Notes: Neill Dubh was also known as Neill of Ardelay, Ardelay having been the McNeill estate of his grandfather on the isle of Gigha, Scotland. According to the history of the McNeill Clan written by the 45th Chief of McNeill Clan in 1985, Neill Dubh had a brother named Archibald who was executed for his support of Prince Charles Stewart. This Archibald had a son named Daniel who came to the Cape Fear settlement about 1760 and bought land there; one of Daniel's descendants was James McNeill Johnson, and attorney in Aberdeen, NC.
       The accepted date of Neill Dubh's birth is 1699, but I believe it was a few years earlier: If Neill's son "Bluff Hector'' settled the Bluff in 1742 (as stated by Malcolm Fowler), "Bluff Hector" would have to have had maturity and experience to manage such a property and that alone should place his birth between 1710 and 1715. (Moreover, if oral tradition is true and Bluff Hector did indeed remain behind at the Bluff in 1736, he may have been even older; but I do not believe Hector was left behind at the Bluff.) It is my belief that "Bluff Hector" was their first son and child, so, my estimation of Neill Dubh's birth is about 1690-95 and his wife Grizella's birth around 1695. Neill Dubh married Grizella Campbell in Scotland well before 1728, the birthdate given on the tombstone of their son Duncan at Old Bluff Presbyterian Church cemetery in Cumberland County. If, as it appears, the couple used the old Scottish naming pattern, Duncan was likely their third son. Bluff Hector's 1761 will names two brothers, Duncan and Archibald (see last paragraph of the will), and they traditionally had two sisters Negalena and Flora McNeill whose descendants are well documented. To date, almost nothing is known of brother Archibald except that "Bluff Hector" bequeathed him half of the Taylor Hole estate, 320 acres that were to return to brother Duncan after Archibald's death. Archibald was likely their second son who would have been named after Grizella's father, Archibald Campbell. Their daughter Negalena is said in all family histories to have been Neill and Grizella's youngest daughter, born in 1740; women at this time often bore children up to age 45 but generally not beyond that time, thus Grizella's birth year is more in keeping with 1695-1700. There were likely more children who died young or who perhaps were too young to live anywhere but with their parents in Brunswick in 1739. Neill received a licence in 1741 to operate a tavern at the little settlement of Brunswick below what was to become Wilmington, NC, and it appears he never lived in the Cross Creek area. "Bluff Hector" is said to have settled at the Bluff about 1742, a few miles upriver from Cross Creek on the river's east side, and acquired the nearby Taylors Hole estate in 1759.
       Neill McNeill is mentioned in the court minutes of New Hanover County only twice, in 1741: The first instance is for being called to be a grand juror and, second, for being fined for failure to show up for the duty. The court minutes after that year are missing and begin again in 1769.