My
Great, Great, Great Grandfather, Paul McPherson was born in the Western
(Grampian) Highlands of Scotland in 1734.
My
Great, Great, Great Grandfather, Paul McPherson was born in the Western
(Grampian) Highlands of Scotland in 1734.
There are two versions of his origins. A church record refers to Paul as being of Inverness.
His land grant of 1808 based on his military data states he was born in Banffshire:
"To his excellency Sir George prevost Lieutenant General Governor and Commander in Chief in and over his Majesty's province of Nova Scotia: The petition of Paul McPherson Humbly shewth, that your petitioner was born in Bannifshire in North Britain and that he served His Majesty in the 17th Regiment of Foot during the American War and was disbanded at the close of it having received several wounds."
The two locations are probably not more than 40 miles distant from each other, so the important element is that Paul was a Highlander. He was a lad of eleven when Bonnie Prince Charles landed in Scotland to lead the ill fated '45. In the battle at Cullonden, the MacPherson's under their Chief, The Cluny, were late to arrive. In the aftermath of that battle, clans were broken, and scattered, chiefs were exiled and the tartans were prohibited. As a young boy, Paul must have seen the ancient ways of the Scots die before his eyes. There was a massive exodus to the colonies of homesick Scots. This was the era that first heard the plaintive strains of "Ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low road and I'll be in Scotland afore ye". It should never be sung as a bouncy little ditty!! Few today know that the high road was simply the dirt highways on the land and the low road was the long subterranian passage of a dead soul back to the hills of home.
There were acts
of valor and acts of brutality on the battlefield of Culloden which shaped
the events in the decades after and altered the lives of all Scots forever.
The Duke of Cumberland, (who was known as "Sweet William" to the English
and "Stinking Billy" to the Scots) ordered a 
young
officer named Wolfe to dispatch a very young, wounded highlander who lay
on the ground before him. Wolfe refused, saying he would rather resign
his commission than commit an atrocity. A lackey did the Duke's dirty work
anyway. The word got around. After the '45 Wolfe as a General in British
North America would command regiments of fiercely loyal highlanders. It
was not cut and dried by clan or shire or faith who was on which side or
where their future loyalties lay.
In the years that followed our Paul obviously decided to "accept the King's Shilling" and enlisted in The King's 17th Regiment of Foot circa 1763. It is known that the regiment was raised in Leicestershire, England. Where Paul was and what he did to get by in the years between the Highlands and the Redcoat are unknown. But once he enlisted, there are a number of historical details available. In the notes a cousin found of military records, he is described as "5' 8" in his stocking feet, black hair, black eyed and black complexion" (in the idiom of the day, that did not mean he was "afro-scots" it was the common terminology for a swarthy individual.) To this day there are one or two in each generation of his descendants who have the typical dark "McPherson look" : dark thick hair, olive tone complexion and brown eyes. In the photos further on in this site, you will see what I mean.
So, I had some notion of Paul's appearance, and I began to wonder about the details of the uniform he wore. After surfing a few historical newsgroups, Terry Crabb of the 64th Regiment re enactors kindly provided the following information: "The uniform of the 17th had greyish white facings, and the buttonhole lace was white with one yellow and two blue stripes. The Officers had silver lace around the buttonholes and around their hats. " Paul was not an officer and so would have worn his hair roughly shoulder length, tied back in a queue with a leather thong. The officers would have worn powdered wigs with side curls and queue arranged to hold the high heavy hats in place.
Paul would have been present in the Review of the Regiment at Chatham in 1769: Officers - properly armed, uniforms good, faced wwith white and quite plain. White vests and breeches. Silver epaulettes, laced hats. Arms- delivered in 1767-68, bad slings. Clothing- delivered in 1768. Tight, well fitted white linen pants Grenadiers still have cloth caps, fur ones not ready. Black linen gaiters, leather tops, black garters, neat. Remarks - fine reigiment.
From the Review at Galway, 1775 : Officers - scarlet coat, small round cuff, collar and lappels to waist, white, with a silver laced epaulette, silver buttons numbered. White lining, vest and breeches. Silver hilted swords, crimson and gold sword knots. Silver gotget and rest according to His Majesty's orders. Men - good size, young, neat black spatterdashes (all to recieve new accoutrements this year) --- Galway is in Ireland and the new accoutrements were certainly in anticipation of deployment in the American Colonies.
In 1775 Paul was shipped to North America with his regiment for combat in the American Revolutionary War. The Pennsylvania Gazette reported December 6, 1775:... "That the 17th Regiment is arrived at Boston, and that 32 provision vessels may be hourly expected there from England. That the Roebuck, of 40 guns, and the Venus frigate, are destined for New York in the room of Asia; and that from the preparations in England there is not the least prospect of a reconciliation for some time to come."
