REV. DR. JAMES DRUMMOND MACGREGOR, D.D.

James MacGregor was born on December I, I759, at Portmore, Perthshire, Scotland. He financed his own education by teaching in the summer and tutoring in the winter. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh with distinction in Arts and Theology and was licensed in I784, and ordained into the ministry on May 3|, I786. Young James thought it his duty to preach the gospel to his Gaelic-speaking fellow countrymen, and he accordingly studied Gaelic so that he became a master at it. While still a young man, he was employed to revise the Gaelic version ofthe Scriptures.

An appeal came from Nova Scotia for a Gaelic minister and he was appointed missionary to Nova Scotia and set sail on June 3, I786, on the brig "Lily" never to set foot in Scotland again. He landed in Halifax on July llth after a long sea voyage, during which, although he tried to conduct services was told by the sailors that "there is no Sabbath at sea." He proceeded from Halifax overland through rough terrain to Pictou via Truro, a very hard journey at the time. While passing through Truro he was present for the forming of the first Presbytery in Canada, the Associate Presbytery of Truro.

He found Pictou much less than he expected, not a town, but woods growing down to the water, and 'nowhere two houses together'. He wanted to return to Scotland, but for lack of funds, and he did not want to make the arduous trip overland to Halifax again.

He set about his work and made steady progress. He spent six weeks on Prince Edward Island with two in Cove Head, two weeks in St. Peters and two in Princetown (Malpeque). It is interesting to note, that in l79l, when MacGregor came to the Island, he came as a missionary. Our sense of the word, when we hear missionary, is to 'preach to the savages.’ While the Islanders were not savages, but rather recent immigrants from Scotland among‘ other places, longing for the Word, the conditions were far removed from what we know today. He found many ofthe islanders ignorant, and neglectful of religious duties. Some born on the Island had never heard a sermon although they were nineteen year old. Sermons were preached in gaelic and english.

There was only one road on the Island when he arrived,‘that being from Charlottetown (which he described as "wicked enough for a larger town") to Cove Head, and travel was extremely difficult. When he landed in Charlottetown, he hired a horse to travel to Cove Head to meet John Millar, the great-grandfather of Lemuel J. Millar, elder of Zion Church. At times it was better to travel on foot rather than by horseback, because of the numerous holes in the ground, fallen trees and unevenness of the ground. .

-l94-