Thinking about the 100th anniversary of his death caused me to take a second look at the civil registration of his marriage in New Brunswick which I obtained last year while at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City.
I have a copy of the marriage bond, signed by Samuel with Edward Durbin (also the witness). The other witness Ann Neill was probably Samuel's sister-in-law, wife of his brother Joseph. There were (to the best of my knowledge) no other Neills from the family in New Brunswick at the time of the marriage in 1865.
My last bit of work is to try and obtain a copy of the church record of the marriage, if it exists. I'm trying to get additional clues on the family--if there are any. The Neills were from Drumachose in County Derry and, while their residence their is known little has been located on them in Ireland except for brother Joseph's marriage there to Ann Brice--the Ann Neill (probably) of this record.
I still am uncertain if Edward Durbin had any relationship to the family or not. I known virtually nothing about Annie Murphy and was hoping that one of the marriage records might provide a clue as to her origins.
Another lesson from Samuel Neill tied to his date of death 100 years ago today--his obituary did not appear in the local weekly newspaper until early May. That was nearly 6 weeks after his death.
