Robeson County, NC - Rev. Malcolm McNair

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Malcom McNair was born August 24, 1776 in Robeson Co, NC, the younger 
child of Scotland native John McNair and his 2nd wife Catherine Buie 
McFarland. The couple's eldest child was Sarah Ann, born in 1773. John 
McNair's first wife, Jennett Smylie, died in Scotland. That couple's 
two surviving children, Rhoderick and Betsy, made the 1770 move to the 
colonies with their father. McNair first settled in what was then Anson 
County, later making a move to a location on Drowning Creek that has 
been described as (1) the eventual location of the town of Alma; (2) 
about 1 1/2 miles east of Maxton on the Lumberton Road. Catherine was 
the widow of John McFarland. She brought to the 1772 marriage her 
McFarland children, later placed by the courts under the guardianship 
of John McNair.
 
In his youth Rev. McNair was the pupil of a local schoolmaster named 
Nelson, attended Mr. McCorkle's school in Rowan County, and studied the 
classics of theology under Dr. David Caldwell of Guilford County. The 
Orange Presbytery took him under their care October 15, 1799. McNair 
was licensed to preach at Barbecues Church in Cumberland County on 
March 27, 1801. Legacy of the Committed by Ruth Jane Trivette (p. 30): 
"Immediately after he was licensed to preach, he was commissioned by 
Synod to serve as a missionary to the Natchez Indians for six months." 
On June 2, 1803 he was ordained as pastor of Laurel Hill Presbyterian 
Church in Richmond (now Scotland) County, and Center and Ashpole 
Churches in Roberson County. He served the above churches, along with 
Smyrna/Red Bluff for his entire ministry. Rev. McNair was elected the 
first moderator of the Fayetteville Presbytery. A minister who could 
preach and converse in Gaelic, he was known for his enthusiastic 
participation in the Great Revival of 1802. His congregations praised 
him as having been compassionate, sympathetic, organized, and one who 
was comfortable with people of all classes and stations in life.

Centennial Address, Fayetteville Presbytery, by Rev. A. R. McQueen, p. 
54-55 (Historical Foundation, Montreat NC, March 9, 1937): "...About 
the time of his licensure the great revival of region of 1802 was 
sweeping over North Carolina in which so many thousands of people were 
hopefully converted. Young McNair imbibed much of the spirit of his 
revival, and was a most earnest, evangelical preacher of the gospel, 
and his labors were greatly blessed in leading many to the lamb of God 
which taketh away the sins of the world."
 
Historical Sketch of Ashpole Presbyterian Church (1947) page 7 relays 
the following information concerning Rev. McNair's ministry: "The 
following year (1802) Rev. Malcom McNair was called to the pastorate of 
Ashpole. The other members of the group were Laurel Hill and Center. 
The call was made April 8th, 1802, and was accepted September 29th, 
1802. The ordination of Mr. McNair was ordered to take place at Center 
Church the first Wednesday in December, 1802, but the meeting failed 
because of the opposition of Rev. Colin Lindsay and Mr. McNair was 
ordained pastor of the churches at Fayetteville, June 2nd 1803. The 
coming of Mr. McNair as pastor seems to mark the real beginning of 
Ashpole as a full-fledged church--- he was the real Moses who led the 
Presbyterians out of their disorganized condition and brought order and 
system to Ashpole and made it the permanent and useful church it 
became. He seems to have been peculiarly qualified for the work. He was 
not only a man of extraordinary force as a preacher but he had a genius 
for organization. He could converse and preach in Gaelic. He was 
sympathetic and easy in his manner and put himself in close touch with 
people of all classes. All this brought to his services virtually all 
the people without reference to their church affiliations. He was a 
native of Robeson County. His parents came from Scotland and settled on 
Drowning Creek about where the town of Alma now is.

It was during Mr. McNair's pastorate that the Great Revival of 1802 
began. He approved and took part in it, and it was very probably 
because of his stand in this matter that Lindsay opposed his 
ordination. This revival was South-wide in extent and did a great deal 
of good to the young churches of that day. Angus McCallum thus 
describes it in Ashpole: "I was greatly astonished to see the exercise 
of the body; to see perhaps the third or fourth of the congregation 
being on the ground or on the floor, praying and crying for mercy, 
mourning and confessing their sins. They appeared to be in earnest, and 
young converts here and there through the congregation leaping and 
praising God for redeeming love; old Christians - praying and 
rejoicing, others standing and looking on with amazement.....Which 
lasted four or five years with great power. There were some tears sown 
among the wheat." Page 10 reads as follows: "Every time Mr. McNair 
would come around we would be sure to have a meeting for prayer and 
examination. He would leave us, that is the young men, both married and 
single, twenty or thirty questions written out of the Scriptures for us 
to answer, perhaps the next time he came around. He would meet us in 
some convenient place every Sabbath that he would have no preaching, to 
read, pray, and study the questions- some memorizing the Shorter 
Catechism and some the Mother Catechism. When examination day would 
come on, old and young would be examined. This state of things 
continued in a more or less degree of rigor until the Sabbath School 
took place, which continues yet during the Summer."
 
