MoOAETEE, EGBERT. 



MoCLUEE, ALEXANDER W. 537 



vacant churches to settle as their pastor. He 

 finally accepted that of the Old Scots Church, 

 in Spruce Street, Philadelphia. He entered 

 upon his labors there in the autumn of 1816, 

 but was not ordained and installed as pastor 

 till May, 1817. Soon after his settlement he 

 was married to Miss Jessie, eldest daughter of 

 the celebrated Divie Bethune. His labors in 

 connection with the Spruce Street Church were 

 abundant and very successful. The church, 

 which at his coming was weak in numbers was 

 greatly increased and strengthened, and the 

 congregation filled the house to overflowing. 

 The prejudices of the older members were, 

 however, very strong, and their adherence to 

 old habits and forms so strenuous, that the 

 young pastor found his position one of great 

 discomfort, and he resigned his charge on the 

 21st of April, 1821. He had expected to re- 

 move to Baltimore on leaving Philadelphia, 

 but receiving an urgent call from the Irish 

 Presbyterian Church, then worshipping in 

 Orange Street, New York, he accepted it, and 

 was installed as its pastor in 1822. The church 

 was at that time composed of only about thirty 

 members, mostly emigrants from Ireland, and 

 its house of worship was badly located, and in 

 every respect unattractive. By his strenuous 

 efforts and influence a valuable and pleasant 

 site was obtained in Canal Street, on favorable 

 terms, and a new edifice of ample dimensions 

 erected upon it. Here Mr. McCartee soon 

 gathered one of the largest congregations in 

 the city, and in a few years had a communing 

 membership numbering more than one thou- 

 sand names. From being the feeblest society 

 in New York, his church became one of the 

 strongest and most influential in the Presby- 

 terian denomination. To this church Dr. Mc- 

 Cartee (lie received the degree of D. D. from 

 Columbia College in 1831) sustained quite 

 other relations than those of the pastors of the 

 city generally. While laboring constantly and 

 indefatigably as preacher and pastor, he was 

 also the adviser, the legal counsellor, and in- 

 formally the magistrate of his congregation. 

 The troubles, difficulties, and anxieties of even 

 the humblest and most timid were freely un- 

 bosomed to him, and his counsel, sympathy, 

 and wise decision, most heartily bestowed. 

 The burden and responsibility of such a position 

 in a congregation so large, forbade his indul- 

 gence in the pursuits of scholarship, or his de- 

 votion of any considerable time to belles-let- 

 tres studies for which he had. a strong inclina- 

 tion, and eventually made such inroads upon 

 his remarkably vigorous constitution as to com- 

 pel him to seek, in 1836, a less laborious and 

 exciting sphere of labor. In that year he be- 

 came pastor of a small Presbyterian church at 

 Port Carbon, Schuylkill County, Penn., where, 

 in addition to other and more directly pastoral 

 labors, he gave great attention to the intellec- 

 tual improvement of the miners of that region, 

 and organized a Lyceum of Natural History 

 among them, to incite them to the study of 



the sciences bearing on their own pursuits. 

 In the spring of 1840, with renovated health, 

 he accepted a call from the Presbyterian Church 

 of Goshen, Orange County, N. Y., and again 

 assumed his appropriate position as a leader 

 and religious teacher. Here he had a long and 

 vigorous contest, at first almost single-handed, 

 against those whom he deemed as violating the 

 law of the Sabbath. At first many of his old 

 friends were alienated, but in the end he car- 

 ried his point, and they acknowledged the 

 justice and manliness of his course. In 1849 

 he removed to Newburgh, to become the pastor 

 of the Union Presbyterian Church, and while 

 residing there (in 1855) lost his excellent and 

 devoted wife. In 1856 he was recalled to 

 New York, to take charge of the Associate Re- 

 formed Church in Twenty-fifth Street, which 

 was to be united with the Westminster Church 

 in Twenty-second Street. This union was hap- 

 pily effected, the heavy debt which oppressed 

 the church removed by his earnest efforts, and 

 then,- though with a mind still vigorous and 

 active, but with his physical powers impaired 

 by disease, he retired from pastoral duties in 

 1862, and removed to Yonkers, where the brief 

 remainder of his days was passed. 



MoCLURE, ALEXANDER WILSOKT, D. D., a 

 clergyman of the Reformed Dutch Church, 

 and author, born in Boston, Mass., in 1808, 

 died at Canonsburg, Pa., September 20, 1865. 

 He studied in the Latin School of Boston, and 

 at the age of fifteen years entered Yale College. 

 After spending two years at New Haven, his 

 relations were transferred to Amherst College, 

 where he was graduated in 1827. During the 

 last term of his senior year, there was a pow- 

 erful revival of religion in college, of which he 

 was a very marked subject. From this time for- 

 ward he looked to the ministry with singleness 

 of purpose, never taking into consideration any 

 other pursuit in life. He immediately entered 

 upon his theological studies at the Andover 

 Theological Seminary, then conducted by Drs. 

 Porter, Woods, and Stuart, whom he ever held 

 in great honor. He graduated at Andover in 

 1830. After preaching at Maiden, Mass., two 

 years, he was ordained there in 1832. A pow- 

 erful revival of religion during these two years 

 saved that church from extinction. He contin- 

 ued pastor there eleven years, during which time 

 there were many conversions, adding greatly 

 to the strength of the church. After the dis- 

 solution of his pastoral relation to the Maiden 

 church, he became acting pastor of the Presby- 

 terian church in St. Augustine, Florida. At 

 that time there was a military post established 

 there, embracing two hundred or three hun- 

 dred soldiers, together with the general and 

 his staff. He labored with great assiduity 

 among the soldiers, as Avell as in a general way 

 in the cause of temperance, until the officer in 

 charge told him that the guard-house, which 

 had been generally crowded with occupants, 

 of late had little occasion to be used. He per- 

 severed in these labors with great benefit to 



