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The author of this family history, Hector Macpherson (referred to as Hector Junior in the monograph), graduated from Oregon State College in 1940 with a BS in Agriculture. After serving in World War II, Macpherson returned to Oregon in 1945 and took over his family's farm southwest of Albany, Oregon. He became active in county planning efforts and was elected to the Oregon Senate in 1970. Macpherson was a co-sponsor of Senate Bill (SB) 100 which established Oregon's land use planning system when it was passed in 1973. Macpherson served only one term in the Senate, but served 10 years on the Land Conservation and Development Commission which was established by SB 100.

Hector Junior was born in 1918, the son of Hector (referrred to as Hector Senior in the monograph) and Margaret Macpherson. Hector Senior was a faculty member in economics and sociology at Oregon Agricultural College from 1911 until 1926, when he resigned to offer his services to the movement for reorganization of higher education in Oregon. He was elected to the State Legislature in 1927, 1929, and 1939. Hector Senior lead an intiative petition on the November 1932 general election ballot, known as the Zorn-Macpherson School Moving Bill, that provided for the consolidation of the University of Oregon and Oregon State College and moving of other higher education campuses. Hector Senior's parents (who had been born in Scotland) emigrated to Canada prior to 1875. Hector Senior was born in in 1875 in Dufferin County, Ontario, Canada. He died in 1970 in Corvallis, Oregon.

Hector Junior's great-grandfather was also named Hector Macpherson; he lived in Scotland from 1828 until his death in 1908.