Zona do título e menção de responsabilidade
Título
Designação geral do material
- Documento textual
Título paralelo
Outra informação do título
Título(s) de declaração(ões) de responsabilidade
Notas ao título
- Source of title proper: Title based on the contents of fonds.
Nível de descrição
Entidade detentora
Código de referência
Zona de edição
Declaração de edição
Declaração de responsabilidade da edição
Zona de detalhes específicos de materiais
Declaração de escala (cartográfica)
Declaração de projeção (cartográfica)
Declaração de coordenadas (cartográfica)
Declaração de escala (arquitetural)
Autoridade emissora e denominação (filatélica)
Zona de datas de criação
Data(s)
-
1825-1843 (Produção)
- Produtor
- Alexander McPherson
Zona de descrição física
Descrição física
2.5 cm of textual records
Zona dos editores das publicações
Título da editora
Títulos paralelos das publicações do editor
Outra informação do título das publicações do editor
Declaração de responsabilidade em relação à série editora
Numeração das publicações do editor
Nota sobre as publicações do editor
Zona da descrição do arquivo
Nome do produtor
História biográfica
Alexander McPherson was born to William, a carpenter, and Janet (nee Fraser) at Tain, Ross Shire in Scotland on November 25, 1803. By April 1825, McPherson left Scotland by way of an indenture for British Guiana where he was manager of Planation Nos. 17 & 18 in Berbice. The cotton planation was owned by James Blair, a slave owner and Minister of British Parliament from 1818 to 1830 and 1837 to 1841. Plantations 17 & 18 included 350 slaves and covered an area of 2000 acres. McPherson also served as a Lieutenant in the 2nd Battalion of the Berbice Militia.
Following the abolition of slavery in 1833, McPherson made plans to leave British Guiana. He appears in the British Parliamentary Papers as a claimant receiving £63 for owning one slave at the time of abolition. McPherson arrived in Canada sometime in early 1835 and settled at Whitby, Canada West by 1837 when he was appointed Post Master.
McPherson married Fanny Moore at Whitby in November 1837 and together they had eight children. While in Whitby, McPherson was made Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1st Battalion of the Ontario Militia and served as Councillor for the North Ward in 1858/59. He held the position of Post Master until his death in 1861. He is buried in Union Cemetery, Oshawa.
História custodial
The fonds was sold, letter by letter, to the Archives at Whitby Public Library over a period of several years by a relative of Alexander McPherson.
Âmbito e conteúdo
The fonds consists of 12 letters written by Alexander McPherson to members of his family, including his mother and his brother-in-law. The majority of the letters were written while he held the position of Manager at Plantation Nos. 17 & 18 in Berbice, British Guiana and the remainder represent the period following when he settled at Whitby.
Zona das notas
Condição física
Most letters appear to be in good condition and are legible. Some letters are torn/ripped and so legibility is decreased.
Fonte imediata de aquisição
Organização
Record are arranged in chronological order.
Idioma do material
Script do material
Localização de originais
Archives Reading Room
Disponibilidade de outros formatos
All letters have been transcribed. Five letters have been digitized.
Restrições de acesso
None
Termos de uso que regem, reprodução e publicação
Instrumentos de descrição
Materiais associados
Digitized letters available here: https://images.ourontario.ca/whitby/3738963/data?grd=8101
Profile Summary from Centre for the Study of the Legacy of British Slavery available here: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/8532
Incorporações
No further accruals expected.
Nota geral
Content warning: Racism, Slavery, and Colonialism
The Alexander McPherson letters contain discussion of slavery and managing a plantation and may contain violent descriptions. Some of this information may be difficult to absorb. These ideologies are not condoned by Archives at Whitby Public Library, but the Archives has preserved such records in the hopes that, by encountering them, people will begin to think critically about and challenge historical and current racism.
Identificador(es) alternativo(s)
Número normalizado
Número normalizado
Pontos de acesso
Pontos de acesso - Assuntos
Pontos de acesso - Locais
Pontos de acesso - Nomes
- Alexander McPherson (Assunto)