CMA Canada Genetics & Genealogy

Members of the Clan Macpherson Association are interested in their family roots. That's why we're here!

We discover where we came from through two related but separate disciplines.

Genetics

Genetics is the study of inheritance of genes. In modern times, sophisticated DNA testing provides a method to discover links to your biological ancestors and living relatives. Learn more about the Macpherson DNA project and receive a link to a group discount on your DNA test! (Open to all Macpherson's and McPherson's regardless of CMA membership).

Genealogy

Genealogy is the study of families, family histories, and family lineages. Through analysis of historical records and construction of family trees, we use genealogy to trace our roots, generation over generation, to common ancestors.

Our own lay research suggests that some 80% of all Macphersons are not genetically linked to a Clan Chief. This is consistent with historical understandings of Gàidhlig clans: families often adopted the name of the Clan Chief of the territory in which they lived, and the Clan Chiefs in turn adopted families living in their territories as their kin. Adoption of children into different biological families was also common. What makes us kin is our shared history; it is not, and it was never, race, religion, nationality, or class.

Between genetics and genealogy, we seek to understand our origins, and we uncover amazing stories along the way. Join the CMA to join the conversation.

Root Ancestors

Canadian members of the Clan Macpherson and its associated families did not all arrive in Canada at once; they came at different times, from different places in the world, and settled in different places in Canada. Below is a taste of the knowledge that the CMA has acquired on the myriad Macpherson root ancestors in Canada.

Are you connected with any of the root families below? Are you descended from a different root ancestor? Would you like to join a conversation to find out more? Join the CMA to connect with kin who share your interests.

Métis McPhersons: Descendants of Alexander McPherson and Ikwesens Pinesi Okijikokwe

Origins in present-day North-Western Ontario
Through the fur trade, family spread West to the prairies and east along the Great Lakes

William McPherson and Mary A Campbell of Gainsborough

Originally from Pennsylvania, this line of McPhersons established in the present-day Niagara Region in the late eighteenth century.

McPhersons of Eldon