James Macgregor

1759-1820. Presbyterian minister in Nova Scotia. Born in Perthshire, Scotland, and educated in Edinburgh, he was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1786. In 1787 he was sent to Pictou, Nova Scotia, by the General Associate Synod. He became concerned about the decline of the moral and cultural life of the Nova Scotian Scottish communities, which he felt was caused by the lack of clerical leadership. For this reason he acted as a part-time itinerant minister while appealing for more workers from Scotland. He was the first Presbyterian minister to preach in New Brunswick and on the Island of St. John (Prince Edward Island). He also aided the establishment of the Pictou Academy and in 1817 became the first moderator of the Presbyterian Church assembly in Nova Scotia.