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| <tab>From the location originally of his family farm (i.e., the farm already mentioned as being on Lot 15 in the 1st Concession of Lancaster Township), known as Allan Grove, he began to build up one of the most remarkable GC ventures of his remarkably successful GC generation, namely his Allan Grove Combination of cheese factories (spelling also Allangrove). He established his first cheese factory on that farm in 1870 or 1871 or 1872. By 1889, he had 78 or 80 cheese factories in GC and adjacent areas of Eastern Ontario, in Huntingdon and Chateauguay counties in Quebec, and in northern New York State. The Allan Grove Combination is said to have been the largest of such cheese factory combinations in Canada by 1874, and to have controlled at one stage one-eighth of the production of cheese in Canada. Some of these factories he actually owned, others he controlled in various arrangements with the owners, who were usually the local farmers who supplied the milk for the factory. Macpherson provided skilful supervision of production, and skilful management of sales, the main market for the cheese being in Britain. An exceptionally fine portrait of Macpherson in J. A. Ruddick’s //An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Dairying Industry in Canada//, which was published by the Dept. of Agriculture, Ottawa, 1911, has a caption describing him–but can this claim be correct?–as “at one time the largest cheese manufacturer in the world.” | <tab>From the location originally of his family farm (i.e., the farm already mentioned as being on Lot 15 in the 1st Concession of Lancaster Township), known as Allan Grove, he began to build up one of the most remarkable GC ventures of his remarkably successful GC generation, namely his Allan Grove Combination of cheese factories (spelling also Allangrove). He established his first cheese factory on that farm in 1870 or 1871 or 1872. By 1889, he had 78 or 80 cheese factories in GC and adjacent areas of Eastern Ontario, in Huntingdon and Chateauguay counties in Quebec, and in northern New York State. The Allan Grove Combination is said to have been the largest of such cheese factory combinations in Canada by 1874, and to have controlled at one stage one-eighth of the production of cheese in Canada. Some of these factories he actually owned, others he controlled in various arrangements with the owners, who were usually the local farmers who supplied the milk for the factory. Macpherson provided skilful supervision of production, and skilful management of sales, the main market for the cheese being in Britain. An exceptionally fine portrait of Macpherson in J. A. Ruddick’s //An Historical and Descriptive Account of the Dairying Industry in Canada//, which was published by the Dept. of Agriculture, Ottawa, 1911, has a caption describing him–but can this claim be correct?–as “at one time the largest cheese manufacturer in the world.” |
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| <tab>Between 1886 and 1895, Macpherson’s enterprises, in agreement with the contemporary fondness for making giant cheeses (i.e., huge cakes or blocks of cheese) for advertising and publicity purposes, produced over 100 giant cheeses in the 1000-1200 pound range, “all of which were used for show window purposes in the United Kingdom.” (J. A. Ruddick in Innis’ //The Dairy Industry in Canada//, 67; see the entry for Ruddick in the present dictionary for his own involvement in the making of these large cheeses). In 1901, Macpherson shipped two gigantic cheeses, weighing 1000 pounds each, to the Glasgow exhibition. (//Glengarry News// 20 Sept. 1901) | <tab>Between 1886 and 1895, Macpherson’s enterprises, in agreement with the contemporary fondness for making giant cheeses (i.e., huge cakes or blocks of cheese) for advertising and publicity purposes, produced over 100 giant cheeses in the 1000-1200 pound range, “all of which were used for show window purposes in the United Kingdom.” (J. A. Ruddick in Innis’ //The Dairy Industry in Canada//, 67; see the entry for [[ruddick_john_archibald|Ruddick]] in the present dictionary for his own involvement in the making of these large cheeses). In 1901, Macpherson shipped two gigantic cheeses, weighing 1000 pounds each, to the Glasgow exhibition. (//Glengarry News// 20 Sept. 1901) |
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| <tab>He and later his son Duncan J. Macpherson were associated with J. T. Schell in the Alexandria firm of McPherson and Schell (Macpherson & Schell), which manufactured along with other wood products the elmwood cheese boxes used for packaging cheese. Like other well-to-do and prominent Glengarrians, D. M. Macpherson, no narrow specialist or victim of tunnel vision, was engaged in a wide range of activities, commercial and otherwise. He was an enterprising and adventurous farmer, and promoter of advanced techniques not just in dairying but in agriculture generally. And for an example of his many lesser involvements in GC affairs, he was one of several local people who provided (relatively small) sums of start-up money for J. C. McNeil’s //Glengarry Times// newspaper. He served as president of the Eastern Ontario Dairymen’s Association and of the Dominion Dairymen’s Association. | <tab>He and later his son Duncan J. Macpherson were associated with J. T. Schell in the Alexandria firm of McPherson and Schell (Macpherson & Schell), which manufactured along with other wood products the elmwood cheese boxes used for packaging cheese. Like other well-to-do and prominent Glengarrians, D. M. Macpherson, no narrow specialist or victim of tunnel vision, was engaged in a wide range of activities, commercial and otherwise. He was an enterprising and adventurous farmer, and promoter of advanced techniques not just in dairying but in agriculture generally. And for an example of his many lesser involvements in GC affairs, he was one of several local people who provided (relatively small) sums of start-up money for J. C. McNeil’s //Glengarry Times// newspaper. He served as president of the Eastern Ontario Dairymen’s Association and of the Dominion Dairymen’s Association. |
