Macpherson, David Murdoch

  • DICTIONARY OF CANADIAN BIOGRAPHY ARTICLE: S. Lynn Campbell and Susan L. Bennett, “MACPHERSON, DAVID MURDOCH,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 14, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–. https://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/macpherson_david_murdoch_14E.html
  • DCB profile notes:
    • Farmer, manufacturer, and politician; b. 17 Nov. 1847 in Lancaster Township, Upper Canada, son of John McPherson and Catherine Cameron; m. 17 Jan. 1871 Margaret McBean, and they had five daughters and two sons; d. 4 Feb. 1915 in Montreal.
    • David Murdoch Macpherson or, as he was commonly known, D. M. was born on his father’s farm in Glengarry County. He attended local schools and helped on the farm, which was near Bainsville. His work included managing the production of milk and cheese with his father’s second wife, Phoebe Marjerison, who was from a family with experience in that business. In 1869, upon the death of his father, D. M. inherited the farm. At first he pursued the traditional mixed farming of the period, but after a year he found that his expenses surpassed his receipts so he decided to enter the cheese business. He purchased a vat, set up a factory on his farm adjacent to the Grand Trunk Railway, and, using the milk from his own cattle, began to produce Cheddar cheese under the farm name of Allan Grove. Several neighbours joined him in this undertaking. He was operating 4 cheese factories by 1874, 13 by 1881, and over 70 by 1889 in Glengarry, Huntingdon and Châteauguay counties in Quebec, and upper New York State. Macpherson had thus become “the largest cheese manufacturer on the continent.”
    • The key to Macpherson’s success was his application of a new management theory, combination, to cheese factories. Until the 1870s cheese had been made in Ontario in small, seasonally operated factories. The quality and amount produced in each varied dramatically from week to week and even from batch to batch. Factories were owned privately or were joint-stock companies in which the farmers supplying the milk held shares and divided the dividends. Macpherson united a number of these small companies under one manager. The advantages of this system were numerous. The combination employed only one salesman, who had access to a large amount of cheese of the same quality and age and who could therefore fill export or special orders. Supplies could be purchased in bulk at wholesale rates. The revenue saved made it possible to hire a full-time, experienced cheese maker who could ensure consistent quality.
    • Macpherson’s Allan Grove combination was the largest in the dominion from 1874 on and at one time controlled one-eighth of the production of all cheese in Canada. Cheese, most of it Cheddar, was by far the country’s most important agricultural export; from 1874 to 1894 cheese exports increased almost six and a half times, and they totalled nearly $20 million in value by 1900.
    • While the Allan Grove combination was in operation, Macpherson turned his creative mind to other, allied pursuits. He invented a number of mechanical devices for use in the cheese industry, including a milk cooler, a curd stirrer, and a curd rake. The last implement proved to be the most useful and it was still in use in the 1930s. 
  • Great Grandson of United Empire Loyalist listed in Loyalist Directory: https://uelac.ca/loyalist-directory/detail/?wpda_search_column_id=1167
  • Find a Grave: https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/139500726/david-murdoch-macpherson