated 1808.
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3. Daniel McNeill,
"Nova Scotia Daniel";
Captain, HMS, Revolution
british flag
1752,
at Lower
Little River
5 May 1818
Mary Nutting, on 27 Nov 1788, daughter of John Nutting and Mary Walton. Daniel left for Nova Scotia after the war, and he and Mary lived there.
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4. Malcolm McNeill,
Continental Army,
Revolution
13 star flag
c. 1754
1 Oct 1798
Janet McAllister, 15 Mar 1771, dau of Col. Alexander McAllister. According to William C. Fields of Fayetteville, author and historian, their marriage was disapproved of by her father.
5. Hector McNeill, aka
"One-Eye Hector" &
"Leather-eye Hector",
Col., HMS, Revolution british flag
c. 1756
Susannah Barksdale. One Eyed-Hector died after 1832 and, writing in 1901, Allan McCaskill recalled him attending court with a patch over one eye.
6. Margaret McNeill
1758
1829
John "Skeroblin John" McNeill (1745-1810) of Skeroblin (Skeroblingorry?), a farm in Kintyre, Scotland.
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7. Archibald McNeill,
HMS, Revolution??
c. 1750-60
1795-1801
Never married? Believed to have fought in Revolution, probably as a Tory. In his will of 1777, probated Sept 1807, he states he was about to leave the country, afraid he would not return to enjoy his property. He was named in his uncle Laughlin's will of 1795 but isn't named in his father's will of 1801 so was very likely dead by that year.
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8. Neill McNeill,
HMS, Revolution
british flag
1762-63
30 Mar 1830
Grissella Stewart, several children.
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9. Mary McNeill
?
?
Died at age 15, probably before the Revolution.
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