McLAREN, Rev. William - Presbyterisn minister
Visited the Bell Farm on 24 June 1887 as part of a Presbyterian delegation tour of Western Missions.
Rev. William McLaren (1828-1909) was an academic within the Presbyterian Church in Canada. He was ordained in 1853 and married Marjorie Laing in 1854. His wife was also active in the Church, and served as the first President of the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society in 1876.
Before his teaching career, Rev. McLaren served as minister at several congregations, including: Amherstburg, Ont.; Knox Church, Boston, Mass.; Belville, Ont.; and Knox Church, Ottawa.
In 1873 McLaren was appointed to serve as Professor of Systematic Theology at Knox College, Toronto, and served as convenor of the Foreign Missions Committee of the Presbyterian Church in 1875, and as Moderator of the Church’s General Assembly in 1884. He served as Principal of Knox College from 1904 until 1909.
Rev. William McLaren was among over 300 delegates to the Presbyterian General Assembly meeting, held in Winnipeg, Manitoba from June 9-17, 1887. Some members of that gathering subsequently travelled to Regina, and then on to the Qu’Appelle Valley and Indian Head region to inspect various Indian Reserves and the status of Presbyterian missions in that vicinity. During the tour, they also briefly visited the Bell Farm on June 24, and were accompanied by Hayter Reed, of Regina, the Assistant Indian Commissioner for the North-West Territories.
SOURCES:
Photo and data on Knox College - http://archive.org/stream/cihm_27694#page/n11/mode/2up
Photo - https://presbyterianarchives.ca/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/William-McLaren.jpg
"100 Years of Knox" - https://presbyterianarchives.ca/2015/08/24/100-years-of-knox/
Data on McLaren’s career - https://books.google.ca/books?id=RdJ0CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA296&lpg=PA296&dq=Rev.+Prof.+William+McLaren,+of+Knox+College,+Toronto&source=bl&ots=xavcWD_bA5&sig=ACfU3U3vVr7RvErgTqDIR7YE0QFQyTiqFg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj4gb_RkqfmAhWNjVkKHSDrDwwQ6AEwAnoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=Rev.%20Prof.%20William%20McLaren%2C%20of%20Knox%20College%2C%20Toronto&f=false
Appointed to Knox College in 1873 - http://www.eduhistory.kazus.org/index.php?tsearch=5827&i=1
Handbook of the Presbyterian Church in Canada, 1883 - https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=18&ved=2ahUKEwj4gb_RkqfmAhWNjVkKHSDrDwwQFjARegQIBBAC&url=https%3A%2F%2Felectricscotland.com%2Fbible%2Fhandbook_presbyterian_church_canada.pdf&usg=AOvVaw0Xxs-qq-BxLK46k5fQhTbO
The Presbyterian Church in Canada: 1877-1925, by John Thomas McNeill (Mrs. Marjorie McLaren, Pres. W.F.M.S. 1876, p. 143) - https://archive.org/details/presbyterianchur0000mcne
Mrs. Marjorie McLaren photo: “His Dominion of Canada: A Study in the background, development and challenge of the missions of the United Church of Canada”, 1932, by Rev. Dr. Edmund H. Oliver, opposite p. 237.
RESEARCH BY:
Michelle Cabana, Saskatoon, Sask. and Frank Korvemaker, Regina, Sask.