MACLEAN, JAMES MORRIS (1861-1950)

MACLEAN, JAMES MORRIS, Presbyterian minister, St John's Church, Chatham, 1899-1914, b. Strathlorne, Cape Breton, N.S., 1 Jun 1861, s/o John MacLean and Margaret MacDougall; m. 1891, Violet Elizabeth Robertson, of Port Hope, Ont.; d. Strathlorne, 19 Sep 1950.

J. Morris MacLean was descended from Roderick MacLean and his wife Ann MacIssac, who came to Cape Breton Island in 1810 from the Isle of Rhum, Scotland. He attended Pictou Academy and Dalhousie University (1881-83) and taught school before completing his higher education and theological training at Queen's University (BA 1887). He was ordained in Ontario in 1891 and ministered there until called to Chatham in 1899, as successor to the Rev. Neil McKay. In 1900 the cornerstone was laid for a large new St John's Church in Chatham, and the quite magnificent structure was dedicated on 6 July 1902. On 31 December 1905 Bethel Church was opened at Millbank. This was a mission church of the Miramichi Presbytery at which MacLean also preached.

MacLean remained at Chatham fifteen years, until health problems prompted him to resign in the spring of 1914. He moved to Nova Scotia with his wife and family and confined himself to church supply work, but he was soon feeling better and in 1915 accepted the charge at Mulgrave. He returned to Cape Breton in 1922 and to the place of his birth in 1925, as minister of the United Church of Strathlorne-East Lake Ainslie. He retired in 1937 and died in Strathlorne in 1950, at eighty-nine years of age. He and his wife, Violet E. Robertson, raised seven children, three of whom predeceased him.