At age 14, Mac­Kel­lar en­tered the print­ing com­pa­ny of Harp­er Bro­thers. In 1833, he moved to Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia, and joined the type found­ry of John­son & Smith as a proof­read­er. He sub­se­quent­ly be­came a fore­man, then a part­ner, in the firm, which from 1860 was known as MacKellar, Smiths and Jor­dan. Mac­Kel­lar’s works in­clude:

• Droppings from the Heart, 1844
• Tam’s Fort­night Ram­ble (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: 1847)
• Lines for the Gen­tle and Loving, 1853
• The Amer­i­can Print­er, 1866
• Rhymes Atween Times, 1872
• Hymns and a Few Me­tri­cal Psalms (Phil­a­del­phia, Penn­syl­van­ia: 1883; second edition, 1887)

Sources

Hymns

1. At the Door of Mercy Sigh­ing
2. Bear the Burden of the Present
3. Book of Grace and Book of Glo­ry
4. Draw Nigh to the Ho­ly
5. Father, in My Life’s Young Morn­ing
6. I Have No Hiding Place
7. I Will Extol Thee Every Day
8. In the Vine­yard of Our Fa­ther
9. Jesus! When My Soul Is Parting
10. O the Darkness, O the Sorrow
11. There Is a Land Immortal