James McPherson’s neighborhood

(26 Sept., cont.) Here is another view of the upper Mad River valley. The bridge over the river is at the little hump on the road just ahead.

As best I can tell from the way it is written, it was one of the neighbors living near this place who claimed that James McPherson, the former Indian captive, was the grandfather or great-grandfather of the Civil War general of the same name. From page 510 of the 1881 history of Champaign county (much of which is also quoted in the previous post):

On the 23d of August, 1880, on a visit to an aged friend, James Black, Esq., of Salem Township, the writer found the old man in his eighty-fourth year, weak and feeble in body and mind, but strong in honesty, honor and noble feeling. With the assistance of his obliging sons, John and James, he gave the following historical incidents. His father, Capt. Alexander Black, settled on Mad River, in Salem Township, in 1809. Judge McPherson, then an Indian trader, lived on what is now known as the Samuel Black farm. This point was first settled by a Frenchman named Deshicket, in 1794 ; he was probably the first resident white settler in what is now Champaign County. In the spring preceding Wayne’s decisive battle, August 20, 1794, Deshicket resided near the Greenville treaty ground. He warned the Indians that they had better remove, if they remained where they were they would have trouble. The white woman named Molly Kiser, spoken of elsewhere in this work, resided at this place in the family of Judge McPherson, as a servant or help. Judge McPherson was grandfather or great-grandfather of Gen. McPherson, who was murdered by guerrillas during the war of the rebellion. Sometimes there were five hundred Indians or more camped around McPherson, on Mad River.

So it seems that this information came from James Black. The scene in the above photo is in the Salem Township that is spoken of here, and the 1874 atlas shows Blacks owning various pieces of property to the east (left in the photo). He said McPherson had lived on what was known as the Samuel Black farm. It’s hard to say which one was known as the Samuel Black farm in 1874. It appears that some properties were in the name of his widow, Mary. (I checked census records to verify that Samuel’s widow was named Mary.) Others were owned by James Black, probably the same man who was interviewed for the county history, or perhaps by his son of the same name.

Did he (or his interviewer) know what he was talking about when he said James McPherson, the one-time Indian captive, was the grandfather or great-grandfather of Gen. McPherson? My guess is no, he did not. I base this in large part on what I was able to find out about this Gen. James B. McPherson. A Wikipedia article about him is here. His house still stands in Clyde, Ohio, near Fremont, which is famous for being the site of a War of 1812 battle at which Black Hawk was present, and which is also the home of the Rutherford B. Hayes Presidential Library. It so happens that there is an open house at the McPherson home this coming weekend, but I don’t think we’ll be able to go. Maybe it can be a bicycling destination someday.

The curator of the Clyde museum responded to a request for information about this, and informed me that Gen. James B. McPherson’s father’s name was William, that his grandfather’s name was John, and that the family came from New York. That doesn’t match anything I’ve learned about the the James McPherson who once lived with Shawnee Indians in Salem Township. James B. McPherson was born near Clyde, in 1828. Nothing I’ve been able to find makes it likely that a descendant of James McPherson, the Red-Faced Man, would have been there raising a family in 1828.

What is known about the descendants of the James McPherson who lived with the Shawnee? According to “Shawnee Heritage,” a recent publication, he had two sons, Henry and James Jr., with his first wife, a Shawnee woman. Henry McPherson’s name pops up in various places in the old histories of the region, but not in anything connected to Fremont or Clyde, Ohio. In 1809 James McPherson married a woman who had been adopted by Ottawa people. Shawnee Heritage says nothing is known about children he may have had with his second wife. Somewhere in one of the old histories, in a place I can’t find right now, I did find the name of a child born to this second wife, but it’s not a name that leads one to General James McPherson.

So the claim that the one famous James McPhersons was a descendant of the other seems to be bogus. It’s too bad, because it would be an interesting connection between two people who are important in Ohio history. But it doesn’t seem to be true.

A few more points about James Black and his father, Alexander.

1. If Alexander Black moved there in 1809, and the land where James McPherson lived in 1809 was owned by a Black in 1874, does that mean that one of the Blacks bought the land out from under McPherson when it was put up for sale by the U.S. government? It’s hard to say, but even if he did there is not a lot of reason to feel sorry for McPherson. He did all right for himself when the U.S. government arranged for him to get a good chunk of land in one of the treaties — probably for his services in getting the Indians to cooperate.
2. According to a roster of Ohio soldiers in the War of 1812, Alexander Black was indeed captain of a militia company — one that served for all of 8 days in August 1812.
3. Two interesting names in this roster are Moses McIlvain Sr., and Moses McIlvain Jr. Moses McIlvain was a person who later got James McPherson’s job as Indian agent. The 1874 county map shows McIlvains owning land in the same neighborhood where the Blacks lived.

Speaking of people who owned land in this neighborhood, another interesting name on the 1874 map is that of Kiser. One property is labeled “J. Kiser’s heirs” and another is labeled “I. & J. Kiser”. Any connection to the Molly Kiser who also lived with the Shawnee? It would be interesting to know.