(Veteran Crusader)

Esther Lord was born in Carlisle, Schoharie county, New York, in the year 1812. Her father was a Connecticut Yankee, her mother a native of Massachusetts. When Esther was ten years of age her father died, leaving ten children. We know little of the struggles through which they passed before reaching manhood and womanhood.

In 1832 she was married to James McNeil, of Carlisle, and together they enlisted under the Washingtonian movement to fight the demon drink. About a month after her marriage she became a Christian, and, with a new heart, God gave her the desire to be of use to others, and she offered herself to the Lord to care for homeless children. Although she has never been blessed with children of her own, yet the mother heart has not been empty. In 1868 she with her husband moved to Fredonia, Chautauqua county, New York, with eight homeless children to be put to school. Two years later her husband, who was a member of the State Temperance Society, died, and in this same year one of her dear girls died.

In 1873 she entered the list of crusaders, and became a member of the Woman's Christian Temperance Union, organized December 22, 1873. This union has continued to be the leading union in the county, holding weekly meetings, and loyal always to county, state, and national organizations. Mrs. McNeil was the first county president, and for the past seventeen years has been the local president in Fredonia. Although now past eighty-two years of age, yet at the twenty-first annual convention she led the "Crusaders' Hour" with great acceptance.