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A forceful and resourceful
business man is John McNeill, who is conducting his interests under the
name of the Twin City Transfer Company. In this connection he has built
up a business of large and gratifying proportions that stands as a
visible evidence of his enterprise, determination, close application
kind progressiveness. Mr. McNeill was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on the
27th of January, 1871, and is a son of William and Elizabeth (Bryce)
McNeill, who were also natives of the land of hills and heather, where
they spent their lives. The mother passed away in 1892, while the
father, surviving for five years, was called to his final rest in 1897.
He was a wholesale provision merchant and met with. substantial success
in the conduct of his business affairs. Both were members of the
Presbyterian church and Mr. McNeill was a Conservative in his political
views. To him and his wife were born six children, five of whom, all
sons, are living.
John McNeil!, the third
child in order of birth, pursued his education in the schools of his
native city and following his father's death assumed the management of
the provision business, which he carried on for about twenty years,
taking charge thereof when a youth of but eighteen. He prospered in his
undertaking, building up a very substantial trade but with the desire to
come to Canada he sold the business to his brother in 1910. It was his
intention to engage in farming here, having come with a Canadian Pacific
Railroad colony of about one hundred people, including Scotch, English
and Irish. The people from Scotland traveled together and first made
their way to Strathmore, where some of the number set- tied, while
others went to look over the Canadian Pacific Railroad land twenty-four
miles south of Sedgewick and there took up their abode. Mr. McNeill
purchased a thousand acres of laud at thirteen dollars per acre on the
ten-year payment plan. He built thereon a house and barn and fenced a
portion of his tract. In connection with a neighbor he purchased a big
gasoline engine to furnish motor power for the farm work. Up to this
time he had never seen a gasoline engine, but he took charge thereof and
broke two hundred acres of land for himself and an equal amount for his
partner, after which he broke land for other Scotchmen, plowing
altogether twelve hundred acres in the summer of 1910. In September of
that year two men drove to his house late at night and asked to be
directed to Caster. He put them on their way but two hours later these
same men returned and again asked the way to Caster. Mr. McNeil took
them in, keeping them all night. He showed them over his farm and they
seemed so well pleased with it that they offered to pay him fifteen
dollars per acre and also pay him for the breaking and improvement that
he had placed thereon. Thus it was that he came into possession of his
first Canadian money. He was given a week in which to make arrangements
to move and he went to Sedgewick but found that there was nothing to be
rented there save a small two-room shack. He then took an option on a
half section of land south of Sedgevick, for which he was to pay
twenty-three dollars per acre and to hold it he paid fifty dollars for
the option. He then tried to get the sale papers ready but solicitors
could not do the work then and because of the illness of his baby and
the fact that the local doctor could not tell the trouble Mr. McNeill
brought his family to Edmonton in order to get medical aid here. The
hospitals being full, he rented a house on Ross street and arranged for
a doctor to care for the little one. Pleased with Edmonton and its
prospects he decided to remain here. He had a team and wagon left from
the sale of his farm, so with these he brought to Edmonton the little
furniture that he had and has since made his. home in this city.
Everything argued well for the future. His baby improved at once on
getting to Edmonton and Mr. McNeill found immediate employment by
answering an advertisement in a window for a man to haul coal. He hauled
two loads and quit but this opened up to him a, line of business, for on
the 1st of November, 1910, he purchased the Twin City Transfer business,
which then consisted of two horses and a little shack, ten by sixteen
feet. His business grew very rapidly and in 1912 he built half of his
present building, twenty-five by seventy feet, and increased the number
of his horses to twenty. In 1914 he doubled the capacity of his barns
and increased his horses to thirty. Today he is utilizing in his
business thirty head of horses, eight auto trucks, fifteen McLaughlin
automobiles and has a storage warehouse on One Hundred and Third street,
while six months ago he took over the old Marshall Wells building for a
storehouse. Both warehouses have trackage and his equipment is
thoroughly modern in every particular. In 1918 he purchased a large
building on Fourteenth street, thus securing a brick garage and in
October, 1922, he rented a large garage, one hundred by one hundred and
fifty feet. He employs fifty-three men, being today the largest
individual employer of labor in Edmonton. The Twin City Transfer Company
has exclusive privileges with all railway companies entering the city,
so far as taxi service is concerned. It is also baggage agent for the
Canadian National Railroad, the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Alberta &
Great Waterways Railroad. it also has the contracts for moving all the
scenery for the local theatres and does a large business in packing and
crating furniture, while 1)001 cars are made up for all points east and
west of Edmonton. The business is today one of the largest of the kind
in western Canada and stands as a visible evidence of the indefatigable
enterprise and progressive spirit of Mr. McNeil, who is sole proprietor.
