Daniel McPherson (c.1682 – 1755) was my 7th-great-grandfather and the progenitor of my branch of the McPherson family, being the great-grandfather of John McPherson, although there are lingering paternity doubts. Tradition says that he was kidnapped from Scotland as a teenager and sold into indentured servitude in Pennsylvania, where he converted to Quakerism. His origins are otherwise murky.
The spelling McPherson has stabilized in modern times. Past records for this family include variants such as Mackfarson, McFerson, and so on.
The major source for Daniel’s life has long been a McPherson history compiled by John Calvin McPherson (
Since then, many researchers have picked through surviving primary records to fill out details of the family and confirm, or disconfirm, John Calvin’s work. These records, such as wills and deeds, are more dry, but more reliable.
Research on Daniel and his family continues to be active and ongoing due to the large number of interested descendants.
We have no information about Daniel’s parents or other family back in Scotland, although there has been much speculation.
The discovery of a baptism of a Daniell McPherson on 1692-12-18 in Inverness led to hurried claims that Daniel’s family had been found. However, there are many reasons to doubt that this is the same person, including that it makes him considerably younger than expected, and anyway it’s a mere name. Subsequent research including DNA evidence has pretty much proven that this is not the same person.
There are other Daniel McPhersons who our Daniel is also sometimes confused with.
The results from the McPherson DNA project show that Daniel belonged to Y chromosome haplogroup R1a-FT110819, which reflects his male-line descent. The containing clade R1a-L448 is associated with Scandinaviaref ref, and more specifically the subclade R1a-L176.1 is associated with Viking incursions into Scotland and Ireland.
Scandinavian raids on the British Isles go back into the murky past, but starting around the 9th century, incursions became more significant, with several Viking settlements established. These continued till around the 12th century, when Viking power began declining and migration fell off. Settlers in Scotland adopted some aspects of local culture, but also brought their own practices and names, forming an amalgam that became known as Norse-Scottish or Norse-Gaelic.
By Daniel’s time, centuries later, these groups had been absorbed into Scottish society and were no longer a separate ethnicity. Male-line descendants of Vikings, such as Daniel, would probably be unaware of this remote heritage.
“Native” Scottish clans were generally in haplogroup R1b. This includes most other families named McPherson, which thus are not patrilineally related to ours.
For DNA evidence relating Daniel to me, see McPherson paternity.
We have basically no information about Daniel’s childhood in Scotland.
John Calvin writes that “While at home during a vacation, and while leisurely strolling on the wharf, he was kidnapped together with many others, gagged, and put into the hold of a vessel bound for Philadelphia.” Upon arrival, he was sold to cover the cost of his passage.
Pennsylvania law required that such servants be freed at the age of 22. His age may have been under-stated by his kidnappers to increase his value, although apparently servitude was capped at five years regardless of age. Daniel was purchased by a Quaker family, who reportedly treated him cruelly. Nevertheless, he was attracted by their religion and became a Quaker himself.
The earliest indication of Daniel being a free man is his purchase of 300 acres on 1706-10-10. The deed identifies him as a “labourer”.
His only marriage was to Ruth (
John Calvin relates a story where Ruth had a bitter dispute with her sister over a substantial inheritance, which she lost entirely. A search of contemporary records failed to turn up any evidence substantiating these events, and it seems likely the story is mostly or entirely false and was derived from confused oral tradition.
Daniel and Ruth had six children:
All but Othniel are mentioned in Daniel’s will, along with a daughter Ruth of Ann.
Daniel’s will was dated 1755-02-24 and proved 1755-08-06, so he died between those dates. More specific information, such as his place of burial, has not been found.