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Dear Donald:
That would have been the
Reverend James A. Sinclair who built the first church at Lake Bennett in the
Yukon during the Gold Rush of '98. Soapy Smith was a bit of a gangster type and
had all of Skagway intimidated except the Reverend Sinclair and a few other
stalwarts.. His exploits are recounted in the biography by his son James M.
Sinclair and available from Clan Sinclair Canada. James M.'s daughter
Marjorie Sinclair Butterworth, lives in Regina Saskatchewan aged 97 and is very
active in the Association.
Aye,
Rory
( Sinclair Preachers ) Jeff Smith ,
Soapy Smith's Relation sent me a picture of a preacher Sinclair who buried
Soapy Smith at Skagway Alaska when the gold rush was on, Some time
back.
Donald H. Sinclair
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Monday, April 17, 2000 1:17
PM
Subject: The Sinclairs of Tiree,
Argyllshire
The Sinclairs of Argyll were not all 'transmutants' i.e.
stemminbg from ceards or MacNokairds. For example,
we
are indebted to "The St Clairs of the Isles" for the following
information:
Donald Sinclair left his native Caithness to go
and work as a factor on the Estate of MacLean of Kingerloch
who owned
the Island of Tiree. He had a son:
Donald Sinclair
who also had a son:
Peter Sinclair, a farmer, who was born in
Tiree in 1758 and died in 1834. By Margaret Campbell,his
wife,
he had a son:
The Reverend John Campbell Sinclair who
was born in Tiree 15th August, 1792; studied in the Universities
of
Edinburgh and Glasgow at which latter place he graduated. In 1838,
he and his family emigrated to Picton
(surely this must be Pictou)
Nova Scotia where he became the Minister of the Presbyterian
Church.
His fluency as a Gaelic scholar and preacher made him
very attractive to thousands of his Scottish countrymen
and their
descendants.
In 1858 he moved to North Carolina and, after the
Civil War, he laboured among the Freedmen until 1869 when his
voice
suddenly failed - the result of his open air addresses. After 1870
he lived with his son:
The Reverend Alexander Sinclair and his
son-in-law,the Reverend Dr. D.A. Cunningham at whose residence
in
Wheeling, West Virginia, he died on 23rd April, 1878.
The
above John Campbell Sinclair married at Scalastil House on the Island of
Mull in Argyllshire. His bride was
Mary Julia, the daughter of
John McLean by Margaret McLean, his wife. She was an orphan
and lived at
Scalstil House with her cousins on her father's
side. Sir Archibald McLean and Sir Hector McLean, both
Major-
Generals in the British Army, were her cousins.
She
died in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania on 24th May, 1854 and is buried in
Allegheny Cemetery. They had issue:
The Reverend James
Sinclair, born in Tiree, came to America with his parents where he
entered the Western
Theological Seminary at Allegheny City,
Pennsylvania in 1854 where he graduated in 1857 in which year he
was
called to be the Pastor in the Presbyterian Church of
Smyrna,North Carolina.
In 1851 he was made Chaplain of the 5th
North Carolina Infantry Regiment by Jefferson Davis. He
commanded
half of the Regiment at Bull Run and, in December, 1861, he
was made Colonel of the 35th North Carolina Regiment.
After the
Battle of Newberne, North Carolina, he became disgusted with the way the
war was being conducted;
resigned his position; and retired to his
home.
He became and ardent Republican after the collapse of the
rebellion; was elected to the Legislature of North
Carolina and was
appointed U.S. assessor in the District of Cape Fear by President
Grant. He married (1)
Mary, the daughter of Samuel McPherson,
on Prince Edward Island, in 1846. He married (2) in 1860, Mary
E.,
the daughter of Dr Edward McQueen, of Lumberton, North Carolina
and had two children. He died at Monroe,
North Carolina on 5th
AUgust, 1877 and is buried in Lumberton.
Their issue (it is not
stated by which wife) were:
James John Sinclair
Julia Sinclair
who married Samuel T. Neill, attorney at Titusville,
Pennsylvania
Alexander Sinclair
Mary Ellen
Sinclair )
Sarah Elizabeth
Sinclair ) twins
Edward Sinclair
Cunningham Sinclair
Annie
Sinclair who married the Reverend D.A. Cunningham of Wooster, Ohio to
whom reference has already been made.
Margaret Sinclair who married
John Q. McDougald of Fayetteville, North Carolina.
The Reverend
Alexander Sinclair - see above.
The Reverend Alexander Sinclair
who was born in Mull, Scotland, on 14th March, 1834 also attended the
Western
Theological Seminary at Allegheny, Pennsylvania in 1854,
graduating in 1856 and was ordained Pastor of the
Presbyterian Church
in Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania.
In 1857, he was called to the First
Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina and was installed in
the Fall
of that year. He died in Salisbury, Md on 22nd
February, 1885. He married (1) Nellie Plummer of Newbury
Port,
Massachusetts who died without issue and (2) Mary Laura, the
daughter of Adam Brevard Davidson of Charlotte,
North Carolina by
whom:
Brevard Davidson Sinclair
Mary Duart Sinclair born
1861
John Campbell Sinclair born 1863 died 1864
Alexander McLean
Sinclair born and died in 1866
Alexander Peter Sinclair born 27th
November, 1867
Laura Virginia Sinclair born 20th August,
1870
Richard Springs Sinclair born and died 1873
Annie Harley
Sinclair born 3rd February, 1875
The Reverend Brevard
Davidson Sinclair (see above) who was born at Charlotte, North Carolina
on October
31st, 1859 became a lawyer but decided to study for the
Ministry. He lived in Newburyport, Massachusetts
in 1892.
He married Tabulah Rice Blair in October 26th, 1887. They had
issue:
Brevard Davidson Sinclair II born 30th July,
1888
Alexander Malcolm Sinclair born 5th October, 1889 at
Newburyport, Massachusetts
Robert Augustus Sinclair born 27th May,
1891 at Newburyport, Massachusetts.
Roland St Clair, the author
of "The St Clairs of the Isles" acknowledges that the above
information,on this
branch of the Sinclair lineage,came from "An
Historical Account of the Genealogy of the Children and
Grandchildren
of the Reverend John Campbell Sinclair" written by the Reverend
Brevard Davidson Sinclair.
I hope that the above will be of some
assistance to those people who are trying to establish that some
of
the Sinclairs of Argyll did emanate from Caithness from where they
spread to Prince Edward Island, Nova
Scotia, Massachusetts,
Pennsylvania, North Carolina and West Virginia. Quite a
story. Quite a family
of preachers. So many hell-fire
sermons that the progenitor of this family "lost his
voice".
Niven Sinclair
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