He handles all the business for the MacDonald Hotel and several other of
the hotels of the city and he makes a specialty of piano moving, having
the patronage of all the piano houses of Edmonton and keeping a crew of
men for this particular work. The company has handled one hundred and
forty-five pianos in two weeks. There is also a crew of men for crating
and hauling furniture. Many interesting and some weird experiences have
come to Mr. McNeil in the course of his business. In 1911 three
strangers came to his office and each stored two trunks. On Mr.
McNeill's arrival at his office early one morning one of these men was
waiting to get in and said he wished to open one of his trunks. Mr.
McNeill admitted him and was then called into the front office. When he
finished his business there he returned to the back and saw the fellow
lying on the floor. Examining him he found that he had taken a revolver
from the trunk and had blown his head off. The fellow had a letter in
his pocket saying that he had come there for the purpose of suicide and
told whom to notify. On another occasion a young fellow, twenty years of
age, visited Mr. McNeill and said he was broke and wished to borrow ten
dollars on his trunk. Mr. McNeill told him to open the trunk that lie
might see what was in it. And he did so. On top was a Bible and a
photograph of the boy's parents. Mr. McNeill recognized the parents as
old friends of his in Scotland and asked the boy why he was here. The
answer was that he had run away from home two years before and Mr.
McNeill told him to sit down and write a letter to his mother, which he
did, whereupon Mr. McNeill gave him twenty dollars and a job. The boy
continued in his employ for some time and is now a substantial business
man of Edmonton. Throughout his life Mr. McNeill has extended a helping
hand to those in need. On one occasion his wife advertised for a servant
and three girls applied, one of whom was Scotch and she was given the
preference. She did not come, however, after being engaged and the
following week Mr. McNeill met her on the street and asked her why she
didn't come. She said that she had a better job but the following week
he was called to the hospital and found the girl there dead. He had
known her parents in Scotland also and he buried the girl and notified
her father and mother. These are but a few of the many incidents where
he has extended assistance and aid in an hour of need. On two occasions
Sir Harry Lauder visited Edmonton and on both visits has been
entertained by Mr. McNeill. He also drove the Prince of Wales in one of
his taxis in his visit to Edmonton in 1921. The Prince left his hat in
the taxi and Mr. McNeill has it as a souvenir of the visit of His Royal
Highness to this city.
On the 27th of June,
1893, Mr. McNeill was married to Miss Jennie Cuthbert McKenzie of
Glasgow, Scotland, and to them have been horn five sons and a daughter:
Mary, who is the wife of Donald Moore, who conducts a store of ladies'
ready-to-wear goods in Edmonton; William, who is at the head of his
father's taxi business; John, who conducts the Lines garage at Edmonton;
Hugh, who is operating the garage on Fourteenth street in Edmonton;
Alexander, who is employed in the transfer office; and Guy, in school.
Mr. and Mrs. McNeil are members of the Presbyterian church and he
belongs to the Masonic fraternity. In these associations are found the
rules which govern his conduct and shape his relations with his
fellowmen. He is also a member of the Kiwanis Club. He is not interested
in politics and takes no active part therein but devotes all of his time
to his business and to the good work that he can do in the world, for
the spirit of brotherhood is strong within him. |
