====== Mair, James ====== (29 April 1832-4 Feb. 1875), clergyman. Born in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. He attended Aberdeen Grammar School, Marischal College, and the University of Glasgow. In 1856, as a young minister, he came to Canada, where he served as a minister in Nova Scotia for several years. On 27 Sept. 1860, he was inducted as minister of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church (now St. Andrew’s United Church), Martintown, GC. D.N. MacMillan in //The Kirk in Glengarry// quotes from some vivid reporting in //The Presbyterian// relating to the Rev. James Mair’s share in the old-style Glengarry delight in sleigh drives. Rhodes Grant preserved the tradition that he “had a landscape gardener beautify the manse grounds,” which for many years afterwards presented “one of the most beautiful views of the village.” While minister at Martintown, he was married, at Montreal on 21 May 1863, to Margaret Beveridge, a native of Scotland who had come to Canada early in life with her family. Before the marriage she was living at St. Andrew’s, Que., just past the Ottawa River east of GC. The Rev. James Mair appears to have had a problem with drink. Rhodes Grant flatly says, “He proved to be another hard drinker…” It was perhaps because of this problem that the Rev. James Mair resigned his Martintown pastorate in May 1868. He moved to the United States, where he worked as a surveyor. Accidentally or deliberately, he met his death by drinking carbolic acid, in the area of Lake Shetek in the SW corner of Minnesota. A family report was that coming home cold and tired, he mistook it for whisky. Burial was at Currie, Minn. He was the father of David Beveridge Mair. ---- Biog. information in Philip Beveridge Mair, //Shared Enthusiasm// (Surrey, Ascent Books, 1982) * Macmillan, //Kirk//, 105-107, 158, and sources noted there * Rhodes Grant, i, 59, iii, 14 * Whyte, i, 20, 327 * //The Presbyterian// (Jan. 1863) 1-2, 8-10: Mair’s claim to a stipend from a national fund of his church (not a dispute with his Martintown congregation; includes a letter by Mair repr. from Toronto //Globe)// [<6>]