Hugh McPherson was born January 25, 1845 at West River, Nova Scotia. He married Margaret Esther Sellers (b. March 18, 1849 at Six Mile Brook, Nova Scotia) on February 5, 1875 at Six Mile Brook, Nova Scotia. The couple moved to Brandon Hills, MB c. 1880. Together they had four children: Georgina (Georgie) Jane; Harriet (Hattie); Johnston (Jack); and Angus.
The couple lived at Watervale, NS until they moved to Manitoba with the Brandon Hills settlers. Hugh travelled to Brandon Hills with the Roddick group in 1879, leaving his wife and three children in Nova Scotia. He selected the N.E. 1/4 of section 10, township 9, range 18 as his homestead. Margaret and the children joined Hugh in 1880.
Situated as it was just north of the river and slightly to the east of the end of the hills, the McPherson home became a sopttin house for travellers from the south making their way to and from Grand Valley and later Brandon. The family records show that literally scores of people stayed with the family during the early years. The fee charged for a meal for the driver plus feed for a team was thirty-five cents. Nellie McClung later described the farm and the stopping-house in one of her early books.
Hugh McPherson died at Brandon Hills, MB on March 7, 1916. Margaret Esther Sellers McPherson died at Brandon Hills, MB on July 13, 1935.
In the fall of 1892, Margaret's brother, Angus Sellers and his family arrived at the McPherson home. Included in this part was Margaret's two sisters Jessie Murray and Libby Sellers. The Sellers family remained with the McPherson's until mid-summer of 1893, when they moved to their new farm at Bunclody.
In 1902, after the death of his wife Blanche, Arthur Prowse accepted Margaret McPherson's offer to foster his daughters Winnie and Kitty. The girls stayed with the McPherson's until their marriages; Winnie to Alex Brown and Kitty to Frank Allbright.
Scope and Content
Contains the following files:
5.1 Margaret McPherson correspondence 1903-1926
5.2 Margaret McPherson correspondence 1927-1931
5.3 Margaret McPherson correspondence 1932-1935
5.4 Margaret McPherson correspondence (undated)
5.5 Margaret McPherson burial/marriage notices 1895-1924
5.6 Margaret McPherson greeting postcards
5.7 Mr. and Mrs. H. McPherson non-greeting postcards
5.8 Margaret McPherson non-greeting postcards
5.9 Hugh Mcpherson notebook 1871
5.10 Hugh McPherson financial records 1913-1918
5.11 Hugh McPherson postcards
5.12 Libby Sellers non-greeting postcards
5.13 Libby Sellers greeting postcards
5.14 Libby Sellers correspondence 1882-1936 (some undated)
5.15 Kitty and Winnie Prowse correspondence and postcards 1916-1923
Notes
Part of the Alfred Angus Murray McPherson collection
Duncan Alexander MacGibbon, economist, was born in Lochaber Bay, Quebec, on 12 March 1882. He was educated at McMaster University and then went to Brandon College, Manitoba, to teach. He left Brandon to enrol at the University of Chicago where he received his Ph.D. in economics in 1915. He began to teach at McMaster University but his teaching career was halted by World War I. After the war he joined the University of Alberta as professor and head of the Department of Political Economy. He served as Commissioner for the Alberta Government on banking and credit with respect to the industry of agriculture in 1922. He was a member of the Royal Grain Inquiry Commission, Canada, 1923-1924. He left the University of Alberta in 1929 to become a member of the Canadian Board of Grain Commissioners, a post he held until his retirement in 1949. In 1930 he was attached to the Canadian delegation to Imperial Conference, London; in 1932 he served the same role at the imperial Economic Conference in Ottawa in 1932. After his retirement, he returned to McMaster University to teach part-time. Among his many writings, MacGibbon published two definitive books on the grain trade: The Canadian Grain Trade (1932) and The Canadian Grain Trade, 1931-1951 (1952). He died in Hamilton, Ont. on 10 October 1969.
Scope and Content
Item is Duncan Alexander MacGibbon's Bachelor of Arts degree (1908) from McMaster University.
Notes
History/Bio information taken from the Duncan Alexander MacGibbon fonds (McMaster University Archives.)
Language Note
Diploma is in Latin, although liberties have been taken with the language, particularly in the case of names.
Storage Range
Oversized drawer 2
Related Material
Duncan Alexander MacGibbon fonds (McMaster University Archives)
