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Scottish
American Ministers
Francis
Makemie (c. 1658-1708), the organizer of the first American
Presbytery, was born in Ulster of Scots parentage. In 1676 he
went to Glasgow to attend the classes in the University there,
and his name still stands in the matriculation register of the
University: "Franciscus Makemius ... Scoto-Hibernus,"
i.e. Francis Makemie, a Scot of Ireland. In 1683 he was ordained
by the Presbytery of Laggan and sent over to the American colonies,
where he immediately began the organization of churches and
presbyteries. William Traill, another Scot, Moderator of the
Presbytery of Laggan, was sent over shortly before Makemie but
he confined his work to preaching. George Gillespie (1683-1760),
born in Glasgow, was one of the earliest ordained ministers
in New Jersey and Delaware. Alexander Garden (1685-1756), an
Episcopalian, born in Edinburgh, settled in Charleston, South
Carolina, as Rector of St. Philip's Episcopal Church. Samuel
Auchmuty (1722-77), son of the eminent Scottish lawyer of Boston,
was Rector of Trinity Church, New York city, and had charge
of all the churches there. Thomas Gordon, the "fighting
parson" of Bacon's Rebellion (1676) was a Scot. Henry Barclay
(1712-64), Rector of Trinity Church, New York, Trustee of the
New York Society Library, and a Governor of Columbia University,
was the son of John Barclay, a Scot, Surveyor General of East
New Jersey. Robert Sandeman (1718-71), born in Perth, and died
in Danbury, Connecticut, was principal founder of the Sandemanians
or Glassites. John Mason, a native of Linlithgow, "one
of the most accomplished preachers and pastors of his day,"
was appointed Minister of the Scotch Presbyterian Church, New
York, in 1761. James Caldwell (1734-81), soldier parson of the
Revolution, was of Scots parentage or descent. Finding the Revolutionary
soldiers short of wadding he distributed the church hymn books
among them, with the exhortation, "Now, boys, put Watts
into them." His son, John E. Caldwell, was one of the founders
of the American Bible Society. Alexander McWhorter (1734-1807),
of Scottish parentage, took an active part in Revolutionary
matters and was a Trustee of Princeton College. McWhorter Street
in Newark, New Jersey, is named in his honor. James Waddell
(1739-1805), famous in Virginia as "The Blind Preacher,"
was probably a grandson or great-grandson of William Waddell
of Monkland parish, Scotland, one of the prisoners captured
at Bothwell Brig in 1679. Samuel McClintock (1732-1804), minister
of Greenland, New Hampshire, of Scottish origin, was present
at Bunker Hill and appears in Trumbull's painting of the battle.
Four of his sons served in the Revolutionary war. Alexander
McLeod (1774-1833), born in the island of Mull, died in New
York as Pastor of the First Reformed Church. Described as "a
powerful preacher, a man of learning and wisdom, and a devout
Christian." George Buist (1770-1808), born in Fifeshire,
Scotland, educated in Edinburgh, "one of the most eloquent
and distinguished divines of his day," was Pastor of the
Scots Church in Charleston and President of the College of Charleston.
Alexander Campbell (1786-1866), founder of the Campbellites,
was born in Antrim of Scots ancestry. Walter Scott, another
of the founders, was born in Moffat, Dumfriesshire. John Dempster
(1794-1843), founder of Boston Theological Seminary, which afterwards
became the Theological School of Boston University, was of Scots
parentage. Peter Douglas Gorrie (1813-84), clergyman, and historian
of the Methodist Church in the United States, was born in Glasgow.
John McClintock (1814-70), of Drew Theological Seminary and
leading editor of McClintock and Strong's "Cyclopædia
of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature,"
was of Scottish descent. Robert Stuart MacArthur, born in Canada,
in 1841, of Scots parentage, Minister of Calvary Baptist Church,
New York, has published many volumes of sermons, essays, and
narratives of travel. Robert Mackenzie (b. 1845), President
of San Francisco Theological Seminary, was born in Cromarty.
