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INVENTORY OF THE MCKINNON AND RUBLE FAMILIES PAPERS
D-405
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Table of contents
Creator:
McKinnon Family
Ruble Family
Title: McKinnon and Ruble Families Papers,
Date: 1859-2002
Date (bulk): (1890-1984 bulk)
Extent:
48.9 linear feet
Abstract: The McKinnon and Ruble Families Papers include records of a
physician and rancher in the California Delta region during the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. The papers focus on the life and career of Aloysius John
McKinnon, M.D. (1870-1933), upon the Ruble family of his wife Mary Elizabeth
"Lizzie" Ruble McKinnon (1875-1916), and upon the lives of their children as related
to their Rio Vista, California family home and ranch near the Sacramento River. The
bulk of the material spans the years 1890 to 1984 and includes correspondence,
photographs, ranch records, medical practice records, medical equipment, and a
family library.
Physical Location: Researchers should contact Special Collections to
request collections, as many are stored offsite.
Repository:
University of California, Davis. General Library.
Department of Special Collections.
100 North West Quad
Davis, California 95616-5292
Collection number: D-405
Language of Material: Collection materials in English
Aloysius John McKinnon (1870-1933) was born in San Francisco to Daniel A. and
Catherine MacDonald McKinnon. Aloysius had three older siblings: Louise (Sister Mary
Emerentiana), Augustine (Brother V. Leo), and William Bernard. Circa 1890, Aloysius
joined his family's well-established San Francisco lumber and shipping business,
MacDonald and McKinnon. In 1900, while studying medicine at the University of
California, Medical Department in San Francisco, Aloysius married Mary Elizabeth
"Lizzie" Ruble (1875-1916). The couple had been introduced by Aloysius' cousins, St.
Joseph's parish priests at the Delta farming community of Rio Vista, California,
where the Ruble family resided. Aloysius received his medical degree in 1903 from
the University of California. He and Lizzie maintained an apartment on Sanchez
Street in the Mission District of San Francisco unti 1904 when they permanently
relocated to Rio Vista. Dr. McKinnon practiced medicine from his Front Street office
and later from an office in his Rio Vista home.
At the time of her marriage Lizzie was the oldest of three surviving heirs to the
estate of her twice-widowed father Lewis Cass Ruble (1848-1899). Lewis Cass had
settled in Rio Vista circa 1870 and married Ellen Doyle (1848-1880) in 1874. They
had four children: Mary Elizabeth, William Benjamin (1877-1917), Lewis (1879-1885),
and Nellie (1880-1881). Ellen died in 1880 a week after Nellie was born. In 1883,
Lewis Cass married Ellen's sister, Elizabeth Doyle (1854-1893). They had one
daughter Mabel Josephine (1885-1959). Lizzie and Mabel both attended St. Gertrude's
Academy in Rio Vista, and William attended Santa Clara College.
Lewis Cass Ruble's landholdings became the basis for the Ruble-McKinnon Ranch, which
was located on the eastern bank of the Sacramento River and across the river from
the town of Rio Vista. The Ruble-McKinnon Ranch produced alfalfa, asparagus,
potatoes, and other crops but was especially known for its pears. After Lewis'
death, his son William maintained the ranch, but circa 1905 upon William's
incapacity, Aloysius McKinnon took over management of the ranch for his Wife,
Lizzie, and her half-sister, Mabel. In addition to practicing medicine and managing
the ranch, Aloysius was active in local organizations including being a founder and
officer of the Brannan Island Reclamation District board. He held part ownership of
a sailing vessel, the schooner
Melrose, and in McKinnon family
property located in San Francisco. Mabel Ruble resided as a boarder in the Rio Vista
home of her half-sister and brother-in-law starting in 1904. Following Lizzie's
death from asthma in 1916, Mabel assumed responsibility for the care and upbringing
of the McKinnon children.
Aloysius and Lizzie McKinnon had six children: Lewis Ruble (1901-1956), Louise
Isabelle (1903-1991), Ralph A. (1906-1913), Malcolm Bernard (1910-1982), Donald
Aloysius (1913-1978), and Kenneth Leo (1915-2003).
