James McGregor (minister)
(1677-1729)
Reverend James McGregor was a Scotch-Irish Presbyterian minister who led a migration from the Bann Valley in Ireland, to Nutfield, New Hampshire, in 1718.
Early life and ancestry
McGregor was born c.1677 in Magilligan, County Londonderry, the son of David McGregor. It is unknown whether David McGregor was Scottish himself, or if he had been born in Ireland; regardless, Rev. McGregor was born in Ireland, descended from Scottish settlers. McGregor was, therefore, an Ulster-Scot. There is a story that during the siege of Derry in 1689, when he was a youth, McGregor discharged a cannon announcing the relief was approaching.
Minister of Aghadowey
McGregor was educated in Glasgow, like other Irish Presbyterian ministers, and was ordained at Aghadowey in 1701, succeeding Rev. Thomas Boyd. In 1706, he married Marion Cargill, the daughter of David Cargill, an elder in Aghadowey. In 1704, the Test Act had been extended to Ireland, which meant that anyone wanting to hold office needed to show proof they had taken communion in the Anglican Church of Ireland.
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This entry incorporates text from “James McGregor (minister)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.