The fourth boy of the McKell family, David Alexander McKell, was born March 8, 1870; he was likely named David after some of his forebears but he himself wondered where the "Alexander" came from. Most everyone knew him as Dave. He and his baby sister, Lucy May, were the last to leave the family home but he built a home on the East half of his father's lot and stayed nearby to assist in looking after his aging parents during their declining years.

As a youth Dave helped his father in the blacksmith shop and proved to be an apt pupil at the trade. He tells of once doing almost the impossible to even a seasoned smithy; his father had a prize drawknife, which Dave accidentally broke, much to his father's unhappiness because, he said, it couldn't be fixed. Dave, however, hurried his dinner that day and went back to the shop alone and re-welded the knife even though his father had said it couldn't be done. The knife is still in the family; it has been in use ever since and one must look closely to see where it was broken and rejoined by the young blacksmith.

When nine years old, Dave used to take the family cows and horses up to the green hills at the foot of the mountains to graze; he also helped on the farm but as a youth he worked on the railroad into Carbon County. He hauled rock for the culverts when the railroad was built from Thistle to Sevier County and also brought in the first load of foundation rock for the Fourth Ward meetinghouse when it was built.

As a young man, Dave seemed to busy on the farm or away from home at railroading to take much interest in the young ladies but when Sarah Ann Wood came up from Holden to visit her friend Lizzie Monk, Dave had only to look over the fence to see that she was the girl for him. Visits from then on were brief but serious enough after Sarah Ann returned home for Dave to ride the 85 miles several times on horseback to see her. One time he and Dan Gull left after a dance at the old City Pavilion; they got there at about 8 o'clock the next evening but stayed long enough to rest up and visited for several days. When they decided to get married, it was a double wedding for them and for Lucy May and J. Clayton Beck on January 18, 1899. The four of them went to Mapleton by horse and buggy to catch the train for Manti where they were married for time and all eternity in the Temple of the Lord.

They had a rather cold honeymoon; they left Spanish fork on January 22, 1899 for Holden, to get the young bride's clothes, bedding and belongings. They stayed in Holden a few days but most of the time was spent on the road in deep snow. Those were the days before snowplows came into common use and the snow was so deep on the Scipio Divide that Dave had to unhitch old Buck and Grover and break trail for them to get the wagon through.

Dave already had the house built for his bride and there they raised a family of three boys, Gerald David, Clifford Earl and Charles Robert. A baby daughter came later but failed to survive.

Compliled from The History and Posterity of Robert and Elizabeth Boyack McKell (McKail), 1954, pages 75-77