Rev. David MacDill
The Rev. David MacDill, D. D., was born in the Northern District of South Carolina, December 27, 1790. He was of Scotch-Irish descent. His father, though quite young, served as a soldier in the war of the Revolution, under Colonel Horry. The son in his youth enjoyed the advantages afforded by the Churches and schools which then existed among Scotch-Irish Presbyterians in the South. At the age of sixteen he had studied as much mathematics as was then usually studied in college. He had a thirst for knowledge and a love of books. 1. In 1806 the MacDill family removed from South Carolina to what was then regarded as "the far West," and settled in Preble County, Ohio. The country was almost an unbroken forest. A section of land, consisting of six hundred and forty acres, was purchased, and the work of erecting a log-house and other buildings and of clearing off the timber, mostly beech, was begun. In such work as this young David MacDill spent three years-teaching school, however, for three months during each of those years. At the end of this time, being about nineteen years old, he commenced the study of languages under the Rev. William Robertson, at Lebanon, Ohio. He finished his literary course in Transylvania University, Lexington, Kentucky. Among his classmates were the Rev. J. Finley Crowe, D. D., the founder of Hanover College, and the Rev. David Monfort, D. D., pastors for many years of the Presbyterian Church in Hamilton, Ohio. In 1813 he entered the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary in New York, then under the care of the celebrated Re. Dr. J. M. Mason, one of the ablest pulpit orators of our country. Here he spent four annual sessions, and had as fellow-students many who afterward became leading ministers in their respective Churches. He spent the Summer vacations in teaching in the vicinity of New York. When he graduated, in 1817, from the Seminary, he delivered by appointment the valedictory address to his class. He was licensed to preach August 6, 1817. He began to preach in the Associate Reformed Presbyterian (United Presbyterian) Church, in Hamilton, Butler County, Ohio, in October, 1817. He was ordained and installed pastor of the congregations of Hamilton and Concord, October, 1818. He continued in charge of these two congregations for eight to ten years, and then demitted the Concord branch. The Concord meeting-house was about eight miles north of Hamilton, and just this side of Collinsville. He continued pastor of the Hamilton Church until 1848, a period of more than thirty years. During the most of this time he preached three times each Sabbath-twice in his own church, and once in a school-house or unoccupied church. In addition to these labors he edited the "Christian Intelligencer, a monthly religious periodical. He was also for many years (about twenty-four in all) a member of the board of trustees of Miami University, and was always punctual in attending its meetings. His influence did much to promote the prosperity of that institution.
In 1848, he removed his family to Sparta, Randolph County, Illinois. Here he became pastor of the Union congregation, which, in a few years, became too large, in his opinion, to be cared for by one of his age. He resigned this charge, and removed to Monmouth, in order to edit the "Western United Presbyterian", in 1857. He was appointed to this position by the synod of Illinois. He was now nearly seventy years of age. He continued to discharge the duties of editor until 1862, when he resigned. He died in Monmouth, Illinois, June 15, 1870, in the eightieth year of his age.
In regard to the character and talents of Dr. MacDill, the writer prefers to present the testimony of others.
Professor Morrison, his biography, says: The fruit of his untiring labors in and about Hamilton is not all seen in the congregation he there collected, or the number of person brought into that branch of the Church of which he was a member…The influence of Dr. MacDill was felt all over the country… There was perhaps no man in Butler County who did more to mold public opinion for good than Dr. MacDill. He was ever on the lookout for opportunities of doing good to men and advancing the glory of God." (Pp. 18-20.)
The following testimony of a contemporary editor is also given: "As a writer he had few superiors. He was a skillful and cultivated logician, a profound and vigorous thinker, a general and accurate scholar, and a courteous and attractive Christian gentleman." The same writer speaks of Dr. MacDill's editorials as being "among the liveliest and best specimens of thought and style anywhere to be found." (Page 33.) Dr. J. B. Scouller, in the United Presbyterian Manual, says of him: "He wrote more for the periodical press than any man in the Church, having written very frequently during forty years for all the papers. The style of his articles was always clear, pointed, and terse, and the matter seasonable and judicious. The same qualities characterized his preaching, while his manner was quiet and subdued. He was reverent and devout in the pulpit, and yet frequently indulged in sarcasm, of which he was a thorough master."
Dr. J. G. Monfort, editor of the Herald and Presbyter, speaks of him as follows: Dr. MacDill was one of the ablest and best ministers this country has ever produced. His delivery was slow, and not impressive; but his sermons were models of rich, pure, accurate, and sound thought. For fifteen years, from 1820, we heard him preach almost every other Sabbath in Hamilton, Ohio, and no other minister has so excited our higher affections and veneration. His reputation where he lived and labored is a sweet perfume."
Of course, such a thinker and writer would be an opponent of injustice and the advocate of true moral progress. Dr. MacDill was among the earliest advocates of temperance and anti-slavery views. It was for the special purpose of advocating anti-slavery principles that the Christian Intelligencer, of which he was the editor, was established in 1825. At that time it required some courage to be an anti-slavery man.
From A History and Biographical Cyclopædia of Butler County Ohio, With Illustrations and Sketches of its Representative Men and Pioneers, Western Biographical Publishing Company, Cincinnati Ohio, 1882.