John Neilson (c.1770 - 1827)

John Neilson (c.1770—1827) was an Irish immigrant to the United States who eventually settled in Virginia and became a prominent 19th-century master carpenter and joiner, as well as architect and builder. He is most known for his work at Monticello, Montpelier, Bremo, and the University of Virginia.

Neilson was born around 1770 in the town of Ballycarry, County Antrim, Ireland near Belfast. In the 1790s, Neilson worked as an apprentice to a Belfast architect. At the time, Neilson was also part of a brewing rebellion against the British; and as a result, he was captured along with two of his brothers during the Irish Rebellion of 1798. One of these brothers, William, only fifteen years old, was hanged. John Neilson and his brother Sam were banished and sent on exile ships to the West Indies. John Neilson ended up in Philadelphia, where he became a naturalized citizen on September 28, 1804.

Sometime in 1804 Neilson would meet Thomas Jefferson, who was then the third President of the United States. From that point until 1808 Neilson would live and work at Monticello, Jefferson's home in Albemarle County, Virginia. It was at Monticello that Neilson began his long collaboration with master joiner James Dinsmore, who was also an Irishman from Ulster.

Then from 1809-10, Neilson worked on the expansion of Montpelier, the home of the fourth President of the United States, James Madison, located in Orange County, Virginia.

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