REV. JOHN M McARTHUR, b 9 Jan 1850

MCARTHUR, MCNAB, BURNS, COCHRAN

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 6/19/2004 at 22:48:48

Rev. John M. McArthur, pastor of the United Presbyterian Church at Andrew, occupies a distinguished position among the leading clergymen of Jackson County. He is the son of the late Rev. James McArthur, a talented and learned United Presbyterian divine. The family originated in Scotland, and John McArthur, grandfather of our subject, came from Perthshire to this country when a young man, and purchasing land in Washington County, N.Y., became an early settler in that region. He reclaimed a farm from the forests, and made his home there until death.

The father of the Andrew pastor was born in Washington County, N.Y., near the town of Cambridge, Jan. 8, 1815. He received an academic education in that town, and was later graduated from Franklin College, in 1841. He was of a studious mind, had a deeply religious, earnest nature, and in early life devoted himself to the ministerial profession, pursuing a course of theology at Cannonsburg, and entered the ministry of the United Presbyterian Church. He was settled for fifteen years in Vermont, and from 1859 to 1873 enjoyed a successful pastorage of nearly a quarter of a century at Ellison, Henderson Co., Ill. On account of ill-health he was then obliged to abandon his beloved calling. During his residence in Illinois he was at one time County Superintendent of Schools, and was Director of the Theological Seminary at Monmouth. After his retirement from the ministry he was engaged in writing for religious magazines, etc. His death occurred in Walton, Kan., Oct. 9, 1887, while visiting one of his sons. He was a scholar of rare culture, who loved learning for learning's sake, and read Greek and Latin for recreation. He thoroughly identified himself with his work, supported his own denomination in every enterprise and interest, and never hesitated to lend his best energies to the advancement of any good cause. The wrong and oppressed found in him a generous champion, and he was one of the original Abolitionists in the ante-bellum times. The maiden name of his wife. to whom he was united in marriage in Gloversville, N.Y., in 1846, was Anna McNab, and she was a native of that town, born in 1826. She died near Biggsville, Ill., in 1870. She was a beautiful and accomplished woman, in every way worthy of her noble husband. She was of Scotch descent. Her father, John McNab, was born in Scotland, came to America, and located in Gloversville, N.Y. She was a stanch member of the United Presbyterian Church. Seven children were born to these parents, as follows: Nettie, residing in Kansas; John M., James W. (deceased), Cecil S., S.R., Anna M., and Nellie, all of whom are living in Kansas.

The subject of this sketch was born among the lovely hills of Vermont, in the town of McIndoes Falls, Caledonia County, near the Connecticut River, Jan. 9, 1850. He was eight years old when he went to Cambridge, N.Y., and nine years old when his father accepted a call to Ellison, Ill., and there the remainder of his boyhood and youth were passed. He attended the local public schools until 1867, when he became a student of Monmouth College, where he pursued the classical course, being graduated from that institution in 1872. Having resolved to dedicate his life to the ministry, he went to Newburg, N.Y., to study theology. He pursued his studies there one year, and then completed his theological couse at Xenia, Ohio, being graduated from there in April, 1874. He supplied the pulpit at Davenport, Iowa, during the following summer, and was subsequently ordained and installed as pastor of a church at Reynoldsburg, Ohio. At the end of three years he was called from there to preach in Pennsylvania. In 1881 he became pastor of the Yorkville congregation near Racine, Wis., where he officiated five years. In October, 1886, he received an urgent call to his present position, and since his settlement here he has done a noble work in building up and strengthening the church, and his people are very strongly attached to him.

In his wife our subject finds one who sympathizes with him in his aspirations and encourages him in his work, she being a lady of superior mind and culture. They were united in marriage in Waupaca, Wis., Dec. 1, 1881. Mrs. McArthur was a native of that town, born May 31, 1863, and is a graduate of the High school. Her maiden name was Jennie E. Burns, and she is a daughter of Robert and Mary J. (Cochran) Burns, natives, respectively, of the North of Ireland and Scotland. Three children have blest the wedded life of our subject and wife: J. LeRoy, who died at the age of five years; Cecil R., and Ethel W. Mrs. McArthur's paternal grandfather was a farmer in Ireland. Her father was reared in Scotland to the life of a farmer, and, coming to American when twenty-five years old, located in Waupaca, Wis., where he has engaged in agricultural pursuits ever since. Now, at the age of sixty years, he is one of the leading members of the local United Presbyterian Church, holding the office of Elder. His wife died in Waupaca in 1879, aged thirty-nine years. Her father, James Cochran, was born in Scotland, and, coming to america, located in Waupaca, established himself as a farmer, and is still residing there, at the advanced age of eighty years. Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Burns, as follows: Sarah, deceased; Jennie, wife of our subject; James, deceased; Mattie, Maggie, Bessie, Hattie, the four latter living with their father.

Since taking charge of this congregation Mr. McArthur has had a very successful pastorate. He has put new life into the church, which, under his leadership, has doubled its membership, and become a strong organization, including many of the representative people of the town, while a new house of worship has been dedicated to the worship of God, and a neat, well-appointed parsonage has been erected. In his pastoral relations our subject is sympatheric and tender, ever ready to respond to any call for his services. His personal characteristics are strongly marked; he is a magnetic man, with a deep, spiritual nature, and exerts a good influence on all about him, especially among the young, who, under his guidance, are becoming earnest workers in the church, and he has banded them together into the "Young People's Society of Christian Endeavor." In his pulpit ministrations he is exceptionally popular, having the advantages of a graceful, earnest manner, and eloquent speech. He takes an active interest in politics, and although a stanch Republican, favors the temperance movement, and has been a delegate to the State Convention at Des Moines. In short, he attracts and leads the class of people who are characteristic of this denomination elsewhere - those stalwart in principle, upright, generous, intelligent, and influential in their community. These he has so thoroughly organized and welded as to form an organization of great power and influence. Every public enterprise finds in him a ready helper, and every evil a dreaded foe. Though loyal to his church, he is unsectarian, broad-minded and liberal, and a welcome speaker at diversified public gatherings at home and abroad.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)