Robert McIntyre (b. 1851), Methodist Episcopal Bishop of California,
was born in Selkirk. Joseph Plumb Cochran, Medical Missionary
to Persia, the "Hakim Sahib" of the natives, was grandson
of a Scot. John Alexander Dowie (1848-1907), founder of the
so-called "Christian Catholic Apostolic Church in Zion,"
was born in Edinburgh. Mary M. Baker Glover Eddy (1821-1910),
claimed partly Scots descent (from MacNeils of Barra).
Charles
Pettigrew (1743-1807), Bishop of the Diocese of North Carolina,
was of Scottish descent. James Kemp (1764-1827), second Bishop
of Maryland, was born at Keithhall in Aberdeenshire. Charles
Pettit McIlvaine (1799-1873), Bishop of Ohio (1832-73), author
of "Evidences of Christianity," 1832, was also of
Scottish origin, from the MacIlvaines of Ayrshire. William Edward
McLaren (1831-1905), third Bishop of Chicago, was grandson of
a Scot. The first missionary Bishop of Duluth, James Dow Morrison
(b. 1844), was son of Rev. John Morrison and his wife who emigrated
from Glasgow in 1837. Abram Newkirk Littlejohn (1824-91), first
Bishop of Long Island, was a descendant of Hugh Littlejohn of
Perthshire. James Steptoe Johnston (b. 1843), second Bishop
of western Texas, was of Scottish descent; and Hugh Miller Thompson
(1830-1902), second Bishop of Mississippi, was an Ulster Scot,
born in Londonderry.
Richard
Gilmour (1824-91), second Roman Catholic Bishop of the Diocese
of Cleveland (1872-91), born in Glasgow, Scotland, of Presbyterian
parents, was noted for his zeal in behalf of Catholic education.
Robert Seton (b. 1839), a descendent of the Setons of Winton,
was created Archbishop of Heliopolis in 1903. Elizabeth Ann
Bayley Seton (1774-1821), of the same family, was founder of
the Roman Catholic Order of Sisters of Charity (1809), of which
she was the first Mother Superior.
John McLean
(1759-1823), merchant and philanthropist, was founder of McLean
Asylum for Insane at Somerville, Massachusetts. Robert Rantoul
(1778-1848), of Scottish parentage, worked hard to ameliorate
the criminal legislation of the country, and took part in establishing
a charity school at Beverly, Massachusetts, which was said to
be the first Sunday School in America. Mrs. Graham, a Scotswoman,
celebrated in New York city for her benevolence and charity,
founded a Sunday School in New York for young women in 1792.
The movement however languished for some years until her daughter,
Mrs. Bethune, also born in Scotland, organized the Female Sabbath
School Union of New York in 1816. By her work in this connection
Mrs. Bethune earned her title of "Mother of Sabbath Schools
in America." Fanny Wright (1795-1852), Madame Frances D'Arusmont,
born in Dundee, Scotland, lectured extensively in the United
States on social, religious, and political questions, and was
the author of "Views on Society and Manners in America,"
etc. Robert Dale Owen (1801-77), born in Glasgow, social reformer,
spiritualist, author, and Member of Congress from Indiana (1843-47),
was a strong advocate of negro emancipation. James Miller McKim
(1810-1874), of Ulster Scot descent, was one of the organizers
of the National Anti-Slavery Society (1835), later publishing
agent of the Pennsylvania Anti-Slavery Society, and in 1865
one of the founders of the New York "Nation." Albert
Brisbane (1809-90), of Scottish and English descent, was the
"Father of American Fourierism." Albert Keith Smiley
(1828-1912), educator and reformer, was born in Maine of Scottish
ancestry; and Thomas Kirby Cree, of Ulster Scot origin, was
Secretary for twenty-five years of the International Committee
of the Young Mens' Christian Association. John MacVicar born
in Canada in 1859 of Scottish parents, was one of the originators
of the Commission form of government, developing what became
known as the "Des Moines Plan." James Duncan, born
in Kincardine in 1857, is the well-known Labor Leader.
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