Lewis Ruble McKinnon studied agriculture at the University Farm School (now the
University of California, Davis) in the early 1920s. In 1934, he married Ruth Church
(1906-1985), and they had two children, Mar Jel Ruth (b. 1935) and Alan John (b.
1939). Lewis pursued tobacco planting and production in Haiti for the French firm,
Service Technique. He later held sales and management positions in California.
Louise Isabelle McKinnon Craven studied nursing at the University of California,
Medical Department in San Francisco. She worked as a nurse at the Univesity of
California and as a private nurse. In 1934, she married Isaac "Ike" Craven who
managed large-scale agriculture enterprises in the Rio Vista area. They had one
daughter, Patricia Craven Sheehan (b. 1936).
Ralph A. McKinnon died at age seven from a ruptured appendix while his physician and
surgeon father was in Panama.
Malcolm Bernard McKinnon graduated from Saint Mary's College of California in 1931
before sailing to New York to attend medical school at Columbia University. In 1933
when his father passed away, he returned from medical school to the family home in
Rio Vista and managed the Ruble-McKinnon Ranch until its sale in 1980. Like his
father, Malcolm maintained meticulous ranch records. In 1937, Malcolm married Irma
H. Anderson (1909-2000). They had four children: Richard Leo (b. 1937), Barbara Ann
(b. 1938), Ralph William (b. 1945), and Mary Louise (b. 1947).
Donald Aloysius McKinnon served with the United States Navy as a physician during the
Second World War, including during Pacific campaigns. In 1942, he married Eleanor
Rodgerson, also a physician. They resided in Sacramento, California and had four
children: John Robert (b. 1943), Donald Chisholm (b. 1944), Eleanor Jane (b. 1947),
and William Rodgerson (b. 1948).
Kenneth Leo McKinnon served as a dentist with the U.S. Army and was stationed in
Germany. He established a dental practice in San Rafael, California. In 1940 he
married Mary Story Kilgore (1917-1993), and they had four children: Elizabeth Anne
(b. 1944), John Alson (b. 1946), Susan Mary (b. 1949), and Sara Helen (b. 1955).
With the 1980 sale of the Ruble-McKinnon Ranch, the property passed from family hands
after nearly one hundred years of continuous family ownership.
Sources:
MacDonald, Wilfred.
Melrose Mac Kinnon's: 1772 to 1977. 1977.
McKinnon, Sara Helen.
Ruble Family History. 1989.
Walsh, James P.
McKinnon-Ruble Collection Catalog. 2004.
Scope and Content of Collection
The McKinnon and Ruble Families Papers (48.9 linear feet) include records of a
physician and rancher in the California Delta region during the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries. The papers focus on the life and career of Aloysius John
McKinnon, M.D. (1870-1933), on the Ruble family of his wife Mary Elizabeth "Lizzie"
Ruble McKinnon (1875-1916), and on the lives of their children as related to the
family home and ranch in and near Rio Vista, California and the Sacramento River.
The papers contain biographical information, correspondence, legal and financial
documents, family member's class notes and assignments, ephemera and realia, maps,
photographs, and a family library. Aloysius John McKinnon and his son, Malcolm
Bernard, kept detailed accounts of ranch and household expenses. There are also some
records of Dr. McKinnon's medical practice here along with medical equipment and
supplies. The bulk of the papers spans the years 1890 to 1984.
Significant local history information is found in the collection including records of
the Brannan Island Reclamation District and items related to the history of the
University of California, Saint Gertrude's Academy, and Saint Mary's College.
Subjects of many of the photographs include McKinnon and Ruble family members, Rio
Vista, the Ruble-McKinnon Ranch, the Sacramento River, and San Francisco. The bulk
of the photographs dates from the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, so
a wide variety of historical photographic processes are represented.
The Papers are arranged into eleven series: 1. Biographical Information, 2.
