Mary McKinnon

Northern Lights as seen in Dauphin

Mary Mckinnon, My Great Great Grandmother, and Mother of Vinton Marshall Smith, was born March 26 1873 in Quebec.  She grew up in a town called Megantic, Quebec, which is now called Lac Megantic.  She was one of 8 children.  Her father, Donald, was born in Scotland, and her mother, Catharine, in Quebec.  Her siblings were, Jamay, Annie, Jenne, Elizabeth, Catharine, Donald, and Bella.

The family moved to Dauphin, Manitoba sometime between 1891 and 1900.  On Jun 24, 1896 she married Marshall Burke Smith in New Hampshire, where he was from.  They lived on a farm in Dauphin from 1896 until about 1905.  Interestingly she and her family had all been Presbyterian, but Marshall was Baptist.  The children were all raised Baptist, but she remained Presbyterian.

In 1905 the children left Canada to live with Marshall's sister Hope and his mother Mary.  He lived separately with a second wife, Alice, having been married to her two years earlier in 1908.  I have not been able to find what become of Mary after 1901.  She does not appear with her parents or children in Canada or the US.  I think it likely that she died in about 1905.  She would have been about 32 year old.  I will update this profile if I eventually find firm evidence of what become of her.

Marshall Burke Smith

Marshall Burke Smith, father of Vinton Marshall Smith, and my Great Great Grandfather, was born in New Hampshire in 1868.  As a child he lived on the farm with his parents and his older brother Willis and little sister Hope.

Sanbornton is located in the fork of the Pemigewasset and Winnipesaukee rivers, the town was first called Crotchtown (no joke).  It was incorporated in 1770, and has the charming character typical of an old New England Town.

He wed Mary McKinnon in Laconia (near Lowell, Mass) on June 24, 1896, and they moved north of the border to a small town in Canada, Dauphin in Manitoba province.  Mary was born in Quebec which may have helped prompt the move to a newly founded community so far away from New Hampshire.  Dauphin had been settled in 1883 with just a few settlers, then the railroad reached the area in 1896 and settlement increased.  This is the time when the Smiths arrived.

Over the next few years they had three children, Marguerite, Vinton, and Russell. But the family returned to New Hamphire in 1905.  The children lived with the Aunt Hope and Grandmother (Marshall's mother) in Laconia around 1910, Marshall relocated to Lowell, Mass.  What happened to Mary, I have not yet discover (stay tuned).

In 1908 Marshall married again.  Her name was Alice Deady.  They moved to Billerica, Mass (town of about 5000 in 1920 near Lowell) and farmed for many years.  The photo above is of Marshall about 1940 in his field of rye.  I have a note that he and Alice ran a summer camp for children for years.  He passed away sometime between 1941 and 1949.

The Bay Meeting House in Sanbornton built 1836.  Pictured here about 1910.
























Relationship Key:


Me ---> Mom ---> Marguerite Smith ---> Vinton Marshall Smith ---> Marshall B. Smith