REV. JAMES G. CARNACHAN, LL.D., pastor of Park
Avenue Congregational Church, Meadville, was born in Glasgow, Scotland,
August 29, 1829, and is a son of James S. and Jane (Black) Carnachan,
natives of Scotland. Their family consisted of eight sons and one
daughter, our subject being the oldest He received his education at the
Andersonian College, Glasgow, and entered the University of Glasgow the
session of 1843-44 and graduated in May, 1853. He entered the ministry the
same year in Scotland, and in 1856 came to America, settling in Tioga
County, Penn., as pastor of Nelson and Farmington Churches from December,
1850, to September, 1858. He was then called to Troy, Bradford County,
Penn., remaining there until May, 1866, when he assumed the pastorate of
the Grove Presbyterian Church at Danville, Penn, where he continued until
June, 1869. He then became pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of
Meadville, remaining in that capacity until the organization of the Park
Avenue Congregational Church in April, 1881, of which be has since been
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| Engraving from
the Centennial edition of the Daily Tribune-Republican, 1888. |
pastor. He was married June 16, 1856, to Mary Meldau,
only daughter of George Macfarlane, merchant, Glasgow. She died June 13,
1860. Of their family of five children, four survivetwo sons and two
daughters. Dr. Carnachan was again married June 2, 1868, to Rachel Ann,
only daughter of Robert H. Long, merchant, Lancaster, Penn. Rev. Dr.
Carnachan was in the service of the Christian Commission from August to
November, 1864, and was Superintendent at the Fifth Corps Depot Hospital,
City Point, Va. He was also elected Chaplain to the One Hundred and
Thirty-second Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry, an honor he was compelled
to decline. The title of LL.D. was conferred upon him in 1875 by the free
University of Naples by promotion.
History of Crawford County,
Pennsylvania: containing a
history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools,
churches, industries, etc., portraits of early settlers and prominent
men, biographies, history of Pennsylvania, statistical and miscellaneous
matter, Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1885, page 718-719
.