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Alexander "The Immigrant" Magruder, Jr - ALEXANDER MAGRUDER

Started by Private User on Saturday, May 22, 2021
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Private User
5/22/2021 at 3:01 PM

There are quite a few published pedigrees which claim that Alexander Magruder was the son of Alexander Magruder and Margaret Campbell, but I have been unable to find any evidence to support this proposition.

I would be pleased to hear from anyone who can remedy this deficiency.
John P Vickery IV
5/22/2021 at 6:01 PM

Howdy Neil. I'm not sure this will help you or it it a remedy.

These are from my Ancestry.com page for Alexander "The Immigrant" Magruder Jr. (1610-1677) 9th great-grandfather unless otherwise stated.
https://www.ancestry.com/family-tree/person/tree/71840582/person/20...
Colonial Families of the USA, 1607-1775 for Alexander MacGruether
Colonial Families of the United States of America, Volume I
Magruder Family. Page 348, Film frame 1 of 7.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(note: From my Alma Matr: Kilgore College)
[Lineage Book of] Hereditary Order of Descendants of Colonial Governors
Our Members and Their Colonial Governor Lineages. Page 27, Film frame 39 of 405.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Seventeenth Century Colonial Ancestors, Vol. I
Ancestors. Page 165, Film frame 173 of 325.
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U.S., Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications, 1889-1970 for Alexander Magruder. National Number: 79364, State Number: 1963 Virginia. Film frame 54 of 611.

There are 6 more hints/green leaves connected to this person profile.
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https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/LDTZ-R4S .
His profile shows: Sources 52. Shows his fathers name as: Alexander Gregor GZQT-ZY3. Shows his mother as: L1ZF-42W.

John
Erica Howton C
5/22/2021 at 6:20 PM

The FamilySearch tree seems well done.

Online and at Google books (free).

The McGruder Lineage in Scotland to Magruder Family in America by Charles G. Kurz; based on research & notes by Thomas G. Magruder, Jr.
Year Book of the American Clan Gregor Society (ACGS): Gathering 1978 (pub 1979) Pages 53-72

Notes

Attached article in pdf format.

A history of the Magruder family in Scotland and down though the children of Alexander Magruder, the Emigrant 1610-1677, in Maryland.

Can we find a link to read?
Erica Howton C
5/22/2021 at 6:22 PM

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/68791496?p=25346785&r...
Erica Howton C
5/22/2021 at 6:32 PM

This is from 2006.

https://www.familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/69933649
Erica Howton C
5/22/2021 at 6:49 PM

Uploaded.

https://media.geni.com/p13/21/d4/50/7a/5344485ed768fda7/macgruther_of_meggar_fm_redbk_of_perthshire_original.pdf?hash=b8828e30609ff3c5b02353718575931762f5f9633f287adad88d262f46a31850.1702108799

Nat Taylor didnt reference it, I wonder why.

The brother “John McGruther, of Innerclair,” doesnt seem attached on Geni.
Erica Howton C
5/22/2021 at 6:54 PM

And a blog from a retired professor summarizing the evidence for origins.

https://magruderslanding.com/alexander/was-alexander-who-we-think-h...

“ Was Alexander Who We Think He Was?”

Private User
5/25/2021 at 3:29 AM

Dear John,

Unfortunately I do not subscribe to Ancestry. If you can supply evidence that connects Alexander Magruder, the resident of Colonial Maryland, with another Alexander Magruder who was a resident of Scotland, then I would be grateful.

Yours Sincerely.

Neil

Private User
5/25/2021 at 3:45 AM

Dear Erica,

Thank you for supplying the links for Alexander Magruder in Colonial Maryland. These look interesting. As you know I have been trying to identify evidence for him in Scottish records. Up until now I have been unsuccessful. However, I plan to look at the family who owned Meggar in Muthill parish, Perthshire, in as much detail as I can (not all Scottish records are available on the internet). With luck I may identify the missing link.

