John McKinnon and Jean Paterson and son

These fourth great grandparents  lived in Kilcalmonell, Mull Island, Argyllshire, Scotland when their son, our ancestor, was born:

1740 John McKinnon, our ancestor

KILCALMONELL and KILBERRY, a parish, in the county of Argyll, contains the village of Tarbert. The former of these two ancient parishes, now united, derives its name from the Gaelic term signifying "the burial-place of Malcolm O'Neill." The church of Kilcalmonell was built about the year 1763 and it seats 600 people.

The land was primarily used for potatoes and herring fishing.  The population in 1843 was about 1200. Tarbert was anciently part of the Gaelic overkingdom of Dál Riata and protected by three castles – in the village centre, at the head of the West Loch, and on the south side of the East Loch. The ruin of the last of these castles, Tarbert Castle, still exists and dominates Tarbert's skyline. 

Here is a photograph of Tarbert as it looks today:

Despite its distinction as a strategic stronghold during the Middle Ages, Tarbert's socioeconomic prosperity came during the Early Modern period, as the port developed into a fishing town. At its height, the Loch Fyne herring fishery attracted hundreds of vessels to Tarbert.

The parish records were not kept until the year 1780. 
Therefore, we need to depend on the above bit of history of Kilcalmonell [from FamilySearch.org] and Tarbert [from Wikipedia] to satisfy us for now.