Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 4).djvu/194

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162
McTAVISH
McVICKAR

and was for thirty-seven years minister of St. Paul's church, Narragansett, which is shown in the illustration. Dr. McSparran was an energetic de- fender of his church. He published numerous ser- mons, of which that on " The Sacred Dignity of the Christian Priesthood Vin- dicated " is note- worth}^ and ex- cited much oppo- sition. His chief work is entitled " America Dis- sected, being a Full and True Account of the American Col- onies " (Dublin, 1752). His aim was to warn poor peo- ple against emi- grating to Amer- ica, on account of bad climate, bad money, dan-

ger from enemies,

pestilent heresies prevailing, and the like. This curious work was reprinted in an appendix to Wilkins Updike's " History of the Episcopal Chui'ch in Xarragansett " (Xew York, 1847).


McTAVISH, Donald, Canadian explorer, b. in Stratherick, Scotland, about 1755 ; d. near Cape Dis- appointment, North Pacific ocean. 32 May, 1815. He emigrated to Canada, and became a partner in the Northwest company. For about a quarter of a century he was employed in the wilds of Upper Canada and the interior of the northwestern re- gions of America. He was very successful in pro- moting the interests of the company, and was re- ceived by the Indians as one of themselves. He organized and had command of an expedition that crossed the continent of North America, and, after escaping innumerable perils, he and six of his companions were lost near Cape Disappoint- ment, at the mouth of Columbia river. The object of their expedition was to establish a connection with China, a project that was accomplished more than seventv vears after McTavish's death.


McTYEIRE, Hollaud Nimmons, M. E. bishop, b. in Barnwell county, S. C. 28 July, 1824; d. in Nashville, Tenn., 15 Feb., 1889. He was graduated in 1844, joined the Virginia conference in 1845, and in 1846 took charge of St. Francis street church. Mobile, Ala. He then served the churches at De- mopolis, Ala., and Columbus, Miss., and afterward was transferred from the Alabama to the Louisi- ana conference and stationed in New Orleans. He was elected editor of the New Orleans '• Christian Advocate" in 1851, and of the Nashville "Chris- tian Advocate " in 1858. During the civil war he was transferred to the Montgomery conference and was pastor in Montgomery, Ala. In 1866 he was elected to the episcopate, and in 187B, by the terms of the gift of Cornelius Vanderbilt, he was made president of the board of Vanderbilt university. He was the author of " Duties of Christian Masters," a prize essay (Nashville, 1851) ; " Catechism on Church Government" (1869) ; "Catechism on Bible Historv" (1869); "Manual of Discipline" (1870); and " History of Methodism " (1884).


MacVEAGH, Wayne, lawyer, b. inPhoenixville, Chester co.. Pa., 19 April, 1833. He was graduated at Yale in 1853, studied law, was admitted to the bar in 1856, and served as district attorney for Chester county from 1859 till 1864. In 1862 he was captain of cavalry, when the invasion of Pennsyl- vania was threatened, and in 1863 he was chairman of the Republican central committee of Pennsyl- vania. In 1870-'l he was U. S. minister to Turkey, and in 1872-3 was a member of the Pennsylvania constitutional convention. He was the chief mem- ber of the " MacVeagh commission " that was sent to Louisiana in 1877 by President Hayes to repre- sent him unofficially, and to endeavor to bring the conflicting parties in that state to an understand- ing. In 1881 he was appointed U. S. attorney-gen- eral in the cabinet of President Garfield, but re- signed, with the other members, on the accession of President Arthur, and resumed his law practice in Philadelphia. He received the degree of LL. D. from Amherst in 1881. He has been chairman of the civil service reform association of Philadel- phia. In December, 1893, President Cleveland ap- pointed him first American ambassador to Italy.


MacVICAR, Malcolm, educator, b. in Dunglass, Argyleshire, Scotland, 30 Sept., 1829. When he was very young his parents came to Canada and settled in the county of Kent. He was graduated at the University of Rochester in 1859, and in that year became professor of mathematics in Brock- port collegiate institute, N. Y., of which he was principal in 1863-'7. He then accepted a similar place in the State normal school in Broekport. He became superintendent of public schools in Leaven- worth, Kan., in 1868, principal of the State normal school, Potsdam, N. Y., in 1869, and principal of the State normal school, Ypsilanti, Mich., in 1880 ; and since 1881 he has been professor of apologetics and biblical interpretation in English in the Bap- tist college, Toronto, Canada. He was the princi- pal mover in securing a law to establish four new normal schools in New York state in 1866. In 1870 he received the degree of Ph. D. from the University of the state of New York, and that of LL. D. from the University of Rochester. He is the inventor of the Mac Vicar tellurian globe, and of various devices to illustrate principles in arith- metic, astronomy, and geography, and is the author of text-books in arithmetic. — His brother, Donald Harvey, Canadian educator, b. in Dunglass, Ar- gyleshire, Scotland, 29 Nov., 1831, was graduated at Knox college, Toronto, in 1858. He became pas- tor of Knox church, Guelph, in 1859, of Cote street church. Montreal, in January, 1861, and in 1868 professor of divinity in the newly established Pres- byterian college in that city. During four years he was the only professor, but was afterward appointed principal, with a strong staff of professors and lecturers. He was lecturer on logic in McGill university in 1871, in 1876 and 1884 delivered courses of lectures upon applied logic, and in 1878 a course on ethics before the Ladies' educational association of Montreal. In 1881 he was chosen moderator of the general assembly of the Presbyterian church in Canada, and he was a delegate to the Presby- terian councils that met in Edinburgh in 1877, in Philadelphia in 1880, in Belfast in 1884, and in London in 1887. In 1881 he received the diploma of membership of the Athenee orientale of Paris. He also received the degree of LL. D. from McGill university, and that of D. D. from Knox collesre, Toronto. He has been a member of the Protest- ant school commission, and is a leader in the work of French evangelization in Canada. He is the author of a primary and advanced text-book on arithmetic, and numerous articles in periodicals.


McVICKAR, John, clergvman. b. in New York city, 10 Aug., 1787 ; d. there, 29 Oct., 1868. He