John MacKinnon (b. about 1765) and his wife Mary Kennedy are known from the 1873 death record of Donald Mackinnon at Torrin, Strath, Skye, which names them as his parents (John a crofter). An earlier version of this archive made them the parents of Donald McKinnon of Tiree (christened 4 April 1790, father John McKinnon, mother not named), after FamilySearch's tree merged the two Donalds. The two Donalds are different men: one died at Strath in 1873, the other had a wife Christina McFarlane and emigrated to Ontario about 1850. Whether the Tiree Donald's father John McKinnon is this John is not known. Strath (Strathaird) is a district of the Isle of Skye, long a MacKinnon heartland.
Timeline
1765
Born1765 — Strath, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Claims in the record
1765 — Strath, Inverness-shire, Scotland
Mary Kennedy (b. 1765, Strath)
Donald Mackinnon of Strath (b. about 1790; d. 6 Jan 1873) — and possibly, unproven, the Tiree Donald McKinnon christened 1790
Compiled descendant genealogy records; no parish register entry has been seen
The Strath birthplace comes from compiled family genealogies. The 1776 and 1779 Tiree name lists include a John MacKinnon of about the right age at Vaul (10 in 1776) and another at Cornaigbeg (14 in 1776); it is not known whether either is this man.
John Mackinnon (a crofter) and Mary Kennedy are named as parents in the 1873 death record of Donald Mackinnon at Torrin, Strath, Skye (aged 83; wife Christy, whose parents were Angus Mackinnon and Catherine Robertson). FamilySearch's tree merged that man with the Tiree Donald McKinnon (christened 1790), which is where this couple came from. They are probably the parents of the Strath Donald, not of ours. Kept as an unattached family.
Compiled family genealogy (not independently confirmed; no parish register entry seen)
Research next
Determine who the Tiree Donald's father John McKinnon was (Tiree register from 1766, name lists of 1776 and 1779). A John McKinnon and Flora Kennedy had a son Archibald christened on Tiree on 9 Nov 1796; whether that John is the father of Donald (b. 1790) is not known.