Hi, Annie
James is a forbear of my son-in-law, through Robert Nasmyth Macpherson.
I can’t be sure as to James' parents - there are several James Macphersons recorded as born in Lanarkshire around 1793. However, there is evidence to suggest that he was the son of the textile worker David McPherson and Agnes Walker, both formerly of the parish of Buchanan, Stirling, on the east bank of Loch Lomond.
Although the year of James’ death is not completely legible on the Macpherson family obelisk in the Glasgow Necropolis, we know from estate documents that he died on 15 January 1843. His age at death on the gravestone (48) indicates a birth between 16 January 1794 and 15 January 1795. However, the 1841 Scottish Census, which rounded ages to the nearest five years, understated his age as ‘40’, so his reported age at death may not be reliable.
The Census confirmed that he was born in Lanarkshire. There were two James McPhersons born there in this period, one to Robert McPherson, weaver, and Janet McGoune (McGowan) in Glasgow on 8/3/1794 and the other to John McPherson and Janet Whitelaw at rural Razehill (i.e., Raziehill) in Shotts parish on 23/10/1794. Another possible birth, on 05/07/1795 to Agnes McDonald, wife of the labourer and ‘poor’ sometime soldier John McPherson, falls after the period mandated by James’ declared age at death.
There is some evidence that James and his wife later followed the traditional Scottish naming pattern when their own children were christened: the eldest daughter and second son were certainly named after the wife’s parents, and the third daughter named after the wife. If the pattern was pursued exactly, the names of James’ eldest son and second daughter would suggest that his own parents were called James and Agnes. However, there is no record of a James born anywhere in Scotland during this decade to a M(a)cPherson couple so named.
As James called his third son (traditionally named after himself) David, we should consider the possibility that he was born at Glasgow, on 03/01/1793, to David McPherson and Agnes Walker, even though this would have made him 50 (rather than the stated 48) at death. The names of James’ other children echo, more than for other possible McPherson families into which he may have been born, those of McPherson/Walker children, though not comprehensively or in precise order. That a James McPherson of Glasgow, father David, studied anatomy at the University of Glasgow in 1812-13 lends weight to this probability.
David McPherson was a textiles worker, a callenderman (who imparted a smooth finish by passing fabric through heavy rollers) and clothlapper (who folded the finished product). He and ‘Agnas’, both of Buchanan, ‘gave up their Names to be proclaimed in Order of marriage July 19th 1778’. Buchanan was the birthplace of ‘Rob Roy’ McGregor and perhaps the ‘only true Highland parish’ in Stirling: it had a high proportion of Gaelic speakers. It is interesting that James and his wife were later married by Glasgow’s Gaelic Minister.
James was clearly an exceptional dental surgeon. He was a pioneer of new, more scientific, oral surgery techniques and, in August 1840, when American dentists founded the first national dental society, the American Society of Dental Surgeons, they included him among the dozen outstanding foreign practitioners elected as honorary members.
More to add about James but this for the moment