Yours Sincerely,

Neil
Erica Howton C
5/25/2021 at 7:50 AM

A bit more about the Magruders here, with an implicit speculation they were in touch on both sides of Atlantic (ie, his short indenture):

https://magruderslanding.com/alexander/alexander-2/

Alexander Magruder / McGruder / McGruther / MacGrouther / MacGrouder / MacGrowther / McCrouther (1610-1677)

was the first of his name in America. Born about 1610 at the small estate of Belliclone (now Nether Belliclone farm) in Madderty Parish, Perthshire, in Scotland’s Central Highlands, Alexander was the son of Alexander McGruder, the elder, and Margaret Campbell of Keithick. He is believed to have arrived in Maryland in January1652 as a prisoner of war, having been captured during Cromwell’s invasion of Scotland late in the civil wars that attended the Protestant Reformation. Upon arrival, Alexander was sold into indentured servitude. In the disease-ridden Chesapeake, half of all indentured servants died within a year. Those who survived their term–most commonly five years–received their freedom and a “headright” to 50 acres of unimproved land—which they first had to find, then pay a surveyor and, for a fee, register their ownership. Alexander received his first of two headrights in November 1653, indicating that he served a remarkably short indenture. He went on to be one of the largest landowners among formerly indentured men of his generation. Historian Russell R. Menard, who studied men who arrived as indentured servants from 1648-1652, identifies him as one of only three who owned more than 1,000 acres when they died.

We cannot document how Alexander became so successful. We do know that for several generations in Scotland his family had been among the highest officials serving the titled and powerful Drummond family, as clerks, scribes, and chamberlains. Alexander’s older brother, James McGruder, was Chamberlain to the Earl of Perth, while their father was Chamberlain to James Drummond, the first Lord Madderty. It is probable that through these connections Alexander was able to buy out his indenture and begin acquiring land at an early date. ...
John P Vickery IV
5/25/2021 at 10:39 AM

Dear Neil and Erica,

Firstly I want to thank you both for your works here in Geni.com.

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Magruder-21 seems to also be well done. I have nothing to add other than:
Three days ago when I saw that 'Neil' was working on Alexander Magruder. With me never having done much more than add B & D dates to my Ancestry.com profile for him . . . I decided to have a look for myself. After my first read-through I have concluded that; Alexander has a highly controversial origin!

Alexander Magruder is within the most difficult to understand part of my tree, There is an abundance of Endogamy between these 4-5 Early Colonial Families and within their own surname groups with many of them being married 2-3 times: Colonel Ninian Beall Colonel Ninian Beall Dorothy Brooke (Edmonston) Edmonston Dorothy Brooke (Edmonston) Edmonston . Further explination of the Endogamy is show in Edmonstone Clan Project https://www.geni.com/projects/Edmonstone-Clan/2638263 in my widely distributed publication:
ABOUT EDMONSTON DUPLICATED MISTAKES
By: John P Vickery IV on 5 January 2020
Dorothy Brooke (Edmonston) Edmonston (1741-1817), Daughter of Archibald Edmonston Jr. , and Dorothy (Brooke) Edmonston. Married her Cousin: Ninian Beall Edmonston (1735-1816).
Robert Orme 1744-1820 ~ Parents: Ruth Edmonston & (VDM) Rev John Orme. Robert Orme is 1/2 blood descendant of Edmonston.
Ruth (Edmonston) Orme ~ Parents: Jane Pottenger Beall & Colonel Archibald Thomas Edmonston Sr..
Dorothy Brooke Edmonston (1741-1817) ~ Daughter of Archibald Edmonston Jr. & Dorothy (Brooke) Edmonston. Married her Cousin: Ninian Beall Edmonston 1735-1816. = Dorothy Brooke (Edmonston) Edmonston.
Ninian Beall Edmonston (A Published Genealogist)~ Parents: James Archibald Edmonston & Mary Ann Beall.
Robert Orme & Priscilla (Edmonston) Edmonston ~ Child: Elizabeth Owen Orme. Elizabeth is 3/4 blood descendant of Edmonston.
Archibald Edmonston Jr. & Dorothy (Brooke) Edmonston are the Parents of BOTH!: Priscilla (Edmonston) Orme & Dorothy Brooke (Edmonstone) Edmonstone.
Ninian Beall Edmonston & Dorothy Brooke (Edmonston) Edmonston ~ Child: Elijah Edmonston ~ Married (His Cousin): Elizabeth Owen Orme ~ Child: Marion John Edmonston. Marion is 7/8 blood descendant of Edmonston.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
I did a gedmatch.com comparison between a person listed as Alexander Magruder descendant and myself, (protecting their anonymity, they will remain nameless.) here are the results:
Segment threshold size will be adjusted dynamically between 200 and 400 SNPs
Minimum segment cM to be included in total = 5.0 cM
Mismatch-bunching Limit will be adjusted dynamically to 60 percent of the segment threshold size for any given segment.
Chr B37 Start Pos'n B37 End Pos'n Centimorgans (cM) SNPs
18 3,017,152 4,780,620 6.4 604
Largest segment = 6.4 cM
Total Half-Match segments (HIR) 6.4cM (0.178 Pct)
Estimated number of generations to MRCA = 7.6.

