An Energetic and Self-sacrificing Rector: The Rev. Henry MacKay

The first rector of St. Paul’s Church was the Rev. Henry MacKay (pronounced “Mac-eye”) (seen here as a young man) A Scotsman, MacKay was born on the Rock of Gibraltar on June 15, 1822. In Canon Richard Davies 1957 history of our parish it was reported that MacKay had earlier been a missionary in Bermuda before coming here. Discussions with MacKay’s great-grandson, Mr. Edwin Shaw of Juneau, Alaska, however have revealed that this was likely not the case. According to Mr. Shaw, MacKay first came to America because he did not want to work in his family’s whiskey distillery in Scotland.

In any case, MacKay was ordained to the priesthood on October 24, 1859 by Bishop Samuel Bowman, and served as a missionary in Beaver County before coming to Monongahela. The Rev. Norman writes of the years of MacKay’s ministry here during the Civil War:

For several years little more could be done than to keep the little flock together, and even this was a difficult and delicate task during those feverish excitements that disturbed the late Rebellion. It is a proof of faithful and successful pastoral work, that amidst such trials and distracting circumstances, no material loss should be sustained in numbers, nor spiritual decay be felt in the work…

MacKay was instrumental in the organization and fundraising for the construction of our current church building. On September 3, 1866, the cornerstone was laid by the Rt. Rev. John Kerfoot, first bishop of Pittsburgh. In his official diary Bishop Kerfoot wrote that he was pleased to find in Monongahela a “vigorous parish” with an “energetic and self-sacrificing” rector striving hard to complete their house of worship.

In 1869, the church building still unfinished, the Rev. MacKay was called away from Monongahela to do missionary work in the eastern parts of Butler County. MacKay later spent most of his career serving a parish in Newton Lower Falls, Massachusetts. In 1883 MacKay was present at the consecration of St. Paul’s Church building and “saw his long-deferred hopes fulfilled and realized that his labor had not been in vain”

After a long and devoted career in the ministry the Rev. Henry MacKay (seen here in later years) retired westward to New Mexico. There he was active in many successful and important business ventures. He died in 1906 and is buried in Las Vegas, New Mexico.