Alexander MacWhorter

His parents, who were Scots-Irish immigrants, came to America from Northern Ireland in 1730, and settled in Newcastle, where his father, formerly a linen merchant, became a farmer and an active member of the Presbyterian church.

MacWhorter graduated at Princeton University in 1757, studied theology with William Tennent, was licensed to preach in 1758, and in the following year became pastor of a church in Newark, New Jersey.

In 1775 he was sent by Congress to western North Carolina to persuade the royalists to unite with the patriot cause, and in 1776 he visited the American army in its camp opposite Trenton, to confer with regard to measures for protecting the state, and was present at the passage of the Delaware and the surprise of the Hessians.

In 1779 he accepted a pastorate and the presidency of Charlotte Academy in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, from which place he was compelled to flee before the approach of Cornwallis' army, losing his library and other possessions.

He was a profound Hebrew scholar, and, in addition to magazine articles upon metaphysics and theology, was the author of Yahveh Christ, or the Memorial Name, with an introductory letter by Nathaniel W. Taylor, D.D.