Historical Sketch of Laurel Hill and Smyrna Presbyterian Churches by G. 
F. Kirkpatrick (1931) pages 6 and 7 reads as follows: "The following 
year (1802) the church called to its pastorate Rev. Malcom McNair, a 
young man who had just been licensed to preach, and he was installed in 
June, 1803. Mr. McNair was born in Robeson County. He was the 
grandfather of Mr. Howard C. McNair of Maxton. His mother had been Mrs. 
Katherine Buie McFarland before her marriage to Rev. Malcolm McNair's 
father. She was the mother of several children by her first marriage, 
one of whom, Hon. Duncan McFarland, previously referred to in this 
sketch; so he and the second pastor of Laurel Hill were half brothers. 
Mr. McNair spent the whole of ministerial life in this pastorate. In 
connection with Laurel Hill he also served Center, Ashpole, and Red 
Bluff. Red Bluff was then the name of the church that we know today as 
Smyrna; thus in Mr. McNair's pastorate there began the association of 
Laurel Hill and Smyrna, which has continued, except for an interval of 
31 years, down to the present day. Mr. McNair was greatly beloved by 
his people, his pastorate being terminated only by his death in 1833 at 
the comparatively early age of 46. He was buried in the McFarland 
cemetery within sight of the church, and the congregation erected a 
suitable monument at his grave." 
 
Prior to 1810, Rev. McNair married Jennet Little, who was born in 1791. 
Legacy of the Committed by Ruth Jane Trivette (p. 31) describes her as 
follows: "Malcolm McNair married a native of Petersburg, Virginia, who 
had been left an orphan at the age of twelve years. She was reared by 
her mother's brother, Harrison, a man of wealth." In his July 22, 1822 
Last Will & Testament, Malcolm McNair mentions his wife Jennet and 4 
children: Eliza Jane, Catharine, Annabella, and Murphy.
 
The August 4, 1822 death of Rev. Malcolm McNair cut short his 
evangelical career. In his funeral sermon for Rev. Malcolm McNair, Rev. 
Colin McIver states: "There was something in his mode of address so 
sweetly captivation, so irresistibly alluring that his preaching was 
always listened to with deep attention, even by those who, on various 
occasions, scrupled not to speak of the revival, either as the 
offspring of misguided zeal, or as a result of diabolical agency. In 
his preaching he might truly be called an eloquent man, and his 
eloquences was not of the vehement, but of the persuasive kind. I can 
truly say that for suavity of manners, generosity and the kindly 
affections, for gentleness, meekness and patience, I have seldom seen 
him equaled, and never excelled. He was a great lover of peace and a 
punctual member of the judicatories of the church; in both of these 
things he kept a good conscience. His end was peace."
 
Rev. McNair's widow Jennet never remarried. She died June 23, 1879; and 
is buried at Centre Presbyterian Church in Robeson County. Daughter 
Eliza Jane married Hugh McDonald and removed to Neshoba Co., MS. The 
Neshoba County pioneers lived in a community named Laurel Hill for 
their North Carolina homeland. The cemetery in which they are buried is 
at Old Carolina Presbyterian Church. Her tombstone includes the 
following inscription: "...daughter of Rev. Malcolm & Jenette McNair of 
Robeson Co., NC." Catherine married Archibald MacKay and removed to 
Alabama. Anabella married John McNair. Murphy married Margaret 
Elizabeth Stubbs. Legend of the Committed by Ruth Jane Trivett (p. 31) 
reports the following: "The McNair's had one son, Murphy C. McNair, who 
was born in 1818 at the McNair homestead, Cowper Hill, near Maxton, 
North Carolina. Murphy attended the University of North Carolina and 
was graduated at the age of sixteen. He studied law and practiced at 
Bennettsville, South Carolina.
 
Fayetteville Presbytery Minutes, p. 268, September 27, 1822
"Presbytery received the mournful intelligence, that the Rev. Malcom 
McNair departed this life on Sunday the 4th of August last. Whereupon, 
Resolved, that the Presbytery view this dispensation of Divine 
Providence as a severe affliction, and that the remembrance of the many 
excellencies & virtues possessed by our beloved Brother, will long 
remain impressed in the hearts of the members of this body, to whom he 
was endeared, for his holy & exemplary life, as well as for his eminent 
abilities, as a Minister of Christ."
 
Rev. McNair was buried adjacent to his parents in the McFarland 
Cemetery, located in a cotton field near the church that once belonged 
to his half brother Duncan McFarland. The congregation of Laurel Hill 
Presbyterian Church erected a monument which reads as follows: "Sacred 
to the memory of the Rev. Malcolm McNair, Late Pastor of the 
Presbyterian churches of Centre, Ashpole, Laurel Hill & Red Bluff, who 
departed this life on Sunday the 4th day of August 1822, in the 46th 
year of his age & 20th of his Ministry. A zealous advocate of sacred 
truth; a pattern for old age; a guide for youth; Mild, meek & patient, 
courteous & kind; of temper uniform; of solid mind; Modestly shrinking 
from men's vain applause; Yet, faithful in his Master's holy cause; His 
counsel oft did comfort the forlorn; T.M.M.A.N. UEL'S image did his 
life adorn."
 
Murphy Calvin McNair was my Great-great-great Grandfather
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