LAURINBURG — Mary Wayne Watson knows many of John Charles McNeill’s poems by heart, and she should. After all, she is the poet’s great-niece and gives numerous talks bout him throughout the state.

On Tuesday, her latest talk, which was co-sponsored by the North Carolina Humanities Council, was in front of the Rotary Club membership.

“I’m very honored to serve as a Road Scholar for the Humanities Council,” she said, “especially because I get to talk about my family.”

McNeill is considered, unofficially, as North Carolina’s first poet laureate. He was born in 1874, but lived a short life before passing away at the age of 33 in 1907.

“My great uncle was from Scotland County (and) the sense of place that grounds his poetry … you know well,”Watson said. “This was his territory.”

She told the group that there remains today, more than 100 years since McNeill’s death, a wide interest in his poetry. In fact, some have compared McNeill with such writers as Robert Frost.

Watson took great pleasure in reading McNeill’s poem titled “Old Spring Hill.”

“This poem really speaks to me because of today’s audience,” she said, adding that most of her ancestors are buried in Spring Hill Cemetery.

Despite his short life span, McNeill published numerous works — which were separated into two styles: fine tone lyrics and down home poems.

McNeill once said that “if my words can be a lullaby for a child, then my life would have been worthwhile.”

Watson said part of McNeill’s legend lies with his early death.

“He was a genius cut down in his prime,” she added.

The McNeill’s came to American and settled in what is now Scotland County in 1807, mostly around the current-day Wagram area. Watson pridefully talked in some detail about many of those ancestors.

McNeill was eventually elected a state senator from Scotland County, but Watson said “his heart was in his poetry.” One of his efforts in Raleigh included the attempt to get the Lumber River changed to Lumbee River — an effort that, to a small degree, remains alive today.

He was elected into the North Carolina Literary Hall of Fame in 1998, an induction ceremony that Watson was able to attend and speak at.

One of McNeill’s poems was titled “Sunburnt Boys” and is a part of the annual fundraiser on the river that raises money for the Laurinburg-Oban Student Exchange.

The McNeill home remains in Wagram and is located next to Temperance Hall.

W. Curt Vincent can be reached at 910-506-3023 or [email protected].

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W. Curt Vincent

Staff writer