Anonymous and my MRCA is Colonel Ninian Beall & Ruth Moore Ruth Beall .
Thank You Kindly, John
Erica Howton C
5/25/2021 at 10:57 AM

Good luck trying to sort your Edmondstons from your Bealls, then! :)

Unfortunately, it does not seem DNA comparisons to Scots Magruder descendants are possible, as a means to ruling in or out. Apparently the Scots line were rabid Jacobites and were all executed etc. However there are some 15,000 American descendants.

So the place to look (?) might be correspondence between Maryland families and Scotland; are there archives for Ninian Beall?
Erica Howton C
5/25/2021 at 11:04 AM

From Ninian Beall’s profile:

Cromwell was pocketing a nice wad of money for the English Exchequer in the business of selling captives to the London merchants, and he continued fighting the adherents of Charles II until he had either laid them out or taken them into his bag. Came the final battle of Worcester in the shire which suggests appetizing sauce--a year to the day after Dunbar, that is, Sept. 3, 1651. We mark the date especially because in the is final stand of Charles II, by an odd quirk of fate, Cromwell captured another batch of troublesome men, including one whose son was subsequently to marry into the family of Ninian Beall. Reference is to Alexander Macgregor, a member of the outlawed Highland Clan Gregor which for 150 years resisted the attempt to unite Scotland and England at the expense of those knights of the thistle who held the clan system next to life itself.

Of the three brothers Macgregor in the Battle of Worcester, James was killed, and Alexander and John were taken prisoner and sent to Barbados, whence they proceeded to Maryland. By this time the two survivors had changed their name to MacGroother, which in time became Magruder. John Magruder died without issue. Alexander Magruder married as his first wife Margaret Braithwaite, daughter of William Braithwaite, Commander of the Isle of Kent, earliest seat of proprietary government in Maryland, member of the first General Assembly of the province, Acting Governor and cousin-german to Cecelius Calvert, second Lord Baltimore. He married secondly Sarah Hawkins, and thirdly, Elizabeth Hawkins. His son, Samuel Magruder I, born 1654 in Prince George County, married Sarah Beall, daughter of Col. Ninian Beall, and they became the ancestors of the numerous and prominent Magruders of Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, Mississippi, and elsewhere.
Erica Howton C
5/25/2021 at 11:12 AM

Some discussion of the surname and record difficulties:

https://groups.google.com/g/soc.genealogy.medieval/c/hQR4t7p6gMQ/m/...

think you'll have gathered by now that most of use take such illustrious

lines of descent with large pinches of salt until they're validated. Half of
the population of Europe can probably claim descent from one or the other of
those gentlemen. There's no reason to assume anything about her financial
status, as someone else has pointed out, in those days, any wife of a local
Laird might call herself "Lady", regardles of whether he husband had a title
or knighthood and regardless of whether he had a significant estate or just
an acre and a house with one more room than his workers. Even where
significant money or titles were involved, this was easily lost, and tended
to stay with the older sons. The youngest son of a youngest son over several
generations could easily end up as an ag lab, their illustrious connections
forgotten.

