Rev. MacGregor travelled the whole of the Maritimes, rarely stopping too long in one place in his attempt to minister to his large "parish." So busy was he that when he decided to get married, he had no time for courting, so the first time he met his bride was at the wedding, and off he set again. He was married twice; to Ann MacKay in I796, daughter of Roderick MacKay, and after her death in l8l0 to Janet Gordon, widow of Rev. Peter Gordon (Peter born Scotland I776, moved to Nova Scotia I806, ordained and inducted Covehead, St. Peter's Bay and Souris October I807, died of tuberculosis). On Peters death Dr. MacGregor built a small house for Mrs Gordon and her children on a corner of his land. James first wife died on November 6, l8l0, after giving birth to her fourth son and seventh child, and he married Janet in January I912. l-lis honeymoon was a preaching sojourn. One son was Peter Gordon MacGregor, an ordained minister from I84 l-l886.

in his first year in Pictou, although a poor man materially, he bought a negro slave girl from a settler for 50 pounds, to set her free. He persuaded or bought to freedom others.

On July 3, l8l7, the Presbyteries of Truro, Pictou and Halifax formed the Presbyterian Church of Nova Scotia, of which Rev. James MacGregor was chosen as the first Moderator. The first overseas branches of the British and Foreign Bible Society, Temperance and Agricultural Societies, Home Missions - James MacGregor was a founding father of them all. He translated large portion of the bible into Gaelic. He wrote Gaelic hymns, and poetry. ‘He was versed in Hebrew and Greek and had mastered Welsh. His scholarship and accomplishments as a missionary were recognized with the granting of the degree of Doctor of Divinity from Glasgow University in I822. Dr. MacGregor died on March 3, l830. He is buried in the "Old Cemetery" in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

In the hundred or so years since his death in 1830 to I936 it was recorded his offspring included: one who was a senator and Lieutenant Governor, an MP. and four M. P. P.'s, ten elders of the church, four clergymen, a county court judge and judge ofthe international court as well as a dean of law, eight barristers, two physicians, eight engineers, a mayor, twelve educationists, eight nurses, an artist, five authors, etc., etc. One great grandson was Rev. George Millar, B. A. minister in Brookfield in I893 and later Alberton.

An extensive history of Dr. MacGregor was written in I859 by his grandson, the Rev. Dr. George Patterson,D.D. of Green llill, Pictou County Nova Scotia, a son of Dr. MacGregors daughter by his first marriage.

Record of Dr. MacGregor is included in this work because he was the first Presbyterian minister to visit Prince Edward Island and he set the stage for what was to come. It was a chore to condense the great man‘s

life to so short an outline.

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