MCKINNON, ALOYSIUS ANDREW (1882-1952)

MCKINNON, ALOYSIUS ANDREW, Catholic parish priest, Blackville, 1929-47; b. Douglastown, 1 Dec 1882, s/o Colin F. McKinnon and Ellen Kane; ordained 1910; d. Chatham, 1 Jan 1952.

One of a family of ten boys, A. Andrew McKinnon received his higher education at St Francis Xavier University (BA 1905) and was trained for the priesthood at the Grand Seminary in Montreal. During a break in his studies he worked on the news staff of the North Shore Leader.

Soon after his ordination McKinnon was appointed parish priest on Miscou Island, where he was the first priest to serve for a lengthy term. His friend Father Benedict J. Murdoch stated in 1925 that McKinnon had been in this "last outpost of our diocese" for fourteen years. Murdoch described him affectionately as "a stout, happy man of medium height with merry blue eyes and a mass of brown curly hair."

In 1929, McKinnon was appointed parish priest of Blackville, as successor to Father Simon J. Crumley. For eighteen years, he ministered to those served by St Raphael's Church and its missions, until his retirement in 1947. Afterwards, he made his home in Chatham, where he was a patient for several years in the Hotel Dieu Hospital. At the time of his death, a nephew, Father Joseph C. McKinnon, was an assistant priest in St Patrick's parish, Nelson.