- Perth (Ont.) Courier:
The late Mr. Duncan McNee was born at Loch Earnhead, Perthshire, Scotland, April 10th, 1810. He was therefore five years of age when Waterloo was fought, and lived under the reigns of five British sovereigns - George III., George IV., William IV., Victoria and Edward VII. His parents came out in 1821, leaving Greenock in the spring of that year, memorable also as the death of Napolean Bonaparte. His father, Peter McNee, died about three weeks after their arrival at Perth, in that old house now occupied by E. Love as a barber shop. Through the interest of "Craig-Darroch" (the late John Ferguson), the family were located on the farm occupied by deceased for 68 years afterwards - near Balderson's Corners - till 1889, when Mr. McNee sold his farm and removed to Perth. It was quite interesting to hear from him accounts of the hardships and privations endured by those early settlers eighty years ago.
In 1837, when the rebellion broke out, Mr. McNee enlisted with the Lanark Volunteers, under the command of the late "Allister Dhu" (Col. Alex. Fraser). The company were taken to Toronto in wagons, that winter (1837-8) being an open winter. Upon arriving there, it was found that operations had been transferred to the Niagara frontier, at Navy Island. The Lanark volunteers were then transferred to Kingston. They, as well as their colonel, "Allister Dhu," protested against being lodged in the rather filthy block-houses assigned to them; and in consequence they were disbanded and sent home.
On the 12th of March, 1847, Mr. McNee was married, by the late Rev. Wm. Bell, to Margaret, eldest daughter of the late Patrick Campbell, and a sister of John G. Campbell, of this town, who, after 54 years of tranquil and happy married life, survives him.
Last autumn Mr. and Mrs. McNee removed to Westmount; and he passed away peacefully at the house of their youngest daughter, Mrs. Gardiner Gilday, on the 5th inst. In 1899, with Mrs. Gilday, Mr. McNee visited the home of his birth, which is three miles from the Braes of Balquidder, where the great Highland freebooter, Rob Roy, lies buried. This district is most beautifully described in the opening stanzas of the "Lady of the Lake," and in Sir Walter Scott's tale, "Rob Roy," although Bailie Nicol Jarvie assured Rob that he "wadn'a gie the finest sight we have seen in thee Hielans for the first keek at the Gorbals of Glesca'." Thus has passed away one of the links that have connected us with the early settlement of Lanark. Mr. McNee led a most exemplary and christian life. He was for nearly 40 years an elder in St. Andrew's church, during the ministrations of the late Rev. Dr. Bain, and succeeding ministers. He also remembered his native Gaelic, and could talk it quite fluently to the end. Deceased was a kind and affectionate parent, a faithful and loving husband, a consistently devout and God-fearing christian, and an honest and righteous man who rightly earned the respect and esteem of the community in which he spent so long a life, and where he left not an enemy.
Besides his aged widow, three sons and two daughters have survived him - Peter Clark, of Picton, barrister; Stuart, a doctor practising at Ripley, N.Y.; John Bain, in business at Albany, N.Y.; Annie G., a trained nurse, New York, and Mrs. Gardiner Gilday, of Westmount, Montreal. The funeral service at Montreal was conducted by Rev. Dr. Campbell, of St. Gabriel church, and Rev. Dr. Ross.
The Evening Record, Windsor, June 19, 1901, page 3
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1810 - 1901 (91 years)
