FRANCES PALMER MCNEILL 1832* - 1933
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Note: Error on tombstone shows 1834. Census records consistently show a birth year of 1832. The grave marker was placed well after Mrs. McNeill's death. The birth year as well as the error in spelling the surname with one "l" was likely made by family friends who did not have access to census and other records.

Frances Palmer McNeill, was the widow of Samuel Butler McNeill, who was killed in action, Cold Harbor, VA, Finnegan's Brigade, Confederate States Army.

Mrs. McNeill was the daughter of Wilson Palmer & Salley Florence of Edgefield District, SC, Lincoln Co., GA and Pike Co., AL and the grand daughter of Elisha Palmer, R.S. and Mildred Whatley. She married Samuel Butler McNeill, 1850, in Pike Co., AL and moved to Suwanee Co., FL about 1854 with husband, Sam McNeill, his brother, James McNeill and their father, Charles McNeill.

After S.B. McNeill was killed in action, Mrs. McNeill raised all of their daughters to adulthood on a small farm in Suwannee Co., FL. She remarried briefly to a Mr. James Hugg, who predeceased her. She applied for, and was granted, a Confederate Widow's Pension in 1929 based on Samuel Butler McNeill's Confederate service.

Generation One:

Elisha Palmer, R.S.
born 1760 Edgefield District, South Carolina
died 1829 Lincoln Co., Georgia

Mildred Whatley
born 1761 Edgefield District, South Carolina
died 1860 Lincoln Co., Georgia

Generation Two:

Wilson Palmer, War of 1812
born 1794 Edgefield District, South Carolina
died 1852 Pike County, Alabama

Salley Florence
born 1799
died abt 1840 Talbot Co., Georgia

Issue:

1. Henry R. Palmer b. 1816-1860
2. Margaret Palmer b. 1829
3. Frances Palmer b. 1832-1933,
mar. Samuel Butler McNeill, 1850 Pike Co., AL
and moved to Suwannee Co., FL about 1854.
4. Haywood Palmer b.c. 1837
- moved from Pike Co., AL to Suwannee Co., FL
w/ S.B. McNeill
5. John Palmer b.c. 1840
- moved from Pike Co., AL to Suwannee Co., FL
w/ S.B. McNeill
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From the Confederate widow's pension application of Mrs. Frances Palmer McNeill (mar. 2. Hugg), represented by her son-in-law Allen Woods (he mar. Mrs. McNeill's daughter Ellen McNeill):

January 16, 1922

Just received your letter in regards to Mrs. Frances Hugg's pension. She was married to Samuel McNeill near Montgomery, Alabama about 75 years ago and he was killed in Virginia. We have failed to find the record of the marriage. She married to Hugg about 50 years ago and soon he left her. About 25 years ago a man named Ferguson and his mother said that Hugg died in Madison County. Ferguson is now dead. If Hugg had a lived until now he would have been over a hundred years old. Mrs. Frances Hugg is at my house. She is about 90 years old and been helpless for two years. She is in bed and very much low, so much in need of help. I, Allen Woods, live in Suwannee County; been here 47 years. The people that knew of the marriage are dead and the record is lost, being so long ago.

You can send all communications to Frances Hugg in care of Allen Woods, Rt. # B, Box 99, Jasper, Fla.

Pension Department
Comptrollers Office

Mr. Allen Woods
R.F.D. B, Box 99
Jasper, Florida

Dear Sir:

Replying to your letter of the 16th instant in regard to Mrs. Frances Hugg, I beg to advise that it will be necessary that Mrs. Hugg show that she was lawfully married to Mr. McNeill and also that her second husband, Mr. Hugg is now not living. If official record of her marriage cannot be obtained, I will suggest that she furnish the affidavits of two persons testifying to the fact that she was living with Mr. McNeill when he enlisted in the Army and was commonly supposed at the time to have been married to him.

Pension can not be granted to the widow of a Confederate soldier who has married since the death of the soldier who has a living husband and in order to be eligible to pension, it will be necessary that the applicant show that she is now a widow and that her second husband is dead or that they have been divorced. Proof of the death of the second husband may be made by affidavits of two persons and I see no way of completing the application without this proof unless Mrs. Hugg desires to obtain a divorce from her last husband.

Yours very truly,

Comptroller
W/B
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Daughter Florida Ann McNeill mar. Malcolm Skeen:

Samuel Butler Skeen, b. 1895, d. 1956 Bur. Pompano Beach, FL; mar. Gladys Marie Mobley. She was the dau. of Wm Harden Mobley, Jr., who was the Sheriff of Suwannee Co., FL and a member of the Florida House of Representatives.

1. Gladys Miriam Skeen, b. 1927, d. 29 May 2010 (see Obit below); mar. Edward Allen Burgtorf, Jr. b. 1923. Two children: Elizabeth Erica Burgtorf and Allen Skeen Burgtorf.

2. Virginia Ann Skeen, b. 1929, mar. Eugene Edwin Sparlin, b. 1929. Three children: Samuel Jay Sparlin, Paul Edward Sparlin and Ann Marie Sparlin.

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Miriam Burgtorf of Pompano Beach, Fla., passed away peacefully on May 29, 2010.

She was born in Pompano Beach, Fla., on March 31, 1927, to Gladys Marie Mobley and Samuel Butler Skeen. As a part of one of the original 50 families living in Pompano, Miriam and her younger sister, Virginia, spent their childhood years helping on the family farm. They grew up on Atlantic Boulevard just east of the First Baptist Church of Pompano where the family worshiped and were members.

An original Bean Picker, she graduated from Pompano High School in 1945 with a class of 18 as salutatorian. She then went to Stetson University, where she received a degree in music in 1949. On July 3, 1951, she married Edward Allen Burgtorf and taught music in Pompano Beach and Atlanta, Ga. She returned to Pompano in the late 1950s and helped build the mission church of North Pompano and after 1964 she was the organist at the First Baptist Church Pompano Beach. She played for many weddings throughout Broward County.

She is survived by her son, Allen and daughter-in-law, Lettye; and daughter, Elisabeth and son-in-law, Tony Brown; grandchildren, Kira, Jordon, Hunter and Hannah; and a sister, Virginia Sparlin.

A graveside service will be held at 9 a.m. Wednesday, June 9, 2010, at the Pompano Beach Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to OH Institute, Miriam Burgtorf Scholarship Fund, a non-traditional secondary education school at PO Box 611027, Rosemary Beach, FL, or Belvedere Commons, Miriam Burgtorf Memorial Fund, 6012 Magnolia Beach Road, Panama City Beach, FL 32408.
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