Allan MacKinnon - A FAMILY HISTORY
The following information was taken from a paper written on March 3, 1987 by Birt MacKinnon.
His father, Alexander, crossed the Atlantic Ocean with one of the organized voyages of John MacDonald of Glenaladale. Sometime between 1798 and1801, Alexander settled on a 100 acre farm in Big Cape (Lot 42). Upon his death he left equal shares of this farm to his two sons Donald and Allan. A search of the Baptismal records did not reveal either Donald’s or Allan’s birth but a census conducted in 1861 revealed that Donald was upwards to the age of 60 and that Allan was between 45 and 60 years of age.
- Donald married a McKinnon woman from Mt. Stewart and they had three children: John, Catherine and the third unknown. There are no records showing when Donald passed away or how his portionof the original farm was given to his son John. Over time John occupied these 50 acres and eventually his sister Catherine did the same.
- Allan married Mary McKinnon from MacAskill River on October 17, 1836 and they had eight children. Hugh (Oct 14, 1837), Allan (Feb 9, 1840), John (Feb 24, 1842), Mary (March 23, 1844), Daniel Alexander (July 27, 1856), Mathias (unknown) and Joseph (unknown). Allan’s will was dated November 15, 1873 (one day before he died). He left to his son, Joseph: the farm, real estate and two horses. Allan’s wife and daughter Mary were to have a living off the farm as long as they lived. The remaining members received an equal amount of money (80 cents).
On November 3, 1857 Joseph (Allan’s son) married Julia Ann Robertson of St. Margaret’s Parish. They had five children. Allan Francis (Aug 24, 1876), Neil Joseph (Feb 15, 1878), Catherine Ellen (Jan 22, 1880), Hugh James (May 22, 1882) and John Daniel (Aug 23, 1884). After Joseph’s death, John Daniel succeeded him as third generation of MacKinnon on the original homestead.
One hundred and eighty seven years later (in 1987), the original 100 acres of land settled by Alexander MacKinnon was still in the possession of the MacKinnon family. As of 2009, the land is still occupied by descendants of Allan MacKinnon.
The author of this paper (Milton MacKinnon) is related through John MacKinnon (Allan’s son).
John married Mary Barry of Georgetown and settled on a 50 acre farm in Selkirk situated 3 miles south east from the homestead. They had 8 children: Allan Mathias, William Daniel, James, Anne, Mary Catherine (Cassie), Margaret, Sarah and Joseph. Most of these people had died before this paper was written except for Allen (who at the age of 103 lived with his son and daughter in law Warren and Edie) and John who resided in Montreal.
John A. MacKinnon died on Dec 25, 1927 at his home in Selkirk approximately two months short of his 86th birthday. Two weeks after his death his son William Daniel (the next generation in the author’s ancestral line) married Catherine MacDonald of Bear River in on Jan 11, 1928. From this marriage, they had 5 children, Roy (May 30, 1928), Arthur (Sept 3, 1929), Eva (July 21, 1933), Raymond (Feb 9, 1937) and Lennie (July 19, 1940).
William Daniel moved his family to St. Peter’s Bay when he worked fulltime with the railroad on that part of the line closest to St. Peter’s. He eventually retired from the railroad and lived most of remaining days at St. Peter’s Bay. Of William’s family, Roy married Mary Ryan from Morell. They had 2 sons: Daniel and Greg.
Eva married Richard McIssac from Boston. She lived there for 20 years untilshe died 1n 1982 from a sudden illness. This marriage produced 2 sons: William and Francis.
Raymond married Agnes Boylan.
Lennie married Joan Sinnott from Morell. They lived in the United States for over 20 years and they had 5 daughters: Cathy, Susan, Jennifer, Jeanine and Laurie.
Arthur Joseph, being next in the ancestral line and the father or the author, married Freda Cheverie from Souris. They had 6 children: Birt, June, Allen, Raymond, Brent and Theresa.