Mckearn, Richard

Mckearn, Richard a Baptist minister, was born in Rawdon, Ireland, Aug. 22, 1804, and emigrated with his parents, while yet a youth, to the British possessions this side the Atlantic, and finally settled at Rowdon, N. F. Richard was reared in the Episcopal Church, but in 1820 was converted under the preaching of elder James Munro, a Baptist evangelist, and in 1821 finally joined the Baptists; he began preaching in 1826, and March 10, 1828, became the pastor of a congregation at Rowdon In May, 1829, he was called upon to assume the pastors ate of a Baptist congregation at Windsor also, and he thereafter preached both at Rowdon and Windsor until about 1836, when ill health compelled him to withdraw from the ministry. Deprived of the advantages of academic training, he had prepared for college while in the ministry, and in 1839 matriculated at King's College, and there graduated in due course of time, and took his degree of B.A. In 1842, his health still too feeble to reenter the ministry, he removed to Dartmouth, and established himself in business. He died Aug. 17,1860, acknowledged by all who knew him to have been "a conspicuous example of unbending Christian integrity, and earnest, steadfast devotion to the cause of Christ." "As a preacher," says one of his contemporaries and associates, "Mr. McKearn commanded the full attention of his auditory. His manner was earnest and energetic; his subjects practical, and treated with clearness and precision. Their application to the heart and conscience was with great power. His language was free and copious, his voice excellent, and capable of great modulation. As his subject required, he was earnestly winning and persuasive, or denounced with fearful energy the courses of the ungodly." See The Christian Messenger (Halifax), Oct. 17, 1860.