Archibald McKinnon Sr. and Mary McKay
How we Relate:
They are the parents of Archibalde McKinnon JR,
who is the father of Archie Leo McKinnon,
who is the father of Byron Eugene McKinnon
who is the father of Don McKinnon
♥
Archibald McKinnon was born June 20, 1837 in Argyle shire, Scotland, and was the youngest of nine children who filled the home of Donald and Mary McClellan McKinnon. When he was nine years old, the family moved to Greenock, Scotland and lived there for nine months. During this time in Scotland, there was a great famine going on and many people were struggling to survive. This famine greatly increased immigration to Canada, and the United States. While living in Greenock, his father and older sister, Catherine, both died of Typhoid Fever. Three months later the rest of family moved on to Paisley, Scotland.
His family was introduced to Mormon Missionaries in 1851. He joined the LDS church on July 26, 1852 when he was 15 years old.
When Archibald was about 17-18 years old he apprenticed to learn the shoemaker’s trade. Apprentices were the boys (aged 10 to 20) who were indentured to serve as apprentices to craftsmen and merchants who were freemen (not servants or dependants.) Frequently, an apprentice was related to his master, or later married his master's daughter.
Shortly thereafter, in 1855 - just being 18 years old, he traveled alone and crossed the Atlantic in the ship “Samuel Curling” to united with the rest of those from his church. The ship set out from Liverpool on April 22, 1855. There were about 617 passengers aboard, 581 of them being LDS passengers making their way to Zion. There is a story told by a passenger of the Samuel Curling that the captain of the ship had told the saints that he in his long experience as a seafaring man had never encountered the horrible storms that they passed through and knew the worst was yet to come. The captain was worried and disheartened, but the leader of the saints to him to not worry because the storm was about to end. He told some of the saints that while the storm was raging, he saw the ship surrounded by "scores of angels, who stood in a circle around it with joined hands." The ship reached its port at New York on May 22, 1855. Not one person died during the voyage across the sea.
After reaching New York, most of the Mormon passengers left to begin the rest of the journey to Zion. They left New York by steamboat to get to Philadelphia. Once arriving in Philadelphia, they were placed on a railway train heading for Pittsburg. After arriving at Pittsburg, they boarded another steamboat and continued on to St. Louis where they proceeded to Kansas. This was all done within about 7 days.
Archibald was directed to cross the plains into Utah with the Milo Andrus Company which led 461 people to Utah. They left Kansas on August 4, 1855. Due to the late start, the company leader pushed them to go faster than what was comfortable. Many people of the company called him a bully and didn’t like him. But looking back to the Martin and Willey handcart companies that were stranded in the mountains during winter, the push to go fast was imperative. They arrived in Utah on October 24, 1855.
Archibald stayed a few weeks in Salt Lake City after arriving, and then traveled to Provo where he found work as a shoemaker and in the tanning business. In the spring of 1856, Archibald went to Palmyra, Utah - two miles from the present Spanish Fork, to try to get a job he had heard about. He told the story of having just a few cents in his pocket, so he started out alone, hitchhiking. After going quite a way, he became uncertain and went behind a tree to pray, being a truly religious man. He continued along and soon saw some children playing. They came to him and he learned they were the youngsters of people with whom he had become very good friends with while crossing the ocean. The little ones took him home, and the family welcomed him with great rejoicing, as though a son had returned.
By late 1859, he had moved back to Salt Lake City. He was then employed by Howard Egan (Howard's and Archibald's grandchildren married each other years later) to take charge of the mail and pony express station near the Bluffdale called "Jordan Narrows". Due to attacks from local Indians, this route was quite an undertaking, but he stuck with it for 3 years.
Pony Express Jordan Narrows Marker located at:
17800 S Redwood Road
Bluffdale, 84065
Salt Lake County
Bluffdale, 84065
Salt Lake County
In 1861, while living in Salt Lake City, he met a girl named Mary McKay who was also from Scotland. They were married in the endowment house, on August 9, 1861.
To be continued.....
Sources:
- Randolph a look back
- Conquerors of the West: Stalwart Mormon Pioneers by Florence C. Youngberg
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