Showing posts with label McKay. Show all posts
Showing posts with label McKay. Show all posts

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Archibald and Mary part 3

In 1861, Mary met Archibald McKinnon, a fellow Scottish immigrant, and they were married on August 9, 1861.  They had a little house in Salt Lake where they lived for ten years and began their family together.  While living in Salt Lake, Archibald and Mary had 4 children: Robert (b1863), Archibald Jr. (b1865), Peter (b1868), and Malcolm (b1869).
In the spring of 1862 he joined the artillery and was a member of the expedition sent to the Morrisite camp, on the Weber, in June, 1862. The Morrisite War, was a  short but unfortunate episode in Utah history. The Morrisite camp was a group of Mormon apostates led by a church member named Joseph Morris who believed he was a prophet. Morris  taught that Brigham Young was a fallen prophet, about 200 former LDS members  followed him. Morris taught that there would be an immediate second coming of Christ. This teaching led his followers to spend their earnings carelessly, and feel as though did not have to heed the laws of the land. They stole cattle, trampled crops and refused to pay taxes. There was a warrant out for the leader’s arrest, but not one surrendered until the Utah militia responded. Ultimately the Morrisites surrendered after about 5 people were killed.
Archibald had the opportunity during perilous times to serve as a body guard for the prophet Brigham young.  He also worked as a special policeman in the Salt Lake Theatre for many years.     In 1864 he opened a harness shop on Main Street with a friend, and made enough money to build a new home the following year.   
  Archibald loved music and studied it whenever he had the opportunity. It is told that he had beautiful voice and wrote many songs. A great blessing he felt in his life is when he had a opportunity to study music under the famous George Careless while living in Salt Lake.
 When Congress passed the Homestead Act of 1862, Brigham Young became anxious to obtain control of the land before non-Mormons did.   In May, 1871, Brigham Young called Archibald, Mary and their children to move to the Bear River Valley. They, along with his sister, Jane, and her son, John M. Baxter, and others with whom he was associated moved to Randolph that late spring. They brought two teams of horses and wagons, milk cows, seeds, plants, and fruit trees.  Mary brought along her treasured flowers and rose bushes, but they did not survive the intense winters there. She eventually was able to raise gardens and several varieties of hardy flowers. The trees froze out during their first winter there.
          
            Randolph was a challenging place to live. All the new settlers endured many hardships in the area. The first winter living in Randolph, they lived in a covered wagon and a tent, and had a hard time trying to keep warm. The next spring they began to clear the land and build a house and tried to raise a garden. The season in this valley was very short and they soon learned that fruit and anything that needed a long summer was not for them, and there were many times they were hungry and cold. Harsh winters affected the settlement of the Bear Lake Valley. Randolph and Woodruff (a city next to Randolph) average only 57 frost-free days a year and once held the record for the coldest temperature ever recorded in the state (-50 F. degrees on February 6, 1899).
Shortly after settling in Randolph, Mary and Archibald were both called to positions in the church. Mary was called to be a member of the Relief Society presidency, and worked for many years in that position, helping with the sick and sewing for and feeding those in need. Archibald was called to act as second counselor to Bishop Randolph Stewart. He also organized a ward choir and served as its leader. At the same time he organized a Sunday School with George Alma Peart (also in the Byron McKinnon family line) and William Rex. They had 15 members. There was no piano or organ and so they sang a capella.

 
Randolph’s First Choir
(We have a few direct relatives in this choir whose
 names are highlighted in red)
Back Row Left to Right: Sarah Tyson, Mary McKay McKinnon, Comfort Pead, Mary Brough Rex, Sarah South, Jane Peart, Louise Park Harper, Jane Brough McKinnon (Archibald's plural wife - she is also in our Bingham line)
Front Row Left to Right: William Tyson, Sarah Ann Tyson, Archibald McKinnon Sr., Bishop Randolph Stewart, Cornelius Evans, William Rex and George Alma Peart Sr.
              
  Throughout the first decade of living in Randolph, Mary and Archibald had six more children:  Randolph Stewart (b.1871), Samuel (b.1873), Lemuel (b.1875), John Francis (b.1877) Donald (b.1879) and Mary (b. 1881).  In total, Mary and Archibald had 10 sons, and her last child was a daughter.  Mary taught her sons to help her in the three room house built of logs and they each had daily household chores.  While Mary worked at home and in the community, Archibald was assessor for Rich County, and later served in other county offices from 1872 through 1878.
Jane Brough
On July 10, 1879, he was called by Brigham Young to obey the law of plural marriage by marrying Jane Brough, who was sealed to him in the Endowment house in Salt Lake City.  Jane Brough is related to our family through the EllaMae Bingham side. She had polio when she was a child and as a result walked with crutches the rest of her life. Jane had 11 children with Archibald and lived in the same house as Mary. The house was full but the two families were very close.
                Archibald became a member of the territorial legislature in 1880. During his term, the important law was passed that made water rights personal property. That same year, Archibald was called as Bishop in Randolph – which he served for 21 years.
When Archibald became Bishop, Mary’s responsibilities became greater. Her family was gradually becoming larger and she was responsible for entertaining the church authorities who came to visit in Randolph. She was also responsible to take care of the tithing, which was always paid “in kind” by butter, eggs and garden produce and even cattle. They had to all be taken care of.   Back in the earlier days of the church tithing which was paid in kind,  was collected and stored in local church warehouses and redistributed throughout the area to individuals and other communities in need. Sometimes the item would be sold at market where the money profited would go to the church. Many time it was months before it could be sold or used by those in need, and Mary had to keep the butter in stone jars, clean chickens and ready them for the market as well as go to the sick and dying.
                During this time in history, a manifesto was signed seeking out the men who practiced polygamy making it an illegal act. The United States marshals spent a great deal of time after that in searching for those who were polygamist men. Archibald was arrested September 3, 1888, charged with “unlawful cohabitation”, and ordered to appear before the U.S. Commissioner in Logan.  He was sentenced to three months in the penitentiary, plus court costs. While he was in jail, he learned of the death of his 2 year old year old son, William George (Jane’s son), sadly he was not allowed to be released for his funeral.
He was released March 9, 1889, and returned home. In October of 1889, he moved Jane and his family to Fish Haven, Idaho to prevent further incarcerations.  Jane and the children lived there for 5 years, but Archibald being bishop in Randolph could only spend 1 week out of each month with that family.
Life continued on in the little town a Randolph, in 1900 Archibald was Rich County Treasurer and  a year later he was called as the first counselor in the Woodruff Stake Presidency (his nephew was the Stake President). He served as a counselor for almost 14 years.   

