Theory of the origins of Charles McKinnis

So everyone gets to have some wild guesses. This is mine on the life of Charles McKinnis up until he left Braddock's army due to injuries, got married and had children. That part is well documented. The section in quotes is my theory. The last section seems to be based on facts.

"Charles was born in 1722 to his parents mhicAonghais. Charles was from the chiefly line of Grants from Andrew (Stewart) Grant but ended up orphaned.  This branch is actually a clan known as Clann Phadruig, Grants of Tullochgorm in the parish of Inverallan. Somewhere in the Grant tree, maybe Sir John Grant of Mulbern, a large family of Grants lost their father and mother. There could have been a name change for land or other reasons, but the fact there are several different names related to Grants leads me to believe it was an orphaned family. The children were picked up by several families in the area with various last names, Cameron, McNeil, Fraser, Ruddle, as these names show up in the DNA matches as being non-Grant surnames. This Sir John had 8 children and one illegitimate one, so maybe the illegitimate was picked up by an Angus family. The mac Aonghais family is from the Angus population of the area around Inverness where the Angus name is very common. There are also many McInnis in the area of Mortlach Township Banffshire which is just further east of this area.

The location of Bona bornia is actually the barony of Bona,to the north and west of the top of Loch Ness and outside the ancient town of Bona. These land areas were sectioned off and given to Barons of the area. The MacInnes, or actually Angus, family lived in this area. This theory is substantiated by the DNA matches to Grant's and the areas they said they were from, which is around Inverness. To the south is the barony of Urquhart and Urquhart Castle which is Grant land and a Grant Castle. So mhic Aonghais was the family's name that became MacInnes or McGinnis.

Electric Scotland has a large write up of the area of Bona. In it they describe 'the two Baronies of "Boniche," and of "Binochare":
'As far back as 1455, after the forfeiture of the Earl of Moray, there were inter a/ia the two Baronies of "Boniche," and of "Binochare" reserved to the Crown, and it is now almost impossible to define their limits further than this, that Dunain proper, between Dochgarroch and Kinmylies, which does not lie in Bona parish, is part of the old Barony of Banquhar. Probably Banquhar included all the Castle lands in the parishes of Inverness and Bona, as these were granted to the family of Huntly.'

Bonich Barony also sounds like Bona Bornia. There were many mergers and changes from 1455 to 1722 when Charles was born, but he could have been in an old region that did not change its name.

About 1744, or could be 1745-46, Cumerland's troupes were at Culloden. Culloden is only about 10-20 miles from Bona and other regions below related to the Grants. They impressed Charles into the military, and he joined Braddock's Coldstream unit, the 44th brigade. Charles was a large stout man, and because of this he was placed in the special forces group of Grenadiers. These are the men who go in first and throw grenades before the battle begins. The Grenadiers are also assigned as needed to the troups of the area, so harder to trace.

He then sailed from Cork, Ireland in Jan 1755 with the rest of Halkett's men. The manifest shows about 60 Grenadiers on the ship sailed Jan 1755. He ended up under Captain Thomas Gage in the special Grenadiers unit, the 48th Regiment. There were four units of Grenadiers, two senior and two junior, each with the 44th and 48th brigade. Stories have different number of Grendadiers who first went into the battle at DuQuesne, from about 100 to 300 men."

Charles probably knew George Washington but did not really mingle or talk to him. He did not know Daniel Boone who was also at Culloden as the local troupes were considered lower class.

He was seriously wounded, shot in the left side and thigh. But he did survive and was made Captain as part of his reward. He was also given land in Nova Scotia, but later traded it for land in Pennsylvania which became his farm.

He married Martha Butler Sept 27th of 1764, but they had no children. She died about 1770. Charles then married Rachel Carr in 1772, having their first child in 1773 at the age of 51.