Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Maclellan, John

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1449829Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 35 — Maclellan, John1893Thomas Finlayson Henderson

MACLELLAN, JOHN (1609?–1651), of Kirkcudbright, covenanting minister, was the son of Michael Maclellan, a burgess of Kirkcudbright. He was educated at the university of Glasgow, where he graduated M.A. in 1629. Shortly afterwards he was appointed schoolmaster at Newtownards, co. Down, where he had also several pupils, whom he prepared for the university. Ultimately he obtained license to preach from the ministers of county Down, but for his 'adherence to the purity of church discipline,' and for refusal to conform to the ceremonial of the church (Gordon, Scots Affairs, ii. 28), he was excommunicated by the bishop. Nevertheless he continued for some time to preach privately in the counties of Down, Tyrone, and Donegal until 1638, when on receiving a call from the congregation of his native town, Kirkcudbright, he returned to Scotland. He was a member of the general assembly of that year; and in reference to a desire of the king that certain assessors named by himself should have a vote, he in a sermon shortly afterwards 'stated that the king had no more to do with their general assemblies then they had to do with his parliament' (ib. i. 145). Livingstone mentions that 'it was thought by many that he had somewhat of the spirit of Prophecy' (Characters in vol. i. of the Wodrow Society's Select Biographies, p. 331). The opportunity having fallen to him to preach before James Hamilton, first duke of Hamilton [q. v.], on the eve of the expedition to England in 1648, he took upon himself to predict that the enterprise would result in disaster, affirming that 'in a short time after going to England they should be affrayed at the shaking of the leaf of a tree.' This prophecy was reported to have been literally fulfilled, owing to the fact that it was by the sudden rustling of some trees at Preston, caused by a strong gust of wind, that the Scottish cavalry took fright, and, galloping from the field, carried confusion also among the infantry. Maclellan was a member of the assemblies' commissions of 1642, 1645, and 1649. By the assembly of 1642 he was appointed for four months on a mission to Ireland, and by that of 1643 for three months. Maclellan's strictness as a disciplinarian led one of his parishioners to fire a gun at him, but the shot miscarried. He died early in 1651, according to Livingstone 'not without suspicion of being wronged by a witch' (ib.) He was married to Marion, daughter of Bartholomew Fleming, merchant, Edinburgh, and a younger sister of the wife of John Livingstone [q. v.] To Bleau's 'Atlas Scotiæ' he contributed the 'Description of Galloway.'

[Livingstone's Characters in Wodrow Society's Select Biographies, vol. i.; Livingstone's Life and Character; Gordon's Scots Affairs (Spalding Club); Robert Baillie's Letters and Journals (Bannatyne Club); Howe's Hist. of the Kirk of Scotland; Murray's Lit. Hist, of Galloway; Hew Scott's Fasti Eccles. Scot. i. 688-9.]

T. F. H.