Thomas McCulloch
[2][3] Michael McCulloch, a master block printer, died at age forty-six, leaving six children, five sons and one daughter, Andrew (d. April 8, 1854), John, Thomas, Mary Elizabeth (1765 – 1860), William (1776 – 1813), and George.
Elizabeth appears to have been a well-loved figure in the family, as Thomas McCulloch's wife, Isabella Walker, writes on Elizabeth's death, Well was it for me that I was blessed with the example and motherly affection of our good old grandmother, in many unthought of trials in the land of strangers, and I fondly hope that the many, many, precious petitions presented at her Father's throne on our behalf will not remain without a special, a powerful return of saving mercy to our souls as a family, and as individuals.
[4] Thomas' son, William, writes of his grandmother, Our annual gatherings at her house were a great treat, and nothing remains of our early recollections to dim the brightness of her character.
His son, William, describes him, In stature Mr. McCulloch was about medium height, slightly built, light and active, and capable of enduring long continued physical strain.
In preaching he possessed the faculty of readily grasping the main point of a subject, and connecting it with its varied lines of collateral thought and illustration, and in a style clear, terse, almost proverbial, conveying to the hearer just what he intended to say, nothing more nor less.
The least intelligent could easily grasp his meaning, couched as it was in vigorous Saxon, and free from technical or high sounding words and phrases.
His impassioned appeals, his glowing yet chastened eloquence, made the hearer almost feel as though “a door was opened in heaven.”[6] During his studies and early ministry, McCulloch was supported by Rev.
[10] Ships sailing to the Maritimes from Scotland often first landed in Pictou, Nova Scotia, a location where earlier Scottish settlers established a community.
After considerable difficulty a change, if not improvement, was made by removing to what was known afterward as “McIntyre's house.” It stood on Water St., two doors east of Robert Dawson's stone store.
In 1807, McCulloch visited Halifax and made a positive impression to the point he was asked to remain as a minister in local church, which he declined.
Halifax's Morning Post in 1839, described McCulloch as "a man of vast mental attainments, and a profound investigator into the mysteries of nature", and "as one of the prominent leading minds that have given Nova Scotia some claim to literary distinction.
"[19] The Novascotian, at the time edited by Richard Nugent, who was critical of McCulloch, described him as having possessed an original and powerful intellect, which had been strengthened by attainments of a high order, he might, under more auspicious circumstances, have left something that would imperishably have connected his name with literature and science.
"[25] This edict seemed to not have sat well with McCulloch, as he writes of his views on the purpose of education, specifically the teaching and use of language,...instead of enabling [students] to display their pedantry by interlarding Latin and Greek phrases with the chit chat of life, it would be more profitable to give them an accurate acquaintance with the operation of their own minds, to teach them to classify their knowledge and communicate their sentiments, and to furnish them with those duties, and that knowledge of mathematical and physical science, which would be every day useful to the community and honourable to themselves.
[28] What was significant in this Act was the condition on which it was founded: it "placed no denominational restrictions on students," though "required an oath of adherence from trustees and teachers to the established churches of England or Scotland.
When Lord Dalhousie, then colonial governor, visited the Academy after its opening, where he remarked, that it began to look and act like a college, its students were soon wearing the red gowns and caps familiar to McCulloch from the University of Glasgow.
Progress in the arts of civilized life was thus left to that part of society, who, whatever mechanical habits of ingenuity they might acquire, possessed least of that intelligence which is the true basis of improvement.
In September 1813, he published a letter stating that all Dissenters, who made up the vast majority of the population,[5] "were owed a 'quiet concession of those privileges which the law has sanctioned, as far as these are consistent with the rights of conscience and of civil society.
[37] McCulloch bluntly states, with some sardonic humour, “I believe the community will join me in affirming that…sound judgment is more valuable than a sackful of words.” (Harvey, 1994, p. 53; Woods, 1987).
His intentions for education are clear, as he writes that all schools "ought first to be ascertained, how far it is calculated to improve the community; and, if its general utility appear, it is, in proportion to its value and to the extent of the public funds, unquestionably entitled to the protection of Government, whether it belong to churchmen or dissenters, protestants or catholics, ought to be entirely disregarded!
"[33] The post-US rebellion period in Nova Scotia was difficult, as many thousands of refugees from the 13 colonies, which included hundreds of slaves, arrived in Halifax with little possessions or funds, and a severe housing shortage ensued.
McCulloch writes that it was the "irrational, authoritarian culture" of Roman Catholicism in France that lead to "its inevitable denouement in the French Revolution and subsequent Reign of Terror.
"[33] To avoid a similar result for the province, McCulloch asserted acceptance Nonconformist ideology in a series of newspaper articles as a counter to the rigidity of the Anglican precepts.
He actively collected Nova Scotia birds, animals, and plants and established a natural history museum at Dalhousie College.
He also undertook a series of lecture tours on scientific subjects for the general public, visiting Saint John, Charlottetown and towns in the Miramichi area.
In the style of satire, in Letter 1 (December 22, 1821), for example, he names the local minister, Parson Drone; the police, Constable Catchpole; the banker, Mr.
But the parson, except when he is angry, is very good-natured and disposed to bear with a great deal; and, having acquired a large fund of patience himself, he has become a quack at comforting, and prescribes it indiscriminately for all sorts of ills.
[46]While The Stepsure Letters were popular among white settlers, they included racist ideas regarding Africans in Nova Scotia, the vast majority of whom were trafficked there as slaves.
[18][49]"He had spent the summer holidays in the western parts of the province, collecting specimens for a museum, which he and his son Thomas hoped to see established in Halifax; on his return, he had been struck down with influenza; but he was in his place on Monday, when college opened, and lectured for two hours on logic and moral philosophy.
Popery again condemned by Scripture and the Fathers : being a reply to a part of the popish doctrines and asseratations contained in the remarks on the refutation, and in the review of Dr. Cochran's letters, by the Rev.
The Nature and Uses of a Liberal Education Illustrated: Being a Lecture Delivered at the Opening of the Building, Erected for the Accommodation of the Classes of the Pictou Academical Institution.
