Lawrence County, Missouri 1840 UPDATED!!!!!!! 

After over 1200 hours of Research and gathering over 350 pages of documents and contacting over 200 people this is the conclusion I have come to with all of the evidence that is before me to date. June 5 2015    Deena Hill

Nelson Holder Ritchie was born in Lawrence County, Missouri August 24, 1840. No birth certificate found.  Nelson mentions that his parents were born in North Carolina as seen on Census records. DNA has provided us with the PROOF that Nelson Holder Ritchie has the DNA from a man named George Vincent Holder and from his son Wiley Holder of Cumberland County North Carolina. We now know that Nelson's Grandfather was George Vincent Holder and that his father is Wiley Holder and that his Mother was a black Slave who was on the Plantation of William Holder a brother of George Vincent Holder. Nelson's mother (whose name is unknown) was bought from William Holder by a man named  Neal McNeill or McNeal (found spelled both ways) who was an old neighbor from Cumberland County North Carolina but had moved with his Mother Nancy Ray McNeill to Lawrence County Missouri in 1836. Neal made a trip back to Cumberland North Carolina to visit his sister Flora. Flora McNeill was a neighbor of William Holder in Cumberland North Carolina. William Holder owed back taxes for the year 1839 and having financial problems and in 1840 I see on the Census that he owned Slaves. Neal bought Nelson's Mother from William Holder,she was pregnant with Nelson at the time. She traveled from Cumberland County North Carolina to Turnback Lawrence Missouri with Neal McNeill. She died from the affects of the journey shortly after giving birth. Turnback is 5 miles from the Trail of Tears route so I believe Neal and Nelson's pregnant Mother traveled on the same road as The Trail of Tears. Nelson was told he looked just like his Grandfather Old Vincent! For years many people have searched for a Cherokee man named Vincent but in fact it was a white man living in Cumberland County North Carolina. We had no idea until the DNA results in 2016 from 2 different companies, Ancestry DNA and Family Tree DNA, came up with matches to people in our family. We are a match to 14 people that match George Vincent Holder and two people that match Wiley Holder. We also have DNA matches to a man named Gabriel McNeill a black Slave on the McNeill Plantation in Cumberland County North Carolina.Our family is a match to 4 people that match Gabriel McNeill. I believe that Nelson's mother is a SISTER of Gabriel McNeill and that she was part Cherokee as is evident with the DNA results. The DNA matches that descend from Gabriel also have Native American blood. In the early days of the South the Native Americans and African Americans often lived together. In the South before the Civil War Slaves were sold and families were torn apart and ended up in different places and even in different states. Slaves took their owners names so Gabriel was a McNeill and Nelson's Mother was a Holder. In some of my research I have seen it mentioned that Slaves held on to their original owners name as a way to hopefully reconnect at a later date with loved ones that had been sold off. This is most likely the case with Nelson's Mother and why Nelson kept the Holder name. Nelson was born to a Slave Mother so was automatically a Slave according to the law. Nelson mentioned to his children that he was raised by a old Scottish women who he never named. This year in my research I discovered the following document that names the Scottish women who raised him. ( Interview with Patriarch John M Whitaker Patriarch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints).                                                                                

INTERVIEW WITH JOHN M. WHITAKER PATRIARCH OF THE CHURCH OF JESUS CHRIST OF LATTER DAY SAINTS DATED 10 DEC 1909

(Note Nelson in this interview said his father was pure blooded Cherokee Indian, this is genetically impossible according to the DNA testing.)  Nelson's Mother was Mulatto.. Mulatto is a mix of African American and Native American or African American and White. We know Nelson's father was white.

Turnback Lawrence County Missouri-This is where Neal McNeill's farm was located and where Nelson Holder Ritchie was born and lived until 15 years of age. It is in the middle of no where.

You will notice that Turnback is just 5 miles from the Trail of Tears route. I believe that Neal McNeill and Nelson's mother traveled the same route to get back to Lawrence County from Cumberland County North Carolina.                                                                                                                                      

The town of Turnback and Marionville are the two closest towns to where Nelson was born. On one of the Census it list Neal McNeill as living in Turnback.

This is the woman that raised Nelson Holder Ritchie!!!! I believe that Nelson was actually a Slave on the farm of Nancy McNeill's son Neal who lived next door to Nancy. I believe that she may have taken an interest  in Nelson because he was orphaned when his mother died shortly after his birth and Nancy McNeill would have been a Grandmother figure to Nelson.

Neal McNeill living next door to his mother Nancy McNeill. Notice Nelson is not in the home with either Nancy or Neal. He would only be 10 years old so not on his own. He was most likely a Slave of Neal's, that is why he is not on the regular Census with them.

Slave Census of Lawrence County Missouri. Notice Neal has a 10 year old Mulatto Slave. I believe this is Nelson and that the Census taker wrote female instead of male. In all my 30 years of genealogy research it is not uncommon for a Census taker to make a mistake on a Census. Census takers would write the information down as they went along then would go home and transcribe the information on to these official forms. Nelson is the only person listed as Mulatto on this Census.

A History of the McNeill family as related by a Grandson of Neal McNeill. This is proof that  Neal McNeill went back to Cumberland North Carolina to visit his sister Flora who happened to be a neighbor of William Holder. This visit to Cumberland County North Carolina by Neal is the only way the DNA from George Vincent Holder and Wiley Holder, who never left North Carolina, could have ended up in Lawrence County Missouri. The only way Nelson's descendants could have African American blood is because Neal brought a pregnant Slave girl back with him.

This is a History of Neal McNeill from the book History of Lawrence County Missouri