Page 7 - September 2022 News On 7

HAZZARD'S HISTORY NOTES

by Grant Ketcheson

“Over the Seas From Skye”
The McKinnon Family (With thanks to Ardith McKinnon Racey )

On the Isle of Skye, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, poverty was a fact of life. The potato famine, highland
clearances and religious strife had made for a bleak future for many families. Angus McKinnon and his wife, Janet MacDonald,
were not exempt from these hardships. Both in their sixties, it must have been a difficult decision to make, but along with
their family they packed their possessions and said farewell to their humble home on the west coast of Invernesshire. Their
children included Laughlin (32), Donald (32), Catherine (20), Farquar (Fred) (18) and Alexander (10).
Records in Edinburgh indicate that Angus was born in 1785 (even though his tombstone in O'Hara Cemetery says that he was
born in 1777). Among the treasures brought with them to Canada was a wooden chest and a Gaelic bible. While the family bible
is long lost, the McKinnon family still proudly possesses the wooden chest.
In 1856 Angus McKinnon and family purchased 200 acres on Lot 12, Concession 9 in Madoc Township, east of Hazzard's
Corners. While most of the family remained in this community, some moved on and farm parcels were sold to the Harris and
Glover families.
Alexander, the youngest son, became the owner of the original farm. He and his wife, Margaret McGillvary, had three
daughters and a son. Sadly, Alexander passed away at the age of 45 when their only son, George, was but five years old.
Margaret must have been made of stern stuff for she successfully carried on the farm until George was of an age to assist with
the work and finally take ownership..
The McKinnon family were of unbending Scottish Presbyterian faith, such that they made the hours-long round trip every
Sunday to St. Peter's Presbyterian Church in Madoc. This, in spite of the fact that Hazzard's Corners Methodist Church was
just minutes from their farm. Widow Margaret and her four children were seen every Sunday, passing Hazzard's Church on
the long buggy ride to St. Peter's in Madoc. In Margaret's obituary, it states that “ she attended divine services at St. Peter's in
the day when people came in ox-drawn vehicles.”
Such was their dedication to their church and faith, that most of the McKinnon family are buried at O'Hara Cemetery, along
with other Scottish members of St. Peter's. This family tradition ended when George McKinnon married Ethel Trotter and
joined her as a member of Hazzard's Corners Methodist Church.
Donald McKinnon, the fourth-generation owner of the farm, greatly expanded the acreage, buying back the McKinnon land
that had been sold off and more. The farm is now carried on by his son Angus and wife, Trish.
George and Ethel McKinnon, their daughter Jean McKinnon Dempsey, their son Donald and his wife Madeline Palmer are
buried in Hazzard's Cemetery.

Caption #3
Cornervue Farm” now in the fifth generation of the
McKinnon family.

Caption #2
The McKinnon family chest that
came “over the seas from Skye”

Caption #1
Margaret McKinnon and son
George, c.1883