• Source: James Drummond MacGregor

Rev. James Drummond MacGregor (Scottish Gaelic: an t-Urr. Seumas MacGriogar) (December 1759 – 3 March 1830) was an author of Christian poetry in both Scottish and Canadian Gaelic, an abolitionist and Presbyterian minister in Nova Scotia, Canada.




Life and career


MacGregor was a prolific author of Gaelic poetry, reflecting a wealth of inherited oral tradition, particularly relating to Clan MacGregor of Perthshire.: 263–267 
Upon his arrival in 1786, Rev. MacGregor was the first Gaelic-speaking Presbyterian minister in Nova Scotia, which was then experiencing a high rate of immigration from the Scottish Highlands and Islands.: 322–333, 521 
Influenced by the Scottish Enlightenment, MacGregor published Letter to a Clergyman Urging him to set free a Black Girl he held in Slavery in Halifax, Nova Scotia (1788). According to historian Barry Cahill, this document "is the earliest and most outstanding production of white antislavery literature in Canada." Historian Alan Wilson describes the document as "a landmark on the road to personal freedom in province and country." Finally, historian Robin Winks writes it is "the sharpest attack to come from a Canadian pen even into the 1840s; he had also brought about a public debate which soon reached the courts."
In the essay, MacGregor writes, "But if they be members of the body of Christ, does not he account them precious as himself? Are they not one spirit with the Lord, of his flesh and his bones?" He also purchased slaves' freedom.
In the port of Pictou, Nova Scotia, Rev. MacGregor was known to be quite aggressive in his efforts to convert fellow Gaels from Roman Catholicism to Presbyterianism. That is why, in 1791, Fr. Angus Bernard MacEachern travelled from Prince Edward Island and urged the first large group of Catholic immigrants from the Scottish Gaeldom to leave Pictou and settle among their co-religionists in Antigonish County and on Cape Breton Island.
In 1819, Rev. MacGregor published a book of Christian poetry in Canadian Gaelic,: 322–333, 521  but as there was no Gaelic printing press in Atlantic Canada, the poetry collection had to be published in Glasgow.
According to literary scholar Effie Rankin, "As would be expected, his works were mostly of a religious nature, including translations of Psalms and also some original hymns which appeared in print in 1819. A well-educated cleric would presumably have had sufficient means and connections to achieve publication, but an individual anthology was not an option for most poets of the time."
MacGregor was also supporter of education reform in Nova Scotia, and was mentor and compatriot of radical education reformer, Dr. Thomas McCulloch, founder of the ecumenical Pictou Academy and first principal of Dalhousie University.
Rev. MacGregor died in Pictou, Nova Scotia, at age 71.




Further reading


History of the mission of the Secession Church to Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island from its commencement in 1765 by Robertson, James, 1847
Letter from MacGregor. 1793
Seanchaidh na Coille/Memory-Keeper of the Forest. Anthology of Scottish-Gaelic Literature of Canada in original Gaelic with English translation, with historical and literary commentary. (in Scottish Gaelic) (in English)
James MacGregor. A few remains of the rev. James MacGregor, ed. by G. Patterson. 1859
James MacGregor "Clergyman Urging him to set free a Black Girl he held in Slavery" in James MacGregor. A few remains of the rev. James MacGregor, ed. by G. Patterson. 1859
Memoir of Rev James MacGregor
Alan Wilson. Highland Shepherd: James MacGregor, Father of the Scottish Enlightenment in Nova Scotia. University of Toronto Press, 2015.
Alan Wilson. The Reverend James MacGregor, Highland Shepherd. Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society. 2014.




See also



Decline of Slavery in Nova Scotia
History of Nova Scotia
Slavery in Canada
Canadian Gaelic




References

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