Husband Hon. Edward McPherson 1 2 3
Born: 31 Jul 1830 - Gettysburg, Adams Co, PA 1
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Father: John B. McPherson (1789-1858) 4
Mother: Catharine Lenhart (1791-1859) 4 5
Marriage: 19 Nov 1862 6
Wife Anna Dodd Crawford 2 6
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Father: John S. Crawford, Esq. ( - ) 2 6 7 8
Mother: Harriet Paxton ( - ) 2
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1 M John Bayard McPherson 2
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2 M William Lenhart McPherson 2
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3 M Norman Bruce McPherson 2
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4 M Donald Paxton McPherson 2
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Spouse: Bess McLanahan (1873- ) 3
Marr: 26 Nov 1902 3
5 F Annie Crawford McPherson 2
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General Notes: Husband - Hon. Edward McPherson
He was educated at the public schools of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and at Pennsylvania College, graduating from the latter in 1848 at eighteen with the valedictory. He early developed a taste for politics and journalism, but at the request of his father began the study of law with Hon. Thaddeus Stevens at Lancaster, which, however, he abandoned on account of failing health, and for several winters was employed in Harrisburg as a reporter of legislative proceedings and a correspondent for the Philadelphia North American and other newspapers. In the campaign of 1851 he edited in the interest of the Whig party the Harrisburg Daily American, and in the fall of that year he took charge of the Lancaster Independent Whig, which he edited until January, 1854. In the spring of 1853 he started the Inland Daily, the first daily paper published at Lancaster. His health proved unequal to such exacting labors and he relinquished them as stated, except for brief periods at Pittsburgh, in 1855, and at Philadelphia from the fall of 1878 to the spring of 1880, after which time he was not in active connection with the press. The first important public service rendered by Mr. McPherson was the preparation of a series of letters, ten in number, which were printed in the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin in the year 1857, and afterward in pamphlet form, their object being to prove the soundness of the financial policy which demanded the sale by the State of its main line of public improvements. The letters analyzed the reports of the canal commissioners for a series of years, proved the falsity of the conclusions drawn from them, and demonstrated the folly of continued State ownership and management. The letters were never answered, and they formed the text from which were drawn the arguments in favor of the sale, which was accomplished in 1838. The next year he prepared a like series on the sale of the branches of the State canal, which had a like reception. Both series of letters were published anonymously, but were signed "Adams," after his native county. In 1856 he published an address on "The Growth of Individualism," which was delivered before the alumni of his alma mater, of whose board of trustees he was for years an active member. Another was published in 1858 on "The Christian Principle, Its Influence upon Government," and still another in 1859, on "The Family In Its Relations to the State," both of which were delivered before the Y. M. C. A. of Gettysburg. In 1863 he delivered an address before the literary societies of Dickinson College on the subject, "Know Thyself," personally and nationally considered. In 1858 Mr. McPherson was elected to the Thirty-sixth Congress from the Sixteenth District of Pennsylvania, embracing the counties of Adams, Franklin, Fulton, Bedford and Juniata, and was re-elected in 1860. In 1862 he was defeated in the political reaction of that date, the district having been meanwhile changed by the substitution of Somerset County for Juniata. Upon the completion of his congressional term of service he was appointed in April, 1863, by President Lincoln, upon Secretary Chase's recommendation, deputy commissioner of internal revenue, in which position he served until December, 1863, when he was chosen clerk of the House of Representatives for the Thirty-eighth Congress, which office he continued to hold during the Thirty-ninth, Fortieth, Forty-first, Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses and again in the Forty-seventh Congress, being the longest continuous service and the longest service in that post from the beginning of the Government. During the administration of President Hayes he served as chief of the bureau of engraving and printing of the Treasury Department for eighteen months, during which time he re-organized and reformed its administration and obtained from Congress an appropriation of $325,000 for the erection of a fire-proof building in Washington City. The entire cost of it was met out of one year's savings from the appropriations made for the bureau and an equal amount was left unexpended in the Treasury. During his service in Congress the principal speeches of Mr. McPherson were on "Disorganization and Disunion," delivered February 24, 1860, in review of the two months' contest over the election of a speaker in the Thirty-sixth Congress; "The Disunion Conspiracy," delivered January 23, 1861, in examination of the secession movement and the arguments made in justification of it; "The Rebellion: Our Relations and Duties," delivered February 14, 1862, in general discussion of the war; "The Administration of Abraham Lincoln and Its Assailants," delivered June 5, 1862. During and since his incumbency of the clerkship he published "A Political History of the United States During the Rebellion," extending from the presidential election of 1860 to April 19, 1865, the date of Lincoln's death; "A Political History of the United Slates During the Period of Reconstruction," extending from 1865 to 1870; "Hand-book of Politics for 1870-72;" "Hand-book of Politics for 1872-74;" also one for 1876-78; 1878-80; 1880-82; 1882-84; 1884-86. These latter volumes were editorial compilations of the political record of men and parties during that eventful period, and received a high place in the confidence of all parties for completeness, fairness and accuracy. During the summer and fall of 1861 Mr. McPherson served as volunteer aide on the staff of Gen. McCall, commanding the Pennsylvania Reserves, with a view of studying the wants and organization of the army, and to fit himself for intelligent legislative action on those subjects. In the Thirty-seventh Congress he was a member of the military committee of the House and took an active part in legislation respecting the army. he also served as chairman of the Committee on the Library and as a regent of the Smithsonian Institute. He was secretary of the People's State Committee of Pennsylvania in 1857; was a member of the Republican National Committee from 1860 to 1864; was frequently a delegate to State conventions; was a representative delegate to the Republican National Convention of 1876, and was the permanent president of that body. He actively participated in politics for many years and during three campaigns was the secretary of the Republican Congressional Committee. In 1867 the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by Pennsylvania College. [HAC 1886, 365]