Of the McNeillys whose literacy was recorded, 84.3% could both read and write, 2.9% could read but not write, and 12.8% could do neither. Men came out slightly ahead, 85.9% reading and writing against 82.8% of women. Bear in mind these figures include young children; the census itself only counted people aged nine and over when calculating illiteracy, on the grounds that it was unfair to label a child illiterate before they'd had a chance to learn.