By John A. Macfarlane, as reported at the Macfarlane Family Reunion October 21, 2005
Daniel Sinclair is reported by Wayland Macfarlane in his book Yours Sincerely, John M. Macfarlane, to have been short in stature and dark complexioned, and to have spoken with a thick Scottish brogue. When he was married, he gave his home as Weem Parish, as recorded in the Killin parish record. Weem Parish covers a scattered geography around Loch Tay, north and east of Killin. At some point Daniel became the caretaker of Doune Castle, a 400 year old (at that time) castle a few miles north of Stirling. He reported himself as a shepherd to the census taker in 1841. He and his wife Ann joined the LDS church in the early 1840s, and emigrated to America in 1843. They and their youngest daughter Ann settled in upstate New York, and then headed west with the Latter-day Saints in 1848. Wintering over in the area of Council Bluffs, Daniel caught a case of cholera, and died in May 1849, on the "Little Pigeon" river. I would love to meet Daniel Sinclair. I think of him as the patriarch of our family. We meet here as descendants of John or Daniel Macfarlane or their sister Ann Macfarlane Reid. But their grandfather, Daniel Sinclair, also made the same commitment they did to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and almost made it to the valley of the Great Salt Lake.