John James Philip MacPherson was born April 24, 1886 in Olden Township near Sharbot Lake, Ontario. He was the first born child of Joseph and Lizzie MacPherson.

On May 3, 1909 he married Barbara Hughes in Sharbot Lake. Barbara's father Daniel was a railroad construction worker. Over the next 21 years, JP and Barbara had seven children - three boys and four girls.

In 1911, JP is on the census twice, once at home with his parents, and the other with his in-laws in Dack Township near Englehart, Ontario. Sometime between 1915 and 1918 the entire family moved to Calgary, Alberta along with his wife's parents, Daniel and Mary Hughes. Between 1922 and 1925 they re-joined the rest of JP's family in Dack township near Englehart, Ontario where they settled on a farm.

JP lived a long life. He was 95 or 96 years old when he died in 1983. Barbara died in 1973. They are both buried in the Englehart public cemetery.