On The MCKINNON Trail

[scotincanada]

Hello,

Wow, I see that my previous messages regarding my missing MCKINNONs were posted 10 years ago! It's been a long road but we are finally getting somewhere with these elusive folks. Still more to uncover yet.

The main brick wall has been my great great grandfather, Archibald MCKINNON b. abt. 1811 at Kilninian, Argyll on the Isle of Mull. In the 1830s, he married Catherine MCARTHUR. They lived at Burg, Kilninian and had 3 known children - Catherine, Donald and Neil. By 1849, Catherine MCARTHUR had died and Archibald married a second time to Christina MCDOUGALL on the island of Coll. By 1851, this new couple are found at Balephetrish on yet another island, Tiree. I lost them after that but have just yesterday found them in Dunbartonshire. You just never know where they will pop up next!

1861 Scotland census
Church St Downies Land, Bonhill Dumbartonshire
Archibald McKinnon 50 Laborer at Dye works born Kilninian, Argyllshire
Christina McKinnon 48 Kilninian, Argyllshire

Now I'm trying to predict what became of them after this. I don't see them, so far, in Bonhill in 1871 unless I am missing something. Their deaths should be recorded somewhere, but where and when is the question? Thank you for any leads.

Mary

[WilmaM]

Have you tried searching for Christina's death - using both her maiden and married surnames? SP did give one hit using the age detail from the 1861 census.

Using a 2nd forename search on the 1871 census also seemed to give a result for the couple.

But maybe you've already drawn a blank at them?

[scotincanada]

Hi Wilma,

Thank you for your reply. I have now found Christina (MCDOUGALL) MCKINNON's 1886 death in Hutchesontown, Lanarkshire. She was a 71 year old widow. So, yet another move for these folks!

I still didn't catch up to them on any 1871 census. Sometimes SP can be tricky to search. I must be using the wrong age/date/spelling etc. combos.

I haven't found Archibald's death either. I found a promising one (same parents' names even) but his father was a military man and the wife was an Alice MCDONALD, so not mine. I also found an 1869 death for an Archibald MCKINNON in a poor house in Dumbarton but most of the important details are missing so I can't be sure.

C'mon, Archie, where are you??!!

Your great great granddaughter, Mary

[AnneM]

Hi there

Can I ask a couple of questions: firstly if you have not seen Archibald's death certificate and he married before 1855 how have you found out who his parents were? Is the Archibald who was recorded in 1811 in Kilninian born to Neil McKinnon and Margaret McArthur not the one who married Alice McDonald and died in Govan in 1871? That Archibald appears in the 1861 Census at Govan stating that he was born around 1811 in Mull, which would fit.

The other thing which is, I think, a bit confusing is that Archibald McKinnon and Catherine McArthur who married in 1829 have a child Margaret in 1851 on Iona and are still on the 1851 Census in Iona with their family. Is that a different Archibald and Cath(e)rine.

Who was the child of Archibald who was your ancestor and who was his/her mother?

Anne

[AnneM]

OK. Looking back I see you have already eliminated this family but I can't see any other Archibald and Catherine having children around that time. I'm probably being a bit dense.

Anne

[scotincanada]

Hi Anne,

Thanks for your reply. Sorry for confusing you. These are confusing people for sure!!

I have been searching for Archibald MCKINNON for over 10 years, but my father has been searching for him for many years before that. It was he who provided the names of Archibald's parents, Neil MCKINNON and Margaret MCARTHUR. I have also seen the information among OPR records listed on http://www.mullgenealogy.co.uk/, so I'm fairly certain. So I was surprised to find another Arch MCK with the same parents' names. But I knew his father was no military man, only a crofter or ag lab. I also knew his first wife (married 1830s) was Catherine MCARTHUR and his second wife (married 1849) was Christina MCDOUGALL, but no Alice MCDONALD. Christina outlived him so no time for a third wife! lol

Archibald MCKINNON, my great great grandfather, had 3 known children through his first wife, Catherine MCARTHUR. He had none with with Christina as they were 40 when they married. The children of his first marriage were Catherine (b. abt. 1837), Donald (b. abt. 1845) and Neil (b. abt. 1847). Neil MCKINNON was my great grandfather. He married Annie PATERSON and they had 5 children, Catherine, Donald, Neil, Isabella and Mary Ann. Catherine was my grandmother. My father always puzzled over the fact that the none of Neil's children were named Archibald. The old traditional naming pattern was held to almost exclusively by these people, at this time in this place. It would seem that Archibald departed from the family upon his second marriage and was not in the picture after that. So much upheaval happened during these years - clearances, religious differences etc. Somehow, he managed to erase himself from the lives of his children, who seem to have been fostered out to various relatives to be raised.

