The MacKinnons, one of the branches of the Siol Alpine, claim to be descended from Fingon, a great-grandson of Kenneth MacAlpine. The MacKinnons held lands in Mull and Skye, and from the earliest times appear to have been vassals of the Lord of the Isles, and in 1409 Lachlan MacKinnon witnessed a charter of the Lord of the Isles. Until the forfeiture of the Lordship of the Isles, the history of the MacKinnons is bound up with that important family.

The MacKinnons were intimately connected between the ecclesiastical history of Iona, and the Abbot of that holy island was John MacKinnon, who died in 1550.

Interesting evidence of the connection between the branches of Siol Alpine, who although widley separated, claimed a common ancestry, is to be found in a bond of friendship in 1606 between MacKinnon of Strathardle and Finlay MacNab of Bowaine, and again a bond of manrent in 1671 between MacKinnon of Strathardle and James MacGregor of MacGregor.

Ewen, chief of the clan, received from James V. a charter of the lands of Mishnish and Strathardle in 1542. The clan was at Battle of Inerlochy under Montrose. In 1646 Lauchlan, chief, and the clan, supported Charles II. At the Battle of Worcester. His second son, Donald, emigrated to Antigua where he died in 1720.

The Mackinnons were out in 1715 and again in 1745 in support of the Stuarts. After Culloden the chief although old and infirm was imprisoned in London but was allowed to return home in 1747. His son Charles had to part with the family estates after they had been in the clans possession for over four centuries. In 1808 the last chief of the main line died, and the chiefship passed to the family of Donald who emigrated to Antigua.

Crest: A boar’s head erased, holding in its mouth the shank bone of a deer, proper. Badge: Pine. War Cry: Cuimhnich Bas Ailpein ( Remember the death of Alpine).