Black and white photograph of Archie MacKinnon and his wife Christena Clark. John was the son of Fingon MacKinnon and Christena McLean of Salum, Tiree and was baptized 23 Nov 1832. The whole family (including John’s six younger brothers) left Tiree aboard the Conrad in September 1851. Christena Clark was the daughter of Hugh Clark and Christena McLean of Ruaig, Tiree. She was baptized 10 Jun 1833. The whole family came to Ontario about 1846, settling first in Brock Township. Christena and John were married in Ontario about 1857. They had eight children, but only one married and there were no grandchildren. John died 5 Feb 1919 and Christena died 24 Aug 1918. They are buried in Tiverton Cemetery.

Black and white photograph of John MacKinnon and his wife Christena Clark in front of their farmhouse on Lot 31, Concession 11, Kincardine Township, Bruce Co, Ontario, Canada.

John’s niece, Retta MacKinnon preserved the following memories of her Uncle John (see http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~russmcgillivray/mackinnon/page1.html )

“Uncle John always prayed in Gaelic at church for the communion service, also said the grace in Gaelic, as did my father, but Uncle John always began his grace the same way – “Holaidh o Ghia”.

Uncle John did not mince words when he spoke. I was down at Uncle Johns for supper one night, and as usual was plied with meat, potatoes, vegetables, biscuits, fruit and pie. I unfortunately make the remark “I ate too much supper”, as more food was pressed on me. Uncle John looked at me as if I were a worm and said, “Your Uncle John is ashamed of you, not knowing when to stop eating.” Cousin Finnie [John’s son], sitting beside me, pressed my hand in sympathy! We were all a little afraid of Uncle John.

A council from the various churches met at the Association meeting in Tiverton to question a young minister, who was to be ordained. Some members of the Council asked a number of catchy questions, and the young man was finding it a bit difficult to answer though he had answered the fundamentals well. Suddenly Uncle John stood up and said, “That will do now! You are asking him questions that you can`t answer yourselves!” The young man came to him after the meeting and thanked him.

We respected Uncle John, but only once did I make him smile, and it was like ice breaking up after a long winter.”