Perhaps the Arch MCK who died in the Dumbarton poor house was our man? It's hard to be sure. I suppose things other than poverty (mental illness, dementia, drink) might lead a person to be confined there too. Sad, if that's him.

Mary

[WilmaM]

I wonder if there are any other records for the Poor House in Dumbarton?

http://www.workhouses.org.uk/Dumbarton/

gives a link to their records archive, could be worth inquiring there to rule in or out that one.
http://www.west-dunbarton.gov.uk/touris ... formation/
Though the website doesn't seem to be working

The Mitchell Library has Poor relief records, his widow perhaps applied, as I see she died in the city sometimes there's a wealth of information in them.

[AnneM]

Hi again

There is undoubtedly a record for an Archibald baptised in Kilninian in January 1811 who is the son of Neil McK and Margaret McArthur. What I am not sure about is what is the evidence that this is the right Archibald and not the one who married Alice McDonald and died in 1871. I guess that he was baptised in 1811 does not mean that he was born shortly before then but it is more likely. I am still struggling to see how without seeing a death certificate or a memorial giving parents' names or a marriage after 1855 you can identify his parents with any certainty.

If the Archibald who appears in the 1841 census with wife and daughter Catherine in Burg is indeed your ancestor he is given as being 35. Given that ages in the 1841 census were rounded down it is more likely that he was born in or before 1806.

As far as I can see on Mull between 1800 and 1820 there were 9 recorded births/baptisms of babies named Archibald McKinnon including the one above. Doubtless there were others which were unrecorded.

You have probably got the recorded ones but for the sake of completeness they are:

Kilninian

Archibald 20.071801 to Hector and Marjery McLean
Archibald 09.02.1806 to Archibald and Flora Morrison
Archibald 15.01.1811 to Neil and Margaret McArthur
Archibald 06.06.1813 to Duncan and Flora McLean
Archibald 21.04.1817 to Malcolm and Anne McArthur

Kilfinichen

Archibald 06.10.1808 to Neil and Marsaly McGilvra
Archibald 27.10.1813 to Neil and Cristy Mclean
Archibald 25.08.1816 to John and ? McPhail
Archibald 21.06.1817 to Neil and Isabella McLean

Archibald baptised 1801 to Hector and Marjory McLean is in Dervaig, Kilninian in 1841 with his mother Margery and what may be his wife Catherine and children of whom the eldest is called Hector.

It does appear that the father of your grandmother, who appears on her BC as Neil, and signs with a cross but on his marriage certificate in 1883 in Tiree as Donald and seems to sign his name, gives his parents on his MC as Archibald McKinnon and Catherine McArthur both deceased. However the only marriage of a couple of those names is the one in 1831 on Iona for the couple who continue to live there. Of course that does not mean that there was not another couple of that name marrying at around the same time but there does not appear to be a record of their marriage. It is always possible that Neil/Donald got his longish dead mother's maiden name wrong but again possibly not.

Unless there is some other additional proof that your Archibald is the son of Neil and Margaret McArthur, I would think that unless you followed as many of the Archibalds born in Mull at that time and "killed off" as many of them as possible you could not be sure that was the right birth record. Of course you may know the fates of all/most of the others already.Do you know who the parents of the Iona Archibald were as that could then rule another one out?

They are indeed a confusing bunch without a doubt.

Anne

BTW There is an Archibald McKinnon born Dumbarton in around 1813 who could be the death in the poorhouse.

[Anne H]

You might be out of luck finding a poorhouse record in Dumbarton. I contacted Dunbarton Local History in 2007 and they do have information for Dumbarton Combination Poorhouse, however, the first Register of Inmates is for 1897 so a bit late for your chap.

Regards,
Anne H