My Family Tree

The family history compiled by Thomas Ramsay in the 1920s said that Neil was one of the sons in this branch of the Ramsay family.

There were several Neil Ramsays in this area. One of them, Neil Ramsay, a farmer, had a farm in Birch Hill, Lot 14, in 1813. I have put an approximate date of birth in for Neil, just to help tell him apart from all of the other Neil Ramsays. But he had to have been born between the Ramsay's arrival on the Island in 1770 and 1780, to be married by 1801, and to be one of the sons over 16 in the 1798 household of the Widow Ramsay, Lot 13.

Other Ramsay family trees and local histories say that this is the Neil Ramsay who married first Katherine McIntosh, and then the widow Mary Ann (Greenslade) Phillips after the death of their spouses, around 1840. No second marriage for either Mary Ann or Neil was found in the PEI Marriage Registers, but Mary Ann is Mrs Neil Ramsay in her newspaper death notice, and on her gravestone.

A Phillips family history said that Neil had a son, and I think this could be Neil Jr. and/or John. Neil was said to have divided his land between his surviving son and Mary Ann's son William Phillips. A Donald Ramsay had land in Lot 14, and Elizabeth Ramsay in Arlington PEI could have been the widow of John. However, no land transactions, will or estate papers were found for Neil.

On an early map of Lot 14, the farm of William Phillips was next to Neil Ramsay, then John Ramsay (Neil's Son), Angus Ramsay, and Neil Jr. There is a date on the map, 1866, but it may have been made earlier. By 1880, Elizabeth Ramsay had one of these farms.

There was a John Ramsay, Neil's son, on the Patriotic Fund list of 1855, in Port Hill area. I have also attached Neil Jr. to this Neil, because of his location in Lot 14, but note, the connection has not been proven. Neil Jr. could have been a nephew.

The David who died in 1857 was probably a grandson. David was baptized 20 November 1837, son of Neil.

The Islander – Oct 9, 1857 Died. Of Consumption, at Lot 14, on Thursday, the 17th, David, second son of Mr. Neil Ramsay, in the 20th year of his age. He bore his painful illness with much Christian fortitude and from his well-known piety and integrity of character, and good disposition, there is every reason to hope that he was prepared for the change.

There was also an Archibald, son of Neil Jr. baptized 12 Apr 1846, from Lot 14.

The 1861 census for Lot 14 is missing, but there was a list of heads of households in a government publication from that census, with agricultural data. In Lot 14, Neil Ramsay, William Phillips, and John Ramsay were next to each other. The first two leaseholds were for 50 acres, and the third, 63 acres. 15 years had expired on Neil's lease; 30 on William Phillips' and 9 on John Ramsay's.