(1751-23 Sept. 1815), clergyman. Born on Isle of Skye, Scotland. Parents: Angus Bethune and Christian Campbell. He graduated from King’s College, Aberdeen. He emigrated to North Carolina in 1773, and tradition reports that he was a fellow passenger of the legendary Flora MacDonald, the heroine of the 1745 Rebellion and also at this period an emigrant to America. It is not clear whether Bethune was ordained as a minister before sailing. It is even possible that he was never ordained. In the war of the American Revolution, during which he served as a Loyalist chaplain, he was taken prisoner of war by the Americans in the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge. In Montreal after the war he was instrumental in founding the St. Gabriel Street Church. He came to GC in 1787. He may have settled at Williamstown in that year, but it has been argued (Harkness, MacMillan) that he lived at first along the St. Lawrence, perhaps at Summerstown, and did not settle in Williamstown till about 1804. He bought the Williamstown house built by the Loyalist Peter Ferguson and extended it. A few weeks after his death his wife sold the house to the explorer David Thompson. Known now as the Bethune-Thompson House this fine structure is preserved and honoured today as one of the historic houses of Ontario. Bethune ministered as clergyman to the Protestant Highland Scots in GC and Stormont. Besides his principal congregation at Williamstown he developed congregations at Lancaster, Martintown, Summerstown, St. Andrew’s and Cornwall. He preached in both Gaelic and English. He is remembered as being on excellent terms with his neighbour at St. Raphael’s, Fr Alexander Macdonell, the future bishop of Upper Canada. The building of the present stone church at Williamstown was begun in Bethune’s lifetime. He died at Williamstown, and is buried there. He was married in 1782 to Veronica (Véronique) Waddens, whose father, a soldier and fur trader, was one of the figures involved in the founding of the NWC. The children produced by this marriage were of remarkable distinction. Five of them have their own entries in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. Later descendants of importance include the Communist Dr Norman Bethune, of China. John Bethune was granted Lots 13-17 in the Gore of Charlottenburgh, GC, 23 Jan. 1805, totalling 413 acres.

Life in Dictionary of Canadian Biography V * A.H. Young, “The Bethunes,” Ontario Historical Society, Papers & Records 27 (1931) * Mary Larratt Smith, Prologue to Norman: the Canadian Bethunes (1976) * MacMillan, Kirk, which examines the evidence relating to Bethune’s ordination, the question of where he first settled in GC, the history of the construction of the present St. Andrew’s Church at Williamstown, and other matters. This is an indispensable source for the life of Bethune * Fraser, Gravestones, I, 151-153 * Harkness * “Highway Marker in N. Carolina Honors Rev. John Bethune,” news story with photograph of the marker (unveiled 30 Sept.), & editorial, Glengarry News 10 & 17 Oct. 1974 * There Came a Letter from John Bethune: Composed 1774 by John Macrae, the Bard of Kintail Performed (in Gaelic) by the Glengarry Gaelic Choir (1992) * Bibliography of Glengarry: index * Archives of Ontario-TP (Gore Charlottenburgh); Domesday Book * his letter 20 April 1814, from Williamstown, on War of 1812, printed GN 6 May 1971, 21 Dec. 1998