MACBEAN, JOHN (1811-1897)

MACBEAN, JOHN, Presbyterian minister, Tabusintac and Burnt Church, 1841-44, and St Andrew's Church, Chatham, 1844-48; b. Nairn, Scotland, 1 Apr 1811, s/o John Macbean; m. Elizabeth Hilder, of London, England; d. North Adelaide, Australia, 13 Aug 1897.

John Macbean was a graduate of King's College, Aberdeen (MA 1832), and an accomplished classical scholar who worked for some years as a private tutor and schoolmaster in Scotland and England. His first charge was at Tabusintac, where the pulpit had been vacant for two years prior to his induction in October 1841. He labored there and at Burnt Church for over two years and then transferred to St Andrew's Church in Chatham in January 1844. While ministering there he served as a parish school trustee and trustee of the Northumberland County Grammar School. He took an interest in scientific matters and addressed the Miramichi Mechanics' Institute on "Astronomy" (1847) and "The Rise and Progress of Science" (1848). In the spring of 1848 he decided to go back to his homeland for health reasons and announced a sale of his household furnishings. He later changed his mind and accepted a call to Charlottetown, but when his health was still troubling him a year later, he resigned and left for Scotland.

In 1851, Macbean was inducted as minister of the Presbyterian church at Inverbrackie in South Australia. In 1854, he was called to the Scots church in Colombo, Ceylon. He and his family were in Aberdeen, Scotland, when the 1861 census was taken but returned to Inverbrackie in 1862. He retired in 1884. He and his wife, Elizabeth Hilder, had three children.