John MacNeil was born in Scotland in 1854 and was raised in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. He was educated at Ballarat College and Melbourne University, earning a B.A. in 1874. He st...view moreJohn MacNeil was born in Scotland in 1854 and was raised in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. He was educated at Ballarat College and Melbourne University, earning a B.A. in 1874. He studied theology at New College, Edinburgh, and was ordained in 1879. MacNeil was a Presbyterian evangelist and minister, and in 1881 he began touring Australia as an itinerant preacher. MacNeil married Hannah Thomas in 1884, and they had five children. But their marriage was a short one, as MacNeil collapsed suddenly and died at the age of forty-two while on tour in Queensland in 1896. His wife, Hannah, wrote his biography, John MacNeil: Late Evangelist in Australia, in 1897.view less