(8 Jan. 1830-21 Jan. 1906), administrator, soldier. (commonly named with military title, Lt. Col. or Col. John Macpherson; middle initial C. also found) Born at Lancaster, in GC. Parents: probably Kenneth Macpherson and his wife Mary Rose. His grandmother is stated to have been a first cousin of Sir Alexander Mackenzie.

     Macpherson began his working life as employee of a Montreal forwarding house, Macpherson, Crane & Co. Afterwards, he was in business on his own account in Montreal till 1861, when he was sufficiently involved in the affairs of the militia, a subject in which he was deeply interested, to give up business. Having become an ensign in a Montreal company of militia in 1849, he took part in 1856 in organizing the first Highland company of militia in Quebec province, and became in 1861 a major in the militia, and in 1865 a lt.-col. He served on the staff of the commander-in-chief of the regular forces during the Fenian Raids crises of 1866 and 1870. On the latter occasion, he accompanied General J. A. Lindsay and Prince Arthur to the threatened areas. In 1870, he became acting superintendent of military schools in the Dominion. Perhaps more than once, but certainly in 1870, he was acting deputy minister of militia and defence. In 1872 he joined the headquarters staff of the militia at Ottawa. He was appointed accountant of the dept. of militia and defence on 1 Sept. 1872. On 1 Nov. 1880, he became director of stores and keeper of militia properties. He retired on pension, Sept. 1897, after almost half a century of involvement in the affairs of the militia. He was a dedicated rifleman, and was treasurer for many years of the Dominion Rifle Association. The writer of his Cornwall Standard obituary noted, “For a number of years, he and his family were summer residents of Stanley Island [near Summerstown, GC], and he had many warm friends in this town [Cornwall]…” For a rather similar career in the militia , see the entry for Sir Donald Alexander Macdonald.

     Macpherson died in Ottawa. Presbyterian. He was married three times, his third wife being Anne Catherine Stewart (1851-1935), daughter of the Ottawa businessman and member of the House of Assembly William Stewart. (children) It may be noted that Alexander Macpherson (b. at Lancaster 10 Aug. 1830), who if the dates of birth of the two men are correct as stated here is unlikely to have been, as a few facts seem to suggest, John Macpherson’s brother, appears in Rose’s biographical dictionary of 1888 as a Montreal hardware merchant and a partner in Benny, Macpherson & Co., “now one of the leading hardware firms in Montreal.”

Glengarry News 26 Jan. 1906 (repr. Ross, Lancaster, 260-261); Cornwall Standard 26 Jan. 1906 * biog. sketches of him: Rose i, 318; Cochrane, IV, 465 (with portrait); Morgan (1898) 714-715 * information from the Directorate of History and Heritage, National Defence Headquarters, Ottawa * Campbell, Tannis, & Stewart, MacDougalls, 202-204 (with portrait) * obituary of his niece Mrs John L. MacCracken, née Jessie Alexandra Macbain, Standard Freeholder 31 May 1933 (good for family connections) * obituary and short death notices of Kenneth Macpherson (all undated clipping): ASC ii, 100 (two items), 137, 152; Kenneth’s death remembered: DTL SFH 24 Jan. 1948, based on Cornwall Freeholder 23 Jan. 1885 * Alexander Macpherson: Rose, ii, 778-779 (QF)