Here's what I could find in the census records. It appears that you descend from the William
McNail of frontier St. Clair Co., Illinois.
Going backwards I found your grandfather
Ward McNail in the 1930 Census of
Clinton Co., Illinois. He was living in District 5 of Centralia. ED 14-5. SD 23. Sheet 1A. He was 38 at the and was living in his mother's household at 412 S. Buck Street (Dwelling #8, Family #9). Alice owned her home outright without a mortgage. It was worth $2,500. She was 78 and a widow who had married when she was 20. She had been born in
Missouri, as had both of her parents. Ward was listed as 38, divorced, a native of
Illinois as had been his father, though his mother was a native of
Missouri. He worked as a radio salesman who was working. He was not a veteran.
In the next block up just two households was two more
McNail families living at 304 S. Buck. They lived in the sixth dwelling and were the six and seventh families listed. Thomas E. McNail headed up the first family. He owned his house which was valued at $2,500. It was not mortgaged. He was 55 and had married at the age of 26. His wife Bertha E. was 58 and had married at the age of 29. Robert P. McNail rented off of Thomas and paid $10 a month in rent. He was 23 and had married at the age of 21. His wife Evelyn was also 23 and had married at the age of 21. All four were born in
Illinois. Thomas' father was born in
Illinois and his mother in
Missouri (suggesting that he might be a son of Alice). Bertha's father was born in
Pennsylvania and her mother in
Louisiana. The younger couple's parents were all born in
Illinois (which suggests that Robert is Thomas' son and thus, Ward's nephew). Thomas did repair work as a mechanic though he had not worked the day before. He was also a veteran of the Spanish-American War. His wife didn't work. Robert and his wife both worked at the shoe factory. He worked as an edge setter and she as a stitcher. He was not a veteran.
Neither Alice nor
Ward show up in the census indexes I have access to for the 1920 Census. I didn't check 1910 and 1900. There are no
Illinois census records for 1890 due to a fire.
The 1880 Census of
Washington Co., Illinois, finds Ward's mother Alice as the wife of
Alonzo McNail in Ashley,
Illinois. (NA Film # T9-0256, Page #391D). Alonzo was 27, a native of
Illinois who worked as a laborer, but had been unemployed for two months that year, and whose parents were both born in
Illinois. Alice was 27, a native of
Missouri who kept house and whose father was born in
Virginia and mother in
Maryland. Alonzo's household showed only one child: Thomas
McNail, 5. The household also included Emma
Roach who is listed as mother, which normally would be mother of the head of household, but because she's listed as a native of
Maryland and Alice listed her mother as native of
Maryland, then Emma must be Alice's mother. Emma is listed as 52. Also included were Alice's sister, Lou
Roach, 18; and brother Edward Road, 21, a laborer who had been unemployed for five months that year. All three Roaches listed their father's native state as
Virginia and their mothers' as
Maryland.
Searching for
Alonzo in the 1870 census I struck out, however I found a clue looking at the 1860 census. When I found
Alonzo and Alice living in Ashley in 1880, I knew they had to be part of my
McNail line as a big bunch of the family had sold their holdings in St. Clair County in the 1850s and moved to
Washington County, particularly to the eastern portion of the county and settled around Ashley. The spelling of
McNail is too rare for it to be a coincidence.
The 1860 Census of
Washington Co., Illinois, (which is immediately east of St. Clair), finds P. W. McNail living in Ashley Twp. 2 South, R 1 W of the 3rd P.M. in the area served by Ashley post office (page 3). Pearson's household is Dwelling and Family #24. He's listed as 38, a miller with $3000 worth of real estate and $150 worth of personal property. His wife Martha is listed as 27. Children include Jas. L. A., 7; F. C., 5; and Wm. H., 1. James L. A. is the only
McNail kid in the census that fits for
Alonzo.
The 1850 Census shows P. W. McNail (Dwelling and Family #28) as a merchant in Mascoutah, St. Clair Co., Illinois, a native of St. Clair County and owner of $500 in real estate. He's listed as 27 and had been married in the previous year. The only other person in his household was Elizabeth, 19, also a native of St. Clair Co., but she had not be marked as having been married, though it could have been an oversight since she was on the first line of the next page.
The household above his belonged to A. J. McNail (Dwelling and Family #28). A. J. was 35, a tavern keeper with $3,000 worth of real estate and a native of St. Clair Co. His presumed wife Maria was 26 and a native of New Jersey. Children listed were Elizabeth, 7; Mary L., 5; Lewis, 1. All three children had been born in St. Clair Co., and the oldest two had attended school the previous year. Also living in the household were Max
Schell, 30, a German-born carriage maker who owned $800 worth of real estate; Richard
Jones, 50, a wool carder born in New York; and Samantha
Dixon, 26, also a
New York native.
P. W. stands for
Pearson W. McNail. He was the son of William B. McNail (9-30-1792 - 5-20-1868) and Rosannah
Hawkins who was born about 1791. I'm descended from William's son William
Jasper, which would make us fourth cousins once removed.
