HUGH McPHERSON

One of the substantial citizens of Brandon district is Mr. Hugh McPherson,
the subject of this sketch. For over twenty-five years he has resided on
his
beautiful farm on Brandon Hills, and during that time has met with the
success that a man of his sterling qualifications deserves. Mr. McPherson
has seen this now populous district emerge form its native condition of
prairie into the finest wheat-growing section in Western Canada, and has
suffered and endured all the trials which the pioneer of that district had
to undergo, but through it all has never lost a particle of his estimation
for the country of his adoption, believing it to be the garden spot of the
Dominion of Canada.

Mr. McPherson is a native of Pictou county and was born January 26, 1845.
He
is a son of Alexander and Elizabeth (Murray) McPherson, both of whom were
early settlers of Pictou county and were there identified with agricultural
interests.

Mr. McPherson was educated in the public schools of his native county, and
until coming to Manitoba was engaged in farming, in railroading and in
lumbering. He came to Manitoba in April, 1879, and settled on his present
farm eleven miles southeast of Brandon. Here by pre-emption and by
homesteading, which was further added to by purchase, he is the owner of
one
thousand two hundred and eighty acres of land, and has also acquired six
hundred and forty acres in the northern part of the province. The principal
crop raised is wheat, and his property lies in one of the most fertile and
productive belts in the entire province.

In 1875 Mr. McPherson married Miss Margaret E. Sellers, who is also a
native
of Pictou country, and four children have been born of this union, Georgina
J, Maggie Hattie, Johnston and Angus Sellers.

While Mr. McPherson's farming operations occupied most of his time and
attention during his residence in Manitoba, he has felt it incumbent upon
himself to take a proper interest in the governing affairs of his adopted
country, and for fifteen years acted as a councillor of Brandon district,
giving his support to the Conservative party. Both Mr. and Mrs. McPherson
are consistent members of the Presbyterian church.

There are few men better known or more universally respected than Mr.
McPherson, and he numbers his friends by the score. As a representative man
of Manitoba he certainly deserves recognition in the history of the
province.

A History of the Manitoba:  Its Resources and People by Prof. George Bryce,
published by The Canada History Company, 1906., pp. 554-555.