Marin County Biographies

HUGH McKENNAN

Transcribed by Betty Wilson

This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm

 
              Was born February 22, 1826 in the town of 
Ballycastle, county, Antrim, Ireland.  When he was eight years of age, he, 
accompanied by an older brother, came to New York City, and remained there till 
he was thirteen years old.  They then went to New Orleans.  In 1846, he entered 
the American army in the war with Mexico, serving under a quarter-master till 
the close of the war in 1848.  He then located at Louisville, Kentucky, and 
remained until December, 1848.  He then set about making preparations for an 
overland trip to California, and May 1, 1849, he set out with a party of two 
wagons to come �the plains across,� from Independence, Missouri, arriving 
September 15th of that year.  He engaged in mining at Mormon Island, Park�s Bar, 
and other places till the Fall of 1852, when he went to San Francisco, and 
resided there till 1857.  He then came to Bolinas and purchased an interest in 
the �Belvidere� ranch with Captain Isaac Morgan, where he engaged in the farming 
and dairying business till 1864 when he disposed of his interest in the 
property.  After a residence of about eighteen months in San Francisco, he 
returned to his old love, Bolinas and purchased his present homestead.  He was 
married May 14, 1859, to Amelia F. Salvo (daughter of Benedict and Mary A. 
Salvo), who was born October 15, 1840, in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  Their 
children are William H., born in San Francisco, December 16, 1864; and Frederick 
B., born in Bolinas, March 22, 1871.
 
History of Marin County, California; Including Its Geography, Geology, 
Topography and Climatology; by J. P. Munro-Fraser, Historian; Alley, Bowen & 
Co., Publishers, San Francisco, California, 1880