(29 May 1841-4 Aug. 1920), banker. (D. A. McPherson, Donald A. McPherson) Born presumably on his parents’ farm, which was on Lot 15, in the 1st Concession of Lancaster Township, GC. Parents: John McPherson and his wife Catherine Cameron. For the family background and connections, see the entry for his brother David M. Macpherson, called the Cheese King (another brother, James McPherson, is also included in the present dictionary).

     Donald A. McPherson attended the local school, and the grammar schools at Williamstown and Cornwall. He attended Upper Canada College briefly in 1866 , being at this time somewhat older than most of the students, but he was evidently not, as has been claimed, a University of Toronto graduate, and he attended an institution described as the Military School of Toronto or the Canadian Military College of Toronto, which was presumably the militia training school set up in Toronto in 1864 (there were similar schools in other cities) by the Canadian government in response to the American Civil War. As a young man, he taught school for several years in Canada. When he was visiting GC in 1889, it was reported that he had taught 25 years earlier in the public school at Lancaster, where he had an average attendance of over 100 pupils. (Lancaster columnist in Glengarrian, 31 May 1889) He lived 1867-1872 in Helena, Montana, 1872-1874 in Bozeman, Montana, where he is reported to have been involved in founding a bank, and 1874-1877 in Minneapolis, Minn., where he was in the lumber business.

     In 1877 he settled in the pioneer town which was to be his home for the remainder of his life, Deadwood, in the Black Hills of South Dakota, the exact date of his arrival being remembered as 20 May 1877.

     He became cashier of the First National Bank of Deadwood in 1882, and held this position over many years, being appointed president of the bank on 1 Jan. 1918 and remaining president till his death. Cashier, in the system of the time and place, seems to have had a meaning closer to treasurer than to teller or wicket clerk. McPherson was county commissioner for Lawrence County (the county in which Deadwood is situated) for six years. Also, he represented Lawrence County in the South Dakota state Senate for two consecutive terms, being elected in 1908 and 1910. It is said that he “was offered the governorship but declined owing to his banking interests.” (Cornwall Freeholder obituary) He was a Republican. He was president and treasurer of a mining company called Wasp No. 2, and he was reported to be “the owner of considerable city property, having made judicious investments in real estate.” (Smith) Deadwood has its place in history as one of the celebrated towns of the Old Wild West. Looking back, we may speculate, however erroneously, about what a great experience McPherson and his townsmen had in seeing it “live.” No doubt this admirably resourceful Glengarrian and pioneer contributed much to the economic development of the town. For others, the role was to contribute to its legends. But alas, as for Deadwood today, a Glengarry visitor of 2003 found it “a horrendous combination of tourist trap and gambling den, substantial but despicable. There has been much restoration of old buildings.”

     McPherson died at his home in Deadwood. (six children) He was an Episcopalian. At Helena, Mont., on 31 July 1872, he was married to Caroline M. Ricker (d. 15 Oct. 1899), a native of Kansas. Two of their children died in October 1877, during McPherson’s first year in Deadwood.

The Weekly Pioneer-Times (Deadwood, Black Hills, S. D.) 5 Aug. 1920, Cornwall Freeholder 26 Aug. 1920, Glengarry News 27 Aug. 1920 * biog. sketches in Memorial and Biographical Record: the Black Hills Region: an Illustrated Compendium of Biography (1898) 289-290, and Biographical Directory of the South Dakota Legislature 1889-1989, Vol. Two (The South Dakota Legislative Research Council, 1989) 737 (with portrait), and, with more detail, in George Martin Smith, ed. South Dakota: Its History and Its People, Vol. IV: Biographical (1915) 683-684 (this work being part of George W. Kingsbury’s History of Dakota Territory) * Fraser, Cameron: index * Ross, Lancaster, 297-298 * revisits GC, CF 10 Feb. 1882 * bank at Bozeman, Mont.: it has not so far been possible to find evidence to verify the claim about the bank