A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
History
A Cyclopaedia of Canadian Biography: Being Chiefly Men of the Time: A Collection of Persons Distinguished in Professional and Political Life, Leaders in the Commerce and Industry of Canada, and Successful Pioneers
=MacVicar, Rev. Malcolm=, Ph.D., LL.D., Professor of Apologetics and
Christian Ethics, McMaster Hall (Baptist College), Toronto, was born on
the 30th September, 1829, in Argyleshire, Scotland. His father, John
MacVicar, was a farmer in Dunglass, near Campbeltown, Kintyre, Scotland,
and was known as a man of great physical and intellectual vigour, and
was well known in his native Scotland and the land of his adoption,
Canada, for his ability, generosity and sterling integrity. His wife,
Janet MacTavish, possessed a similar character, and reached the age of
ninety-two years before she died, having seen her children’s children in
positions of usefulness and influence. Malcolm, the subject of this
sketch, was one of twelve children, and came with his parents to Canada
in 1835, and settled on a farm at Chatham, Ontario. His early years were
spent at first on a farm, then at Cleveland, Ohio, where he learned the
trade of ship carpenter. Being ambitious and anxious to get on, he
decided to secure an education, and along with his brother Donald, now
Principal of the Presbyterian College in Montreal, went to Toronto, in
1850, and entered Knox College to study for the Presbyterian Ministry,
where he remained for two years. In the meantime his views of doctrines
having undergone a change, he became connected with the Baptist
denomination, and turned his attention to teaching and fitting young men
for the Toronto University, preaching occasionally. He was ordained to
the Baptist Ministry in 1856. In 1858 he went to Rochester, New York
State, and entered the senior class at the University of Rochester,
taking his degree of B. A. the following summer. He immediately went to
Brockport, in the same county, where he became a member of the faculty
of the Brockport Collegiate Institute, then under the principalship of
Dr. David Barbank. Here, with the exception of one year spent in the
Central School at Buffalo, he remained until the spring of 1867 (when
that institution was transformed into a Normal School), first as
subordinate, then as associate principal, and from April, 1864, sole
principal of the school. He was a very successful teacher from the
first, being full of energy, and ambitious to devise new and improved
methods of illustrating and impressing the truth. Nor were the
class-room walls the limit of his intellectual horizon, but he was
constantly seeking some better plan of organizing the educational work
immediately in hand, and over the whole state. He was quickly recognized
by the regents of the University as one of the foremost teachers and
principals in the state. In August, 1865, he, by appointment, read a
paper before the convocation of that body on Internal Organization of
Academies, which looked towards and proved the first step towards
putting in practice regent’s examinations in the academies as a basis
for distribution of the income of the literary fund. He was shortly
afterwards appointed by the chancellor, chairman of a committee of
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account