                After his passing, Mountain Home, Wyoming, in the far reaches of old Woodruff stake, changed its name to McKinnon, Wyoming in his memory.

Archibald died April 18, 1915. His Death Certificate states that he died of "Chronic Instestinal Nephritis", apparently brought on by "La Grippe" (the flu).  After he died, Mary moved in with her only daughter, Mary McKinnon Rees and lived 10 more years and died on August 4, 1925. Few facets of pioneer life in Randolph were untouched by Archibald and Mary McKinnon’s lives.   






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Friday, March 16, 2012

First McKinnon in America - Part 2

Part 2 continued from this post.

           In 1861, while living in Salt Lake City, Archibald McKinnon Sr. met a girl named Mary McKay who was also from Scotland. They were married in the endowment house, on August 9, 1861.
          
         Mary was born in Scotland on November 16, 1838. Her parents were Robert McKay and Agnes Shields.  She was the sixth out of seven children – three having died within their first year of life.  Her father worked as a weaver and mother stayed at home with the children. When Mary was about 9 years old, their family came into contact with the LDS church and knew it to be true. Robert and Agnes were baptized and confirmed on December 21, 1847. Mary and her siblings were baptized later on. Mary on October 10, 1850. Mary’s biography talks about how when her family joined the Mormon church, her neighbors and family friends became bitter and unfriendly, which increased their desire to go to Utah with the rest of Saints.

            Mary, her parents and her little sister left Scotland and boarded the Ship “Isaac Wright” on March 5, 1855. Mary’s two older siblings had left a few years before to prepare a home for them in Utah.

The ship arrived at Port in Massachusetts, and the McKay family decided to stay there for in order to earn money to buy supplies before their journey westward.  The had stayed in Massachusetts working in Cotton Mills at Holyoke for about three years when they  decided to continue on. They met at the gathering place with the rest of the saints traveling with them at Florence, Nebraska on June 6, 1859. They were soon on their way across the plains using handcarts. Many families used handcarts because they were less expensive.

            The family traveled in the George Rowley Handcart Company, leaving on June 9, 1859. This was the eighth handcart company to come across. Within it were about 235 people using 60 handcarts and 8 wagons.

Having worked in Massachusetts prior to the trek, the McKay’s had earned money to help them be well-prepared for the hard journey. As the weeks passed, the food became scarce and hunger set in. They were all very relieved when they reached their destination. They arrived in Utah on September 4, 1859. Below is an excerpt from a man named in the same company who was telling his memories of the trek:


“ At night we placed a double guard, and, it being a dark night, we put out our fires early to prevent the Indians from seeing us. We drew our carts close together and longed for daylight to come. Some went to bed, and when all was perfectly still, we were aroused by one of the most hideous noises that I ever heard. It was the Indians. Some of them had on buckskin suits covered with bells. They sang, and jumped, and knocked down one of our tents that was full of people, mostly women and children. It was no wonder the women screamed and the children cried; as we all thought it was an Indian war dance, of which we had heard so much.
The Indians, perceiving our fear, took advantage of it. They had what was fun to them, but to us there was no fun in it. We were already up when the day dawned and were soon traveling with the hope that we should see the Indians no more; but we had traveled but a few miles when a number of them came as fast as they could ride, shouting like demons, with their long hair flying in the breeze. They tormented us for hours, and this, our fist Indian experience, was a terror to us in very deed.
Our hard work gave us keen appetites and most of us ate our rations in about half the time that they should have lasted. Then we would ask for more, and, of course, we got it. As we had only seventy pounds of flour for ten weeks; (unless we could make the trip in less time) it followed that we should have to go short at the latter end. We had scarcely reached half way when we found, to our sorrow, that our provisions were nearly gone; then each person had to do with one pound of flour for two days and we felt the pangs of hunger. We had four persons to each cart. Our four consisted of myself, your grandma and our two children. Thus, there being but two of us to pull our cart it made our work very hard indeed. One day as we were traveling along, in this hungry condition, I saw a sheep some distance from the road. I was at once impressed to try to get it. Accordingly I pulled our cart on one side of the road. Seeing what I was doing, our companions made fun of me, but I started out, at the same time offering up a silent prayer to our Heavenly Father to assist me, and to my joy it was but a short time until I caught the sheep and I assure you it was a very good mutton. This was a great help to us, and we divided the meat with those who had small children.
We traveled on until the next day, when, to our sorrow, our rations were reduced to a pound of flour for four days, and then we felt more than ever the pangs of hunger; children were crying for bread and their parents were unable to give them any.”

           
            Mary’s family settled for in Salt Lake City. Her father started working as a Weaver again, and they lived a happy family life with the saints around them. Though she was happy in Utah, Mary often talked about her old life in Scotland and her happy life there. In 1861, Mary met Archibald McKinnon, a fellow Scottish immigrant, and they  were married on August 9, 1861.

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