The Fred L. Neville Family fonds. [textual records] -- 1850-1963: predominant 1850-1900. -- 7 items of textual records and
1 painting : oil ; 50 x 40 cm (sight) in frame 60 x 50 cm.

Biographical Sketch: The present-day Fredericton campus of the University of New Brunswick includes c. 24 acres of property formerly owned and farmed by three generations of the Neville family. The property was first acquired by Neville family members in the nineteenth century through successive purchases of neighboring lots. Similarly, the university arranged to purchase the property from the Nevilles but occupied it piece-by-piece between 1944 and 1963.

Lawrence Neville emigrated from Ireland to New Brunswick in 1820. In 1850 he bought the first 10-acre portion of the Fredericton property from Elizabeth Odell. In 1864 Lawrence Neville's son Michael purchased an adjoining 1-acre lot from Georgiana Troop, and in 1867 also acquired the original 10-acre property from his father. A farmhouse, now known as the Neville Homestead, was built c. 1876 on the property. In 1900, Michael Neville bought an adjacent 13-1/4 acres from Caroline Jack (widow of Brydone Jack).

Michael Neville's son, Fred, became the UNB grounds keeper and worked for the university for 42 years. He and his sisters Annie and Katherine continued to live in the homestead as adults. In November 1943, the UNB Senate agreed to purchase the farm property from the Nevilles, and to allow Annie, Katherine and Fred to occupy the homestead as long as they lived. Title to the Neville property, except for a small portion occupied by the house, was transferred to the University of New Brunswick in 1944.

In the course of the building campaigns on the UNB campus through the 1950s and 1960s, the university gradually occupied the Neville property and moved the homestead several times to accommodate construction. Fred Neville worked his farmland and kept cattle until 1954, when UNB expansion required the removal of the barn and outbuildings from the property. In 1960, the house was moved 60 feet downhill to allow for the construction of the Neville House residence, named in honour of the Neville family's long association with UNB. The house was moved again for the 1965 construction of the Residence Administration building. After Fred Neville's death in 1969, the homestead was formally accepted by UNB and moved once more to its present site on the east side of Mackay drive.

Please see UA Pam Case 173m No. 10 for a 1966 interview with Fred Neville, and the UNB scrapbook for his July 28, 1969 Daily Gleaner obituary.

Custodial History: The records were acquired by Fred Neville's first cousin Regina Neville, who gave them to her daughter, Frances McElligott.

Scope and Content: The Frederick Neville family fonds documents the piecemeal acquisition of property by the Neville family and its final sale to UNB. The fonds comprises five deeds to various sections of the property belonging to the Neville family, two mortgages on portions of that property, and one painting of the Neville family homestead (artist and date unknown).

Notes:
Title based on the name of the creator.
The records were donated to the Archives by Frances McElligott on October 17, 1994.

1. Sept. 30, 1850 from Elizabeth Odell to Lawrence Neville (deed).

2. Sept. 23, 1864 from Georgiana Troop to Michael Neville (deed).

3. Dec. 26, 1867 from Lawrence Neville to Michael Neville (deed).

4. Nov. 13, 1893 Michael and Isabella Neville to Mary A. Canby (mortgage).

5. Nov. 6, 1895 Michael and Isabella Neville to Mary A. Canby (mortgage).

6. May 7, 1900 Caroline A. Jack to Michael Neville (deed).

7. Sept. 5, 1963 Fred L. Neville to UNB (deed).

One painting of the Neville family homestead (artist and date unknown).

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