| <tab>At the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 he was among the people who won awards for cheese. | <tab>At the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 he was among the people who won awards for cheese. |
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| <tab>Through his work in promoting the GC cheese industry, so long the economic mainstay of GC farmers, D. M. Macpherson had a greater influence on GC economic history than any other man. His cheese factory on his Allan Grove farm was one of the first in the county. In the end, the GC cheese industry outlived Macpherson by only about forty years (a period a little longer, in number of years, than his own active career as a cheeseman), being effectively wound up in the 1950s. His employment served as a valuable “school” to instruct others in the cheese business, and not just in the actual work of making the product, but in the management of the business. For successful former employees, notable in the dairying business, see J. A. Kinsella, J. A. Ruddick, Wesley McLeod. One of his strongest abilities seems to have been that of a picker of talent–a feature notable in his choice of employees. Otherwise, Macpherson himself was clever, thoughtful, innovative and energetic, with a speculative touch, but he seems to have lacked a forceful personality, or at least as forceful a personality as one might expect from the remarkable success he enjoyed for so long–though not, as it turned out, to the end of his life. | <tab>Through his work in promoting the GC cheese industry, so long the economic mainstay of GC farmers, D. M. Macpherson had a greater influence on GC economic history than any other man. His cheese factory on his Allan Grove farm was one of the first in the county. In the end, the GC cheese industry outlived Macpherson by only about forty years (a period a little longer, in number of years, than his own active career as a cheeseman), being effectively wound up in the 1950s. His employment served as a valuable “school” to instruct others in the cheese business, and not just in the actual work of making the product, but in the management of the business. For successful former employees, notable in the dairying business, see [[kinsella_john_a|J. A. Kinsella]], [[ruddick_john_archibald|J. A. Ruddick]], [[mcleod_wesley|Wesley McLeod]]. One of his strongest abilities seems to have been that of a picker of talent–a feature notable in his choice of employees. Otherwise, Macpherson himself was clever, thoughtful, innovative and energetic, with a speculative touch, but he seems to have lacked a forceful personality, or at least as forceful a personality as one might expect from the remarkable success he enjoyed for so long–though not, as it turned out, to the end of his life. |
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| <tab>His title of the Cheese King came from the contemporary British and American practice of calling prominent businessmen the “King” of whatever form of commerce they excelled in. References to Macpherson, in whatever context, in the GC and Cornwall press of his time, usually include the title of Cheese King. This helped to distinguish him, of course, from other Macphersons. How widely the title was used by the people in everyday speech, as opposed to the press, we have no way of knowing. And when the term was used by the people, such as the farmers talking with their neighbours at the cheese factory, was it always used by them in the sympathetic way it was used in print? Indeed, how difficult it must have been for the GC Scots of his time, with their biting, mocking Celtic wit, to repeat that title of “Cheese King” without letting their intonation give a satirical edge to the words. Glengarry as much as Ireland had its Celtic “begrudging.” Once multitudes knew the answer to the question of how the populace used the title. Now, with the change of generations, it stands unanswerable. | <tab>His title of the Cheese King came from the contemporary British and American practice of calling prominent businessmen the “King” of whatever form of commerce they excelled in. References to Macpherson, in whatever context, in the GC and Cornwall press of his time, usually include the title of Cheese King. This helped to distinguish him, of course, from other Macphersons. How widely the title was used by the people in everyday speech, as opposed to the press, we have no way of knowing. And when the term was used by the people, such as the farmers talking with their neighbours at the cheese factory, was it always used by them in the sympathetic way it was used in print? Indeed, how difficult it must have been for the GC Scots of his time, with their biting, mocking Celtic wit, to repeat that title of “Cheese King” without letting their intonation give a satirical edge to the words. Glengarry as much as Ireland had its Celtic “begrudging.” Once multitudes knew the answer to the question of how the populace used the title. Now, with the change of generations, it stands unanswerable. |
