Cote, Carolyn

John MacNeil was born October 19, 1854 in Scotland. His family attended the Free Church which had seceded from the Church of Scotland in 1843. In 1860, the MacNeil family including John and his younger brother moved to Ballarat, Victoria in Australia where John's father worked constructing railroads. John too took up this vocation until he felt the call to ministry. He described his spiritual awakening as slow and gentle until an experience while he sat in the back of St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in Melbourne opened his eyes. In 1871, he left for university in Melbourne and supported his s...