John Bethune

John Bethune (1751 – September 23, 1815) was a Scottish Presbyterian minister, who served and helped found Reformed congregations among the Scottish diaspora in the Colony of North Carolina, Quebec, and in Upper Canada. After fighting on the losing side during the American Revolution, Rev. Bethune fled northward and settled with other "United Empire Loyalists" in what remained of British North America. He founded Canada's first Presbyterian Churches, first in Montreal and then among his fellow Gaels in Glengarry County, Ontario. Rev. Bethune is the common ancestor of a very large and notable Scottish-Canadian extended family connected with the fur trade, politics, medicine, law and the ministry in several church denominations. He is the great-great-grandfather of Norman Bethune, the Canadian physician and medical innovator, and the great-great-great-grandfather of legendary stage and screen actor Christopher Plummer. Early life Rev. Bethune's maternal grandfather, Donald Campbell (1696-1784) of Scalpay, is best remembered for his involvement in the escape of Bonnie Prince Charlie in 1746, following the Battle of Culloden. The Prince was taken to Scalpay, to the home of Donald and Catherine (MacDonald) Campbell, which was a great risk as Donald Campbell was known to have supported the cause of the House of Hanover. Nevertheless, Bethune's grandfather's innately Gaelic cultural sense of hospitality to guests and his loyalty to his wife's Jacobite relatives meant that he welcomed and protected the Prince, despite their religious and political differences.