John Patterson MacLean (March 12, 1848 – August 12, 1939) was an American Universalist minister, archaeologist and historian.

[1] During his time at Ohio State University, he specialized in the history of the Shakers, a religious group.

[1][3] At the age of sixteen in 1864, he enrolled in the National Normal University in Lebanon, Ohio.

He continued his education at the Theological School of St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, in 1867, and he became qualified for the ministry in 1869.

In 1887, he traveled to the Island of Mull in Scotland to gather material for his "History of the Macleans.