http://thecoastnews.com/2011/02/scotsmans-dreams-take-root/ Making Waves in Your Neighborhood Fri, 24 May 2013 00:12:37 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.5.1 http://thecoastnews.com/2011/02/scotsmans-dreams-take-root/comment-page-1/#comment-7763 Kate DuVivier Mon, 14 Feb 2011 20:26:43 +0000 http://thecoastnews.com/?p=42783#comment-7763 A very nice story! I’d love to know where you got your information so I can find out more about the Mackinnons who are my great-great-grandparents. (We usually spell it with a lower-case k.)
I’d like to share two other interesting early adventures… First, Hector survived a shipwreck off the coast of Canada when he was only a toddler and his father swam three miles to shore with him & his mother. ( A long way, but probably in the gulf stream, so hopefully not too cold.) Eventually, Hector’s parents and siblings settled in Ohio. Secondly, he met his wife when he fell down a well shaft while he was working as a surveyor in New York, (after surviving seven Civil War battles as a Union soldier) and that’s where Sarah found him. I have seen a newspaper story about the shipwreck, but have only heard about the falling into a well.
I also heard they arrived in what became Cardiff in 1874, not 1875, and that Hector worked as a mechanic in Julian before getting his homestead, and that actually he was not much of a farmer at all. However he was a highly regarded mechanic/engineer who had several patents to his name, including one for the traveling trunk with drawers inside, and also had started up the copper mine in Olivenhain as well as working for the railroad. They did keep some cows and horses and they planted a vineyard, but the plants were killed by the Grape Disease of that era.
About land sales, the story I heard is that he traded his land for a dog and a gun, in hopes that Cullen would make something of it, so that the area would prosper. Times were hard though, and sometimes Sarah Mackinnon and the kids sold baked goods door to door in Cardiff, while Hector Mackinnon was away in San Diego, working on the railroad. I believe he commuted home on weekends.
It’s an interesting story and I really appreciate your efforts as well as those of the San Dieguito Heritage Museum (and other history buffs) in doing research about our area’s early history. I know far less about my other ancestors, but this story, with its mishaps and dangers, illustrates how fortunate we ALL are just to be here today.
Thanks a lot for the information1

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