Alexander Wilson McClure

Background

Alexander Wilson McClure was born on May 8, 1808 in Boston, Massachussets. He was the youngest son of Thomas and Mary (Wilson) McClure. His maternal great-grandfather was the Rev. John Morehead, the first Presbyterian minister of Boston.

Education

McClure prepared for college at the Latin School, spent two years at Yale, and then transferred to Amherst where he graduated in 1827. Then in 1830 he graduated from Andover Seminary.

Career

After his graduation he began to preach at the First Congregational Church at Malden, Massachussets, but was not ordained till December 19, 1832. His pastorate continued till 1843 when he resigned on account of failing health. When he went to Malden, the church was weak and on the point of dissolution, but under his wise and courageous leadership it revived and he left it in a flourishing condition. Going as acting pastor to a Presbyterian church in St. Augustine, Fla. , he accomplished a remarkable evangelistic work among the soldiers garrisoned there. In 1847 he returned to Boston and edited the Christian Observatory till 1850, at the same time acting as assistant editor of the Puritan Recorder. He also again served his old church in Malden from 1848 to 1851. At the close of the latter year he became pastor of the Dutch Reformed church on Grand Street in Jersey City, N. J. , remaining a member of that denomination for the rest of his life. In 1855 he became secretary of the American and Foreign Christian Union, an organization for carrying on Protestant work in Europe and other countries.

During his secretaryship he was also the editor of the monthly magazine, the Christian World, and other publications of the Union. At the end of 1857 he retired on account of ill health and died at Canonsburg, Pa. , after several years of inactivity.

Achievements

• In the first year of his secretaryship McClure served as pastor of the chapel in Rome maintained by this society, and it was largely through his efforts that the Paris chapel, an evangelical and unsectarian place of worship for American residents, was established.

Works

More photos

• book

  • The Translators Revived: A Biographical Memoir of the Authors of the English Version of the Holy Bible (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Translators Revived: A Biographical Memo...)

  • The Christian Observatory, 1848, Vol. 2: A Religious and Literary Magazine (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Christian Observatory, 1848, Vol. 2: A R...)

  • The Christian Observatory, 1849, Vol. 3: Religious and Literary Magazine (Classic Reprint)

    (Excerpt from The Christian Observatory, 1849, Vol. 3: Rel...)

Religion

In theology he was thoroughly evangelical and deeply attached to the standards of the Dutch Reformed Church. But he worked in sympathetic cooperation with all other evangelical denominations, regarding them as equally members of the Church of Christ.

Personality

McClure accomplished a vast amount of work in spite of frail health. He was a man of wide and varied knowledge, a brilliant writer and preacher, formidable in debate and outspoken against what he considered to be evil. He had abounding wit, a deeply religious nature, and his life was rich in numerous friendships.

Connections

McClure married Mary Brewster Gould of Southampton, Massachussets, by whom he had eight children.

Father:

Thomas McClure

Mother:

Mary (Wilson) McClure

Wife:

Mary Brewster Gould

References

• The Corner Stone: Or a Familiar Illustration of the Principles of Christian Truth (Classic Reprint)