Given the timing of the arrival of the 17th in Boston, it is inevitable that Paul participated in the evacuation of the Loyalists from Boston. About 1000 households (6,000 people) fled to the area of Halifax in March of 1776 under deplorable circumstances. The garrison in Halifax did not have the shelters or materials with which to make shelters for these refugees. Many spent cold wet months in lean-to's in the areas around the Harbour now known as Bedford and Dartmouth. Eventually, supplies arrived and grants of land and goods were given to these first United Empire Loyalists. They then spread out into Nova Scotia to homestead. These early Loyalists would come to play a large role in Paul's later life and that of his descendants.
Some refugees dispaired and went back to the New England colonies feeling either that the Revolutionaries couldn't treat them much worse or that the arrival of the Redcoats and the Hessians meant that British rule would soon be firmly re-established.
The facts on record are: The 17th arrived in Boston in 1775; left for Halifax, Nova Scotia with the rest of the British Army, returned for the New York campaign in 1776; Pennsylvannia in 1777; Yorktown in 1781; they were "exchanged" in New York 1783.
After the 17th arrived in New York for the 1776 Campaign, they briefly estabilished their regimental headquarters in a barracks in Trenton, New Jersey. This base was created by the British North American soldiers during the French and Indian War. It is still in existance today. Its latest incarnation is as a musem of the Revolutionary War. It even has a website,The Old Barracks Museum which is set up as an online re-enactment experience.
From the summer of 1776 to December 1778 Paul was a prisoner of war. He received serious injuries to his right arm, leaving him slightly disabled. By 1783 Paul was probably stranded on Long Island, New York with others of his surrendered regiment. He accepted the offer of lands for Loyalists and a wagon load of supplies with which to homestead. In lieu of receiving a Chelsea pension back in Britain, he was granted land in Guysborough County, Nova Scotia. By 1785 Paul had been granted one town block in the town of Guysborough and other front and back lands in the county.
Paul was no longer
a near penniless foot soldier. He was a man of property. So he gotmarried.... 
possibly
in New York to a girl of Loyalist family -- or possibly in Guysborough
or Halifax. The birth of the first child in 1785 makes 1784 the probable
year of the marriage. We know his wife's name was Mary and the census of
1817 confirms that she was of English birth and was born in the year 1754.
They eventually had eight children. One family researcher believes that
In 1787, Paul McPherson was granted the status of UEL (United Empire Loyalist)
Unfortunately, the paper trail has either been lost, or a there was a mistaken
assumption that the grant of lands for Military Service was in fact as
a UEL.
The history of the soldiers settlement is given in: "The History of the County of Guysborough, Nova Scotia" by Harriet Cunningham: "Late in 1783, after the ground was covered with snow, a detachment of disbanded soldiers (British) came from the United States to Port Mouton, Nova Scotia. They built such houses as they could, and called their town Guysboro. The name is still retained there for the Township. The first church, Christ's Church, was erected in 1790 on the site still occupied for that purpose. The entrance was at the west end. It was furnished with a small (illegible). The great gale of 1811 laid it to ruins. It was rebuilt and still stands. It is an Anglican church."
Further details have recently been provided by Patricia Lumsden , the Co-ordinator of The Guysborough GenWeb Project " When the disbanded soldiers first arrived in Nova Scotia, they landed in Port Mouton, near the area of Sheburne, started a settlement there where they remained for the winter and named it Guysborough. However, the following spring, the entire settlement was burned because of a careless fire. The settlers then moved eastward and landed in Manchester, and later the town was renamed Guysborough also." The township of Manchester had been settled largely by the Early New England United Empire Loyalists.
Information recieved from a distant cousin who viewed this page was that as a young girl she had been told that Mary's maiden name was probably OLIVER. There was an Oliver present in Guysborough on record at that time as an ex-soldier of the Duke of Cumberland's Own. There were also grandsons named Oliver Paul or Paul Oliver which is keeping with traditional naming practices.
When Paul and Mary's sons were big enough to swing an axe, Paul and his boys cleared a "road" to Antigonish (most likely a narrow trail over the mountains) and received further grants of land for their efforts.
Paul McPherson died May 28, 1828 in Guysborough, Nova Scotia and Mary died March 10, 1846 also in Guysborough.
The children of Paul and Mary and their descendants are listed below. The links will take you to the genealogy reports on the families of each. In some cases I begin with the parents of a spouse because in the early years of the settlement the families were often closely interrelated. For instance, the church records state that Mary and Margaret were wed on the same day to half brothers of the Leet/Leete family. So far I have no information on Robert other than the fact recorded by previous researchers that he led a long life. Perhaps he never married?