Below are the names of the clergymen born in Pictou Town with place of birth and brief reference to those who are dead, and the present addresses of those who are still living. A few of the ministers mentioned in this chapter were not born in the county, but came into it when quite young, and were brought up and educated in it. The ministers belonging to denominations other than Presbyterian are so indicated.
Robert S. Patterson, M.A., Pictou; Died in 1882. He was minister of the congregation at Bedeque, P. E. I., fifty-six years and six months. This is, perhaps, the longest unbroken pastorate in one congregation in the history of the Canadian Church.
John L. Murdoch, M.A., Pictou; Died in 1873.
John Geddie, D.D., Pictou; Died in 1872. The founder of the New Hebrides Mission.
William McCulloch, D.D., Pictou; Died in 1895. He was minister of the oldest regularly organized Presbyterian Church in Canada for over fifty years. He was ordained at Truro, Feb. 14, 1839, and his whole life was spent in this one congregation. He was a man of eminence as a pastor, a presbyter and educator. He was a son of Dr. McCulloch of Pictou Academy.
Daniel M. Gordon, D.D., LL.D., Pictou; Kingston, Ont.
D. M. Stearns, D.D., Pictou; Germantown, Pa. Born in 1844; educated in Pictou Academy; teacher for a number of years in the Maritime Provinces; ordained in Boston, 1880. From 1886 to the present time he has been in the Reformed Episcopal Church. In 1892 he went to his present charge, where he is still pastor. He is a noted Bible Class teacher, and conducts Bible Classes weekly in New York, Philadelphia, Washington, etc. His church and Bible Classes help to support over a dozen missionaries in the foreign field.
Isaac M. Patterson, Pictou; Died in 1892. He was Pastor in Annapolis, Maryland, Milford, N. J., and Bloomsburg, Penn.
James Patterson, Pictou; Deceased. He was a son of Matthew Patterson and a minister in the Canadian Northwest. He was formerly a bookseller in Pictou.
Francis A. Ross, Pictou; New Glasgow, N. S. He spent twenty-two years in pastorates in the West Indies. He also served as Chaplain in the Boer War. Retired.
J. R. Dobson, B.D., Pictou; Montreal, P. Q. Pastor of St. Giles Church, one of the leading churches in Montreal.
James C. Herdman, D.D., Pictou; Died in 1910. Mr. Herdman was a child of the Kirk Manse, born in 1856. He was ordained at Campbellton, N. B., in 1877. In 1885 he went west and took charge of Knox Church, Calgary, until 1902, when he was appointed Superintendent of Missions for British Columbia and Alberta.
William C. Herdman, M.A., Pictou; Halifax, N. S.
A. W. K. Herdman, B.A., Pictou; Calgary, Alta. Sons of Rev. Andrew Herdman, late of St. Andrew’s Church, Pictou.
Peter M. MacDonald, M.A., Pictou; Toronto, Ont.
Daniel J. Morrison, Pictou; Deceased. Graduated from Theological Seminary, Auburn, N. Y., and settled in New York State where he died.
Donald Fraser, B.A., Pictou; St. Peters, C. B.
John W. Lowden, Pictou; Newark, Del.
Donald A. MacKenzie, Pictou; Tillamook, Ore.
Fenwick W. Fraser, Pictou; Massillon, Ohio.
Charles Tupperbaillie, Ph.D., Pictou; Trinidad, B.W.I. Pastor Susamacher Church, San Fernando, and assistant Professor in the Theological Hall.
A. H. Foster, B.D., Pictou Landing; Durham, West River.
D. R. MacLean, B.A., Pictou Island; Hazelton, B. C.
Charles Elliot MacKenzie, Pictou; Galliopolis, Ohio. Mr. Mackenzie is a son of the late George A. Mackenzie, Pictou. He entered the ministry of the Church of England from Kings College, about thirty years ago, and after successful work in the Maritime Provinces, went to Ohio where he was appointed Archdeacon of the Diocese of Southern Ohio, U. S. A. He is a brother of President Mackenzie of Dalhousie University.
Lewis M. Wilkins, Pictou; Deceased. Son of Hon. Martin I. Wilkins, and pastor of the Episcopal churches in Stellarton and Pictou.
Frank Beattie, Pictou; Deceased. Mr. Beattie was born in 1834, and died at Wolfville, N. S., 1912, aged seventy-seven years. His first public work was as a temperance lecturer and organizer. In 1870 he was ordained, and gave nearly forty years to the work of the Baptist ministry.
Robert Mcewen, Pictou; Antigonish, N. S. Roman Catholic Church.
Richard Power, Pictou; Ontario, Can. Roman Catholic Church.
William E. Purcell, Pictou. Father Purcell was born in Pictou in 1874. He attended the public schools of Pictou and Pictou Academy. In 1889, he entered St. F. X. College and in 1893, he began his philosophical course at the Grand Seminary at Montreal, where he also took a course in theology. He taught for a time at St. Anne’s college, Digby County, as professor of English. He was ordained a priest in 1898 and was curate at Chatham and Bathurst, N. B., and parish priest at Jacquet River before going west. He died in Montana, Aug. 23, 1912.