San Joaquin County
Biographies
ANGUS McKINNON
ANGUS McKINNON,
of the firm of McKinnon & Tumelty, bridge
builders and general contractors of Stockton, was born on the Isle of Mull,
Scotland, March 14, 1841, a son of Donald and Mary (McCormac)
McKinnon. The father died in middle life, and the widowed mother came to Canada
with her five sons and three daughters, of whom three sons and two daughters
are living in 1890. Of these Isabella, living in Canada, is about sixty, and
John is a Baptist clergyman in Ontario. The mother, born in the first decade of
the century, died about 1879, aged over seventy.
The subject of this sketch
received a limited education in his youth, starting in early to earn his
living. At the age of fifteen he came across the border into Michigan and went
to work in a “logging camp” in the winter of 1855-’56, and thence to St. Louis,
Missouri, where he made a few trips as a steamboat hand. Going then to
Louisville, Kentucky, he there learned the trade of shipwright and caulker; and
in 1858 secured the position of carpenter on the steamer “Autocrat,” engaged in
the Louisville and New Orleans trade. Yellow fever becoming an epidemic that
season in the cities of the lower Mississippi, he and
a companion went from Natchez to Fairchild Island, where they engaged in
chopping wood. They not only made money but escaped the scourge and returned to
Louisville in the spring of 1859. From that city Mr. McKinnon went to
Metropolis, Illinois, on the Ohio river, where he
worked at ship-building for the Memphis Packet Company until 1865. He then
worked for the Morse Dry Dock Company in St. Louis, and then steam-boated for
the St. Paul and St. Louis trade: he worked for that corporation seven years on
salary, at different points. Meanwhile he was married in Dubuque, Iowa, January
24, 1868, to Miss Martha Morrison, born in Glasgow, Scotland, about 1845, a
daughter of John and Martha (McDonald) Morrison, who came to America in and
settled in Dubuque, Iowa, where the mother is still living in 1890. The father
died in 1877 in Santa Rosa, California, whither he had
come for the benefit of his health.
Mr. McKinnon came to this
city in March, 1874, without his family, and found work at his trade of
shipwright, building tugs and barges that summer. His wife becoming ill he went
to Dubuque and returned with his family the following spring, when he resumed
work in this city. Shipbuilding becoming dull here, he went to work for the “Southern
Pacific,” on its western division between Brighton and Niles, and was employed
by that corporation in bridge-building for four years. Mrs. McKinnon died in
this city in 1878, and her remains were taken to Dubuque for burial. Four
children survive her: Angus C., born in Muskegon, Michigan, March 24, 1870, is
now reading law in the office of Loutitt, Woods &
Levinsky of this city; Martha Isabella, born in
Dubuque October 3, 1872; John Andrew, born in Dubuque, December 31, 1874; Ellen
Young, born in this State, November 16, 1878. Miss Isabella McKinnon is being
educated in Van Ness Seminary in San Francisco, and the younger children in
this city.
In 1880 Mr. McKinnon formed a
partnership in this city with three others in the bridge-building line, under
the style of McKinnon & Company, only to find that there was
too many partners for harmonious action. In 1883 he formed the present firm of
McKinnon & Tumelty, bridge builders and general
contractors, who have since done very considerable amount of work in their line
in this city and county, and also in Stanislaus, Tulare and Kern counties.
Mr. McKinnon was married in
this city October 1, 1885, to Mary Adne Allen, born
in Wisconsin, her father being a Congregational clergyman, of the Allen family
of Massachusetts. Mrs. McKinnon has four sisiers
(sic) on this coast, one of whom is Mrs. John C. Reid of this city.
Mr. McKinnon has been an Odd
Fellow since 1862, joining the order in Metropolis, Illinois, and a Mason since
1867, joing (sic) that fraternity in Dubuque, Iowa,
but has transferred his cards to lodges in this city. He also joined Dubuque
Lodge No. 9, A. O. U. W., and still retains his membership in that lodge.
Transcribed by: Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
An Illustrated History of San Joaquin County,
California, Pages 471-472. Lewis Pub. Co. Chicago, Illinois 1890.
© 2009 Jeanne Sturgis Taylor.
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
Biographies
Golden Nugget Library's San Joaquin County
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