William McClenachan (abt. 1710 - 1766)

Born about 1710 in County Armagh, Ireland

Husband of Ann (Drummond) McClenachan — married about 1740 in Georgetown, Maine

Died 1766 at about age 56 in Worcester, Maryland

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Biography

William McClenachan was born in County Armagh, Ireland around 1710. His parents were James McClenachan and Janet (Buchanan) McClenachan^[1].

William was a Presbyterian minister of Scotch-Irish descent. He came to Portland, Maine in November 1736 with two brothers and a sister and was installed as the minister there, but by the 1740s he had moved north to the Midcoast area. He resided in Georgetown for several years before relocating to Chelsea, Massachusetts in 1748^[2].

In 1754, William converted to Anglicanism, and traveled to London at the suggestion of Governor William Shirley to be ordained as a priest in the Church of England^[3]. He returned to New England as a missionary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, determined to "preach the Gospel to the poor in the wilderness." He deposited his wife and children in Boston and traveled back to Maine, where he spent 2-3 years preaching along the Kennebec River and living in the abandoned Fort Richmond^[4].

By 1759 William had tired of his dangerous situation on the frontier and took a trip to Virginia to investigate whether he might be able to move there with his family. On his return to New England he stopped in Philadelphia and was invited to preach at Christ Church. The Philadelphia congregation was enamored of him and requested that he stay on at the church as an assistant minister; however, due to internal politics within the Anglican Church, his appointment was refused by the Bishop of London. The congregation was so upset by this refusal that over a hundred of them decided to form a new church with McClenachan at the head^[5]. St. Paul's Church was built in Philadelphia in 1761, and William served as its first rector until his retirement in 1765.

After his retirement from St. Paul's, William moved to Worcester County, Maryland, where he served as the minister of St. Martin's Church for a short period of time until his death there in 1766^[6].

William married Ann Drummond sometime in the 1730s during his tenure at Georgetown, Maine, and they had several children, many of whom stayed in Philadelphia and raised large families themselves^[7].

Sources

1. ↑ Barratt, Norris Stanley. Outline of the History of Old St. Paul's Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lancaster, PA: The Colonial Society of Pennsylvania, 1917. Page 71.
2. ↑ Webster, Richard. A History of the Presbyterian Church in America, From Its Origin Until the Year 1760. Philadelphia, PA: published by the Presbyterian Historical Society, 1857.
3. ↑ Coalter, Milton J. Gilbert Tennent, Son of Thunder: A Case Study of Continental Pietism's Impact on the First Great Awakening in the Middle Colonies. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Inc., 1986. Page 159.
4. ↑ Barratt.
5. ↑ Coalter.
6. ↑ Barratt.
7. ↑ Drummond, Josiah Hayden. The Descendants of Alexander Drummond of Georgetown, Maine. Brattleboro, Vermont: The Vermont Printing Company, 1942. Page 18.