Andrew McIver was born in Cullicuden, Rosshire, Scotland (this may be Invernessshire). When he was 20 (in 1880, he immigrated to Farewell Minnesota where he worked as a laborer. Andrew had a brother named John who lived in Farewell, and a sister named Jane Dingwall, in Scotland.

He then spent 5 years in Butte Montana working in the mines. He then returnned to Farewell where he took up farming. In 1898 he married Johanna Christina Bjurlin. In 1904 he came to Canada where he purchased a farm land in the Aisne District south of Kamsack. In 1908 he moved his family to the homestead.