(1 Aug. 1834-20 Nov. 1890), businessman. (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, Donald Andrew McPherson, is also included in the present dictionary). He is said to have been involved in banking with the brother Donald Andrew in Deadwood, South Dakota. A Montreal directory for 1888-1889 lists James as an agent in Montreal for the Allan Grove Cheese Co., his brother D. M. Macpherson ’s firm. But the final shadows were frowning already on his life, for in a letter of 5 Dec. 1888 to R. R. (Big Rory) McLennan, written on the letterhead stationery of the Allan Grove Cheese Combination, D. M. Macpherson wrote of the illness and expected death of his brother James of Montreal from a malignant cancer on the breast. It was in Lancaster, at the home of D. M. Macpherson, that he died. The burial was at Salem Church, Summerstown. He is described in a death notice as being a “cheese exporter,” and “late of Montreal.”

     He was married (1) to Mary (Minnie) Cameron, who was the sister of John A. (“Cariboo”) Cameron, and (2) at Ottawa on 10 Dec. 1887 to Helena A. G. Austin. His daughter Mary (called Minnie) by the first marriage was the Miss McPherson who lived with John A. (“Cariboo”) Cameron and his second wife, and whose name often appears in newspaper references to this celebrated Cameron couple. For example, the Glengarry Times of 21 Jan. 1882 reported in the Lancaster column that “Mr. John A. Cameron (Cariboo), wife and his niece, Miss McPherson, visited friends in town.” Later, she was twice married, and she died in Chicago, 10 June 1936.

Cornwall Freeholder 21 Nov. 1890, cited DTL Standard Freeholder 23 Nov. 1946 * death notice of James and short obituary (undated clipping) of his first wife: ASC ii, 33, 58 * second marriage: CF 16 Dec. 1887, cited DTL SFH 11 Dec. 1948 * Fraser, Cameron: index * Archives of Ontario-RRM, as cited in text