McPherson Family Collection

Collection

Identifier: MC 422

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

This collection consists of 3 boxes, 1 c.f., 1 oversize, and 1 artifact. The materials cover the years from the late 1800s to the 1980s. The collection includes photographs of family members of Blackmar, Bullard and McPherson families, documents, postcards, telegrams from well-known friends, business information and wills. There are a number of signatures of famous people on letters and notes. Blueprints of real estate holding are in the oversize Box 2. Box 3 contains the Shriner’s fez and other items.

Dates

Creation: 1863 - 1983

Biographical / Historical

This collection includes more than the immediate McPherson family members. The family had ancestral ties to the Bullard and Blackmar families in Columbus and by marriage, to the Stilwell family. Well known acquaintances included Franklin D. Roosevelt and Eleanor, James Farley, John Wayne, among others. Following is a listing and description of the main personages.

Louise Bullard McPherson was the wife of the Postmaster Leighton W. McPherson. She was born Louise Bullard, the daughter of Dr. William Bullard and Mary Blackmar in Columbus on 1 Aug, 1884. She graduated from the Lucy Cobb School in Athens, Georgia, a school for young ladies of that era. Her family was well connected in Columbus and had a prominent position in society. She married Leighton W. McPherson on 2 Nov 1909. They were members of First Presbyterian Church and lived at 1422 4th Avenue. Their daughter Mira Elizabeth became the wife of Gen. Joseph Stilwell, Jr. Louise and Leighton became friends with the Roosevelts in Warm Springs as they had a cabin there also.

Leighton Wilson McPherson was born 7 July 1879 in Cumberland county, north Carlina, the son of John A. McPherson and Sally McNeill. He graduated from Davidson College. He was the President of Deaton Grocery Company and the Tom Huston milling company. He was the Postmaster of Columbus, retiring in 1949 after 16 years. This was a political appointment by Franklin D. Roosevelt. He was associated with City Mills after retiring and died 5 Aug 1972. He was one of the local citizens instrumental in the location of fort Benning in Columbus. He served as president of the Muscogee County Roosevelt for President Club and was a longtime friend and neighbor in Warm Springs of Roosevelt.

Mira Elizabeth McPherson was the daughter of Louise and Leighton McPherson. She was the granddaughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alfred Owen Blackmar and Dr. and Mrs. William Bullard. She was born 11 Aug 1915 in Columbus. She attended Columbus High School, the Holton Arms School in Washington, D.C. and attended the Alabama Polytechnic Institute in auburn for two years. On Sept 19, 1935, she married Joseph Warren Stilwell Jr, a lieutenant in the US Army. They traveled to Tientain, China for assignment in Oct of 1938.