John McPherson (c.1787 – c.1858) and Sarah McDonald (c.1787 – c.1868) were my 4th-great-grandparents, being the parents of James D. McPherson. Direct proof that they are his parents is lacking, but a good amount of evidence, including from DNA, supports it. I have nonetheless done less research on this family, pending more convincing proof.
Family
Here are the 9 children generally attributed to John and Sarah, for who I have done limited checking of my own:
- Joel (1807-10-28 – 1888-06-13)ref, married Amanda McClung.
- James D. (1810-01-18 – 1892-08-19), my great-great-great-grandfather.
- Margaret (c.1816–c.1896), married Edward Pyott.
- Sarah Jane (1819-02-12? – 1849-09-11)ref, married Eben Taylor Laws.
- Julia Ann (1819-02-17? – 1900-05-03)ref, married Harrison Lunceford. Presumably a twin, but their reported birthdates differ by a few days, presumably due to error.
- Mahala (1821-07-27 – 1908-02-19)ref, married James Harvey Arbuckle.
- Elizabeth (1823-07-07 – 1890-01-17)ref, married William Stewart.
- Alzira (c.1825 – after 1880)ref ref, married Franklin Holmes.
- John William (1826-09-18? – 1895-06-12)ref, married Margaret A. Withrow.
Records
Our best information for their birthdates come from the 1850 and 1860 Federal censuses, in both of which they are living in Upperville, Virginia, without any children. Both are present in the census taken 1850-08-02 reported as born in Virginia and aged 62.ref Sarah is in the 1860 census aged 74, presumably widowed, with her birthplace stated as Fauquier County. These ages are slightly inconsistent, as is not uncommon, but we can guess she was born around 1787, and the same for her husband.
They are also found in earlier censuses, which however only give counts and age ranges:
| Year | Place | Counts | Inferred births |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1810ref | Fauquier Co., VA | 2 ♂ <10, 1 ♂ 16–25, 1 ♀ 16–25 | 1784–1794 ♂♀ 1800–1810 ♂♂ |
| 1820ref | Upperville, VA | 1 ♂ <10, 1 ♂ 10–15, 1 ♂ 26–44, 4 ♀ <10, 1 ♀ 26–44 | 1775–1794 ♂♀ 1804–1810 ♂ 1810–1820 ♂♀♀♀♀ |
| 1830ref | Upperville, VA | 1 ♂ <5, 1 ♂ 20s, 1 ♂ 40s, 1 ♂ 80s, 2 ♀ 5–9, 4 ♀ 10–14, 1 ♀ 40s | 1740–1750 ♂ 1780–1790 ♂♀ 1800–1810 ♂ 1815–1820 ♀♀♀♀ 1820–1825 ♀♀ 1825–1830 ♂ |
They could not be found in 1840.
The 1830 one is unusual. There is a much older male, unidentified; he could not be either’s father. John and Sarah are reported as in their 40s, when they by above should be about 52; however, such discrepancies are, again, common. The rest of it, such as the name, the town, and the run of young females, pretty clearly indicates it’s the same family.
The correspondence to the above list of children is quite good. The only stretch is that James is listed as under 10 in 1820, when according to his recorded birth, he had already turned 10, a minor discrepancy. Alzira is reported as 25 in 1850ref, but later censuses indicate she is younger; based on her being reported as at least 5 in 1820, I use the earlier date for her estimated birth above.
Origins
There is not great documentation of the earlier McPherson generations. John is supposed to be the son of Joseph, wife’s name uncertain. His mother is sometimes given as Abigail Spiggott, but this appears to be confusion with a different John, born in North Carolina. Joseph’s parents are supposedly Stephen McPherson and Mary Pyle, and Stephen is the son of the “kidnapped” Daniel McPherson. I am still waiting for better evidence for these generations. DNA evidence shows a possible problem; see McPherson paternity.
Sarah was the daughter of Jared McDonald and Eleanor Atkinson. Many descendants report having information about this couple, but I have not researched them myself. They may be Scottish immigrants, but that is speculative. I have DNA matches to descendants of several siblings of Sarah, including Jared Jr., Nancy, and Samuel. This provides good corroboration for my descent at least from Sarah.
Ancestry of John
As noted above, there are uncertainties with this pedigree.