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BIOGRAPHIES
 Source:
A Portrait and Biographical Record of Allen & Putnam
Counties, Ohio
Containing Biographical Sketches of Many
Prominent and Representative Citizens,
Together with Biographies and Portraits of all the
Presidents of the United States
and Biographies of the
Governors of Ohio
---
Publ. Chicago: A. W. Bowen & Co.
1896
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DAVID McPHERRON,
one of the most successful agriculturists of Perry township,
Allen county, Ohio, is the eleventh child of a family of
fourteen children born to William and Jane (McCamish)
McPherron, of whom further mention will be made a little
further on, thus permitting a few remarks teaching the ancestral
history of the subject of this sketch.
James McPherron, the paternal grandfather of our
subject, was a native of Ireland, probably of the northern part
of that island, and undoubtedly of Scottish extraction, as his
name would imply. However, he came to America prior to the
revolt of the colonies against the tyranny of the British
government, and settled in Greene county, Tenn., bringing with
him his wife and three children who were born in the old
country, he having there married and having had born to him the
following children - some of Irish birth and some of American
nativity: James, John, Robert, William and a daughter,
Betsey who was married to David Logan.
William McPherron, father of our subject, was born
in 1781, doubtless in Tennessee, where he learned the
blacksmith's trade, which for many years he carried on in
connection with the making of gun-barrels, at which he was an
expert, and also engaged in farming and distilling while still a
resident of Tennessee. In 1835 he came to Ohio and located
a mile and a half cast of the village of Liberty, then a
Champaign county, but, by division of territory, now in
Montgomery county, where he followed his trade for two years,
and then, in 1837, came to Allen county purchased eighty acres
of land in section No. 10, Perry township, and here laid the
foundation of a fortune. He first erected his blacksmith
shop, then cleared up his farm, which he wrought out from the
wilderness and made to "blossom as the rose." He made a
name and fame for himself throughout the surrounding country as
a gunmaker and was probably the best blacksmith that the
township of Perry saw for many years. As a farmer he had
few equals, and no one, in that early day, was more active than
he in advancing the interests of his township. In politics
a democrat, he served his fellow-citizens as township trustee,
and was a most public-spirited citizen in all respects. In
religion he was an adherent of the New School Baptists, and in
that faith he died on his farm in 1844, lamented and honored by
his family and an extended circle of friends. The children
who blessed the prolific union of William and Jane McCamish)
McPherron were named in order of birth as follows:
James, who died in Illinois; Elizabeth was married to
David Logan and died in Indiana; William also died
in Indiana; Margaret, who became the wife of William
Goetz, ended her days, also in the state of Indiana; John
died in Dayton, Ohio; Thomas died in Indiana;
Samuel died in Miami county, Ohio; Susan, wife of
Samuel Crossley, died in Perry township, Allen county, Ohio;
David is still living in the township last mentioned;
where Alexander the twelfth child, passed away his life;
Martha, now Mrs. Wilson, is a resident of Terre
Haute, Ind., where the fourteenth child, Mary A., ended
her days, the wife of Henry Lippincott.
David McPherron the subject of this memoir, was
born Oct. 12, 1823; in Greene county, Tenn., and came with his
father to Ohio in 1835, and, being a mere lad at that time,
received the greater part of his education in the pioneer
schools of Tennessee - log structures that they were, but filled
with a spirit of struggling ambition to acquire knowledge.
He was early mured to the toil of farm life, became a thorough
agriculturist, and on reaching his majority purchased the home
farm and finally cared for his beloved mother until her death in
1854. He then purchased forty acres in Perry township,
which he cleared up and turned into a neat and comfortable farm,
but did not long hold his residence there, as he chose to go to
Indiana, where he bought 130 acres in the northern part of the
state, and also purchased 360 acres across the border line in
Michigan. After a residence of four years in Indiana,
however, he returned to Ohio and purchased a farm of eighty
acres in Perry township, Allen county, and here has since made
his home.
The first marriage of Mr. McPherron was with
Miss Marietta P. Lippencott who died Mar. 10, 1869, leaving
three children, viz.: Morgan, Elizabeth, with of John
Scott, and Rillia, wife of John Burgess.
The second choice of Mr. McPherron as a helpmate was
Mrs. Mary Logan, who bore the maiden name of Graham,
and whom he married in 1870. In his politics Mr.
McPherron has always been a democrat, and by that party has
been elected to fill all, or nearly all, the offices of his
township; in religion the Christian church recognizes in him a
true and faithful member. In his farming industry he has
always made a success, although for several years he added
brick-making to his agricultural pursuits, and from that
industry also derived a handsome income. He is to-day one
of the most prominent citizens of Perry township, which he has
seen developed from a wilderness into a central home of modern
civilization, this happy consummation being the result, to a
great extent, of his own personal efforts.
Source: A Portrait and Biographical History of Allen and Putnam
Counties, Ohio, Publ. 1896 - Part I - Page 376 |
NOTES:
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