Macwhorter, Alexander, 1734-1807

Alexander MacWhorter graduated Princeton University in 1757; was D.D. pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Newark, N.J.

Alexander Macwhorter (1734-1807) was a Presbyterian minister of Scottish descent. His maternal ancestors were among the first emigrants from Scotland to the North of Ireland, and his direct maternal ancestors and their children were wiped out in the massacre of 1641, with the exception of an infant from whom Macwhorter is descended. His parents emigrated to America about the year 1730 and settled in Delaware. Following his father's death, the family relocated to North Carolina. Macwhorter went on to live and work and North Carolina, South Carolina, and New Jersey, and he was a trustee of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University).

The Reverend Alexander Macwhorter was born in Newcastle County, Delaware, on July 15, 1734. He entered the College of New Jersey in 1756 while the college was still located in Newark, New Jersey. While there, Macwhorter studied under the college's President, Aaron Burr. Upon graduation, Macwhorter continued his divinity studies in Freehold, New Jersey under the Reverend William Tennant, and was licensed to preach in 1758. He was assigned to go to North Carolina and Virginia to serve destitute congregations, but after a preaching engagement in Newark, New Jersey, the Newark Presbyterians prevailed upon the church hierarchy to assign Macwhorter to the First Presbyterian Church in Newark as Pastor. He would serve the church in Newark from 1759 until his death in 1807.