====== MacGillivray, Alexander M. ====== (May 1850-1 July 1932), clergyman. (A. MacGillivray, Alex MacGillivray, “Black Alex,” spelling found also Macgillivray) Born in the Collingwood area, Ont. Parents: John MacGillivray and his wife Isabella Darroch, both natives of Scotland, who settled first in North Carolina and then, in objection to slavery, removed to Canada. He attended public and grammar schools at Collingwood, and taught school, then attended Queen’s University, where he studied arts and theology but does not seem to have taken a degree. On 21 Sept. 1877 he was ordained and inducted as minister of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Williamstown. “An active, energetic and popular young man, he led the congregation into a new era of prosperity, the membership almost doubling during his ten-year pastorate.” (MacMillan) During his ministry, a new church hall (which included a horse shed) was built and substantial renovations were made to the church. In 1884, the governing body of the Presbyterian Church in Canada appointed him to travel in the United Kingdom for fund-raising in promotion of French Canadian evangelization. His Williamstown congregation gave him a year’s leave for this purpose. In 1886, he and the Rev. Peter Watson headed a Protestant group which made a presentation to Fr C. H. Gauthier, when the future archbishop was leaving Williamstown for his new parish at Brockville. Gertrude Wood (A. G. Wood) who was five years old when the Rev. Alexander MacGillivray left Williamstown (she is our authority for the “Black Alex” name), wrote that he and Fr Gauthier “worked together, one week-day with the minister’s horse and buggy, the next with the priest’s, driving through the countryside to bring about ‘Local Option’.” In June 1887, Alexander MacGillivray accepted a call to St. John’s Church, Brockville, where he was again Fr Gauthier’s neighbour. In May 1891, MacGillivray became the first pastor of Bonar Church, Toronto. In 1912, he received the degree of D. D. from Knox College, University of Toronto. Also in 1912, he spoke at the centenary celebrations of St. Andrew’s Church, Williamstown. In a separate address to the Sunday school children on this occasion, he mentioned the love of their place of nativity that people retain throughout life, and he told them (as his words were summarized) “The world was growing better every day. To-day, he said, is the best day the world ever saw. The boys of Glengarry to-day would be greater than their fathers and forefathers, great as they had proved to be in all walks of life, because of the better advantages that were now at their command.” At the centenary, he gave St. Andrew’s Church the gift of a pulpit, and the Bonar congregation in Toronto gave a Bible and Book of Praise. And before end of 1912, he was (with the Rev. Arpad Govan) one of the two clergymen officiating at the funeral of George H. McGillivray at Williamstown. In 1917, he was honoured at Williamstown as a former pastor. (//Cornwall Standard// 25 Oct. 1917) On 16 March 1922 the //Cornwall Standard //printed his recollections of the late Sir Donald Macmaster, a Williamstown man. In 1921, Alexander MacGillivray retired from his ministry at Bonar Presbyterian Church, Toronto. (//Cornwall Standard// 5 May 1921) Later, he was acting minister 1922-1926 at the newly-formed Bedford Park Presbyterian Church (which became Bedford Park United Church at Church Union) in Toronto, and later in the decade, despite advancing years, he was minister 1929-1930 at the new Leaside United Church, also in Toronto. Notwithstanding his United Church associations, on his death his body lay in state at Bonar Presbyterian Church. He died in a Toronto hospital. He married (1) Miss Lillias Grant Baillie, and (2) late in life, Miss Alice Glassup or Glossop (1853-1928). There were no children by either marriage. He was chaplain of the Toronto Gaelic Society and of St. Andrews Masonic Lodge, Toronto. He was active also in the Independent Order of Foresters. In his student years he had been editor of the //Queen’s Journal//, the Queen’s University student newspaper, and at some date in later life he was editor of the //Canadian Forester//, the journal of the Independent Order of Foresters. The printed volume of the Williamstown 1912 centenary has a splendid portrait of MacGillivray as a luxuriantly bearded young–or youngish–man abounding with life. He was the brother of the Rev. Malcolm Macgillivray, who was for some 30 years the minister of Chalmers Presbyterian Church, Kingston, and who served as Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Both brothers are said to have “frequently preached in Gaelic.” (//A History of the Clan MacGillivray//, 129) They were the brothers of John MacGillivray, a well known professor of modern languages at Queen’s University. And another brother, Dougald, was one of the earliest officers of the 48th Highlanders of Toronto, the regiment with which D. M. Robertson was associated. Col. George B. Macgillivray (25 April 1914-22 Sept. 1994), born at Port Arthur, Ont., soldier and Thunder Bay (Ont.) newspaper publisher, and the co-author and publisher of the well-known //A History of the Clan MacGillivray// (1973), was the grandson of the Rev. Malcolm Macgillivray and great-nephew of the Rev. Alexander MacGillivray ---- //Standard Freeholder// 6 July 1932, //The New Outlook// [United Church magazine] 13 July 1932 p. 674 * MacMillan, //Kirk//, 47 (portrait), 57-59 * //Centenary 1912// 7-8, 75, 99, 100 * Robert McGillivray and George B. Macgillivray, //A History of the Clan MacGillivray// (1973) 92, 125, 129-132 (family history and biog. sketches of Rev. Alexander and his father and brothers) * information from Queen's University Archives, United Church Archives, Presbyterian Church Archives * “//In Favor with God and Man”: a History of Bedford Park United Church// (n.d.), biog. data, good portrait from later years * Fr Gauthier: DTL //SFH// 13 Sept. 1947, based on //Cornwall Freeholder// 10 Sept. 1886; Wood letter 9 Sept. 1976 * Prof. John MacGillivray: obituary //Cornwall Standard //28 Aug. 1930; Neatby: index * Morgan (1912) 690 (lives of the brothers John and Malcolm) * Prof. Ferguson of Queen’s University to replace him at Williamstown for a year, DTL //SFH// 3 Jan. 1948, based on //CF //2 Jan. 1885 * in letter to editor sympathetically discusses Donald (later Sir Donald) Macmaster’s views on prohibition, & Murdoch Munro replies, //Witness// 22 & 27 Nov. 1886 * on his leaving Williamstown, //Glengarrian// 27 May (from //Cornwall Freeholder//) & 10 June 1887 * preaches farewell sermons St. John’s Church, Brockville, Toronto //Empire// 28 April 1891 * George B. Macgillivray: obituaries, //QAR// May/June 1995, //The Chronicle-Journal// (Thunder Bay) 22 & 25 Sept. 1994, with portrait, also see //QAR// Sept./Oct. 1981 [<6>]