BIOGRAPHIES - N
PAGE INDEX
NEIL, Cecil, (aka Robert Thomas Cecil Neil)
As this book is still copyrighted, please contact Jon Raymond for full copy of this entry
SOURCE: Bicentennial History of Polk County, Minnesota: Pioneers of the Valley,
Polk County Historical Society, 1976, Copyright 1976, Taylor
Publishing Company, Dallas, Texas
Page 436Cecil Neil was born in Mono Township, Ontario, Canada near a small town named Orangeville. His full name was Robert Thomas Cecil Neil. His parents were Robert and Mary Buchannan Neil, his grandparents. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Buchannan and several aunts and an uncle, Jeff Buchannan and his wife all lived together in a large native stone house......
Cecil Neil died July 7, 1971 at the age of 89.
full version submitted Dec., 2003 Jon Raymond
NEIL, ROBERT
As this book is still copyrighted, we are unable to print the entire entry here. Please contact Jon Raymond for full copy.
page 436
Robert Neil was born January 23, 1930 in Crookston, Minnesota to Mr. and Mrs. Cecil Neil. He was raised on the farm which had been homesteaded by his pioneer grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Ole Jevning, in Vineland Township.....In 1952, Robert married Lou Ann Meling at the Sand Hill Lutheran Church
full version submitted Dec., 2003 Jon Raymond
NESBITT, EDWARD HAMLIN
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
pages 375-376
To avoid confusion it should be remembered that this family name is spelled three different ways by the persons who bear it in Polk county. The name of the township, which was chosen in honor of the members of the family who were the first settlers in it, is “Nesbit;” the name of the family to which the subject of this sketch belongs is “Nesbitt,” and that of still another family is “Nisbet.”
Edward Hamlin Nesbitt, who lives on Section 27, Nesbit township, four miles and a half north of Fisher, was born in Kalamazoo, September 19, 1845. His father went to Michigan from Ireland and his mother from the state of New York. The son grew to manhood in Michigan and then traveled some years through the south after the Civil War. On his return to the north he located near Rockford, Illinois, on a prairie farm which was already improved. After remaining four years in Illinois he returned to Michigan and passed another year with his parents in that state.
The south had still a winning voice for Mr. Nesbitt, however, and he was unable to withstand its persuasiveness. He went to Florida and passed four years in the cotton country near Tallahassee. But he found that a region must have more than climate to make it attractive. The soil in Florida was poor for what he wished to do, and he determined to return again to the north, where he could raise wheat and other grain. His attention was drawn to the Red river valley, and in June, 1880, he came to Polk county, Minnesota, and bought a whole section of railroad land at $7 an acre, with a rebate of $3 an acre if three-fourths of the land should be broken up within a specified period of time.
Mr. Nesbitt had left then about $1,300, and he put up a frame house, which cost him $800, and which he lived in until 1912. His first teams were oxen. These were superseded in a little while by mules, and later he used only horses. He broke up as much of his land as he could, but, while he suffered no total loss of crops, he had no grain to sell during his first three years on the farm. The land was so wet much of the time that it could not be worked and the farmers were helpless for years under this condition. Then, hail storms would come and destroy a large part of what a fairly good season gave them hopes of harvesting, and so discouraging were the circumstances that there was no demand for the land, and it was at times impossible to give it away. Since the present ditching system was inaugurated about sixteen years ago all have been able to raise good crops and the value of the land has risen rapidly, Mr. Nesbitt’s being now worth at least $100 an acre.
In 1912, Mr. Nesbitt erected his present dwelling house, which is a very good one, and he also has good barns and other improvements, among them ten acres of trees which form an attractive and useful grove. In 1915 his farm yielded about 13,000 bushels of grain and a large quantity of hay. He is at present township assessor and has also served as supervisor of the township. At the age of twenty-two he was married in Michigan to Miss Celia M. Van Hoesen. They have three children, Cora B., Victor H. and Irene, all of whom are still members of the parental family circle. Mr. Nesbitt gives a good deal of attention to raising white-faced Hereford cattle of superior strains in addition to his general farming operations, and is successful in the enterprise.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
NISBET, JAMES
SOURCE: Compendium of History and Biography of Polk County, Minnesota, Major R.I.
Holcombe, Historical Editor; William H. Bingham, General Editor; W.H. Bingham
And Company, Minneapolis, Minn.; 1916; reprinted by Higginson Book Company;
Salem Massachusetts; (book no longer copyrighted)
Library of Congress control number 16009966
This book can be ordered from Borders Book Store or from Higginson.
Both companies have web sites. The cost is about $70
and well worth the price.
pages 345-346
James Nisbet, an early citizen and for many years a prominent farmer of Huntsville township, was born in county Lanark, Ontario, June 7, 1846, and died in Polk county, November 27, 1910. He was the son of William and Cristena (Lindsay) Nisbet, who were natives of Scotland. James Nisbet was one of four brothers who located in Polk county in the early seventies and were widely identified with the settlement and development of the western part of the county. David Nisbet died a number of years ago; Robert Nisbet was a resident of Nisbet township, which was named in his honor and Thomas Nisbet was for many years a farmer in Huntsville township and was living in Grand Forks at the time of his death in 1914. James Nisbet remained in Canada until his early manhood when he went to Wisconsin and for nine years worked in the lumber woods on the Chippewa river, employed in the camps in winter and during the summer season, driving logs on the river.
In 1875 he came to Polk county, where his brother, David Nisbet had already located, and secured a homestead. For several years in company with Joel Roertson, he lived at the bachelor home of David Nisbet, each member of the household owning and operating his own farm. In 1880 he returned to Canada and was married in February of that year to Cristena Morrow, daughter of William and Margaret (Geddes) Morrow. David Morrow, a brother and Mary, a sister, the wife of Thomas Welch were already residents of Polk county and another sister Janet, who married Robert Bain, later located at Fisher, where she now lives. After his marriage, Mr. Nisbet erected a house of hewed logs, cut from the timber along the Marais river, which crossed his farm. This house which is still standing, with a few simple furnishings was the first home of the family and they continued to live there until 1883 when the present modern house was built.
Mr. Nisbet steadily prospered in his farming enterprises and built up a fine property, setting out groves and equipping the place with large barns. He was ever actively interested in behalf of the general welfare of the community and gave able service as a member of the school board. In fraternal circles, he was a well known member of the Masonic chapter at Crookston. His death occurred on his homestead, in his sixty-fourth year. He is survived by his wife and two children, Margaret Evelyn, who married William Porter, a grain dealer at Grand Forks; and William James. Myrtle Christina, the youngest daughter, died in childhood.
William J. Nisbet was married to Eva, the daughter of James McDonald, of Nisbet township, and they have one child, Herbert James. Mr. Nisbet is a farmer, owning a part of his father’s estate of four hundred and twenty-five acres. Mrs. Nisbet has continued to make her home on the farm since her husband’s death and is interested in its management. She is a member of the Farmers club at Mallory. Although reared as a member of the Methodist church, Mrs. Nisbet has always been a loyal supporter and active worker in the Bethel Presbyterian church, of which her husband was a member.
submitted Jan 20, 2003 Jon Raymond
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