!SOURCE: Rev. Dr. Donald MacKinnon and Alick Morrison, THE MACLEODS --
THE GENEALOGY OF A CLAN, Section III, "MacLeod Cadet Families",
Edinburgh, The Clan MacLeod Society, 1970, pp. 203-204.
John... was born in 1739 and was educated at King''s College, Aberdeen.
In 1762, he and his brother Roderick... were among the students who
"appeared before the Synod of Glenelg". The Synod "was requested to
encourage them with a view to the Holy Ministry". Rev. John became
jointly tenant of Balmore with his brother, Roderick, in1 753, and
continued in possession until 1772, when he decided to emigrate to
North Carolina. Here he ministered to the Highland community and 2
communion cups in Cumberland County still exist, each inscribed "for the
Presbyterian Congregation in Cumberland County under the care of the
Rev''d John McLeod, Apr. 21st 1775". These cups are obviously copied
from teh design of Sir Rory Mor''s communion cup in Kilmuir, Diurinish, in
Skye. One Sunday morning, early in 1776, Rev. John was preaching in the
church he had founded in Barbecue on the blessedness of being a subject
of George III, when the wagons of the American Army were heard coming
up the hill behind the church. "The minister managed to work his way
around to another subject by the time they arrived at the church, but
they arrested him nevertheless, on charges of having acted inimical to
the American Cause". He was soon released because of lack of proof, but
continued to make use of his sermons to recruit troops for George III.
Sometime between 1778 and 1780, he sailed for Scotland, but his ship
was never heard of again and he was presumed lost at sea. Rev. John
MacLeod, who knew Flora MacDonald and her family well as members of
his congregation in Barbecue Church, proved himself "a man of genuine
piety, great worth and popular eloquence". [Rev. James MacKenzie,
Olivia, North Carolina.]