Correspondence, 3. Legal Documents, 4. Financial Documents, 5. Brannan Island
Reclamation District Records, 6. Writings, 7. Ephemera, 8. Maps, 9. Photographic
Materials, 10. Realia, 11. Library.
The following collections at Special Collections relate to the McKinnon and Ruble
Families Papers because they have to do with the history of the California Delta region:
D-044, Liberty Farms Company Archives: The Liberty Farms Co., founded in 1919,
reclaimed 5,000 acres of swamp and overflow land in the Sacramento Delta. The
property, located eight miles north of Rio Vista and named Liberty Island by Robert
Malcolm, was farmed by tenants on a share basis. They produced potatoes, asparagus,
zucchini, onions, peas, tomatoes, and other row crops.
D-118, Holland Land Company Records: The Holland Land Co. was incorporated in 1916 to
acquire, reclaim, develop, and sell Delta marshland in Solano and Yolo Counties,
California. Operations headquarters were in Clarksburg, in Reclamation District 999.
Land holdings in the 1920s exceeded 50,000 acres.
D-394, Colby E. "Babe" Slater Collection: Babe Slater (1896-1965) graduated from the
University Farm School (now the University of California, Davis) in 1917 and served
as a medic in France and Belgium during the First World War. He won Olympic gold
medals for rugby in 1920 and 1924 and then bought land in the Sacramento Delta in
Clarksburg, California, where he farmed until his retirement in 1955.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
McKinnon family--Archives.
Ruble family--Archives.
Craven, Louise Isabelle, 1903-1991.
McKinnon, Aloysius John, 1870-1933.
McKinnon, Donald Aloysius, 1913-1978.
McKinnon, Kenneth Leo, 1915-2003.
McKinnon, Lewis Ruble, 1901-1956.
McKinnon, Malcolm Bernard, 1910-1982.
McKinnon, Mary Elizabeth, 1875-1916.
Brannan Island Reclamation District (Calif.)--History.
St. Gertrude's Academy (Rio Vista, Calif.)--History.
St. Joseph's Church (Rio Vista, Calif.)--History.
St. Mary's College of California--History.
University of California, Davis--History.
University of California, San Francisco. School
of Medicine--History.
Agriculture--California--Sacramento County--History.
Agriculture--California--Solano County--History.
Catholic Church--California--History.
Floods--California--Sacramento River.
Medicine--California--Sacramento County--History.
Medicine--California--Solano County--History.
Panama-Pacific International Exposition
(1915 : San Francisco, Calif.).
Pear Industry--California--Sacramento County--History.
Pear Industry--California--Solano County--History.
Physicians--California--Sacramento County.
Physicians--California--Solano County.
Reclamation of Land--California--Sacramento County.
Reclamation of Land--California--Solano County.
Brannan Island (Calif.)--History.
Delta Region (Calif.)--History.
Panama Canal (Panama)--History.
Rio Vista (Calif.)--History.
Sacramento County (Calif.)--History.
Sacramento River (Calif.)--History.
San Francisco (Calif.)--History.
Solano County (Calif.)--History.
Collection is open for research under regular reading room rules and copyright
restrictions. Researchers should contact Special Collections to request collections,
as many are stored offsite.
The McKinnon family donated this collection to the library in 2004.
Special Collections intern, Anne Rapaport, and Manuscript and Photograph Curator,
Melissa Tyler, arranged this collection and created its finding aid. Tyler encoded
the online finding aid with help from Rapaport and Library Assistant, Jenny Hodge.
Collections Manager Sara Gunasekara did preliminary work on the collection. A
detailed guide written by family member and history professor, James P. Walsh,
Ph.D., was useful to the staff as they developed this finding aid.
[Identification of item], McKinnon and Ruble Families Papers, D-405, Department of
Special Collections, General Library, University of California, Davis.
Copyright is protected by the copyright law, chapter 17, of the U.S. Code. All
requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in
writing to the Head of Special Collections. Permission for publication is given on
behalf of the Department of Special Collections, University of California, Library,
Davis as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply
permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the researcher.