Collection Guide
Collection Title:
Collection Number:
Get Items:
McKinnon and Ruble Families Papers
D-405
View entire collection guide
Search this collection
Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
University of California, Davis General Library, Dept. of Special Collections
Title: McKinnon and Ruble Families Papers,
Identifier/Call Number: D-405
Physical Description:
48.9 linear feet
Date (inclusive): 1859-2002 (1890-1984 bulk)
Date (bulk): 1890-1984
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.
Language of Material:
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.
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.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Reclamation of land -- California -- Sacramento County.
Reclamation of land -- California -- Solano County.
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.
Rio Vista (Calif.) -- History
Sacramento County (Calif.) -- History
Delta Region (Calif.) -- History
Panama Canal (Panama) -- History
Agriculture -- California -- Sacramento County -- History
Brannan Island (Calif.) -- History.
Catholic Church -- California -- History.
Agriculture -- California -- Solano County -- History
Solano County (Calif.) -- History
Sacramento River (Calif.) -- History
San Francisco (Calif.) -- History