The other dangerous assumtion that you seem to be making is that all records
have survived. Few records were kept, and even if a record was made, there's
a lot against it still being around and legible today. To name but a few: P
Poor quality paper and corrosive ink are a problem even when records have
been kept with great care (I have material in the archive I care for which
needed expensive neutralisation after only 100 years).
Damp and insects. Few buildings in Scotland were completely waterproof (eg
as late as the 1780s, the Whitsome Minister was complaining that his
thatched church was damp and drafty) and it's amazing how fast paper rots.
Neglect. There was no requirement to record baptisms, etc, until
comparatively recent times, and they weren't as obssessed with records as we
are. I suppose they figured that their gods would know who'd really been
baptised, or whatever.
Ignorance and malice: There's known cases where people took the registers
with them when they left a parish, there's other cases where people saw the
books as sources of paper (valuable stuff). All rare, but Murphy's law of
genealogy seems to require that the missing register is the one I need.
Of course, war is one of the great enemies of record keeping. It doesn't
matter if the Church building was burned by cross Border raiders or a bomb
from a plane, fire doesn't do a lot for the survival of records.

No doubt I've left out other reasons. Acid rain and sandstone grave markers,
for example.

All in all, I think we should be grateful for the records that have
survived. I don't think any of the lines on my family tree go back beyond
the 17th century, and one line doesn't even go back beyond the 19th century
because the records just aren't there anymore.
Lesley Robertson
John P Vickery IV
5/25/2021 at 11:57 PM

Virtus Auget Honorem !

A System Of Heraldry. byL Alexander Nisbet Vol. II 1816
Appendix. Pages 155-161, 290-291. by: Robert Fleming
https://archive.org/details/systemofheraldry02nisbuoft/page/154
With excerpts from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eric_Anundsson & https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Margaret_of_Scotland .
Compiled by: John P Vickery IV on 15 Dec 2020.
MEMORIAL OF THE ANCIENT FAMILY OF EDMONSTONE MORE PARTICULARLY OF
The House Of Duntreath And The Kings Of Sweden.
Eric Anundsson or Eymundsson (traditionally died 882) was a Swedish king who ruled during the 9th century. The Norse sagas describe him as successful in extending his realm over the Baltic Sea, but unsuccessful in his attempts of westward expansion.
Queen consort of Scotland, Saint Margaret of Scotland "Margaret of Wessex" "The Pearl of Scotland" (1045 – 16 Nov 1093), Was born in exile in the Kingdom of Hungary. An English princess and a Scottish queen. Daughter of Edward the Exile, and granddaughter of Edmund Ironside, King of England.
After the Danish conquest of England in 1016, King Canute the Great had the infant son of Margaret; prince Edward of Scotland exiled to the continent. He was taken first to the court of the Swedish king, Olof Skötkonung his kinsman, and then to Kiev. As an adult, he travelled to Hungary, where in 1046 he supported the successful bid of King Andrew I for the Hungarian crown.
The Naming Of The Shire Of Edinburgh.
Edmundus or Admundus, a person of note in the lands of reined of King David I "Dauíd mac Maíl Choluim" who reinged 1124 – 24 May 1153. who is witness to the charter granted by that prince of the lands of Riddel, Waltero de Riddle, militi, got from the same king lands in Laudonia, now the shire of Edinburgh, which, according to humour and custom of men calling their lands after their own name at the time, he called Admonston or Edmonston, and transmitted it as a surname of hereditary appellation to his descendants.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clan_Edmonstone
John P Vickery IV
5/26/2021 at 12:15 AM

Neil & Erica, What to Y'all both think? you posted: yesterday at 1:04 PM, From Ninian Beall’s profile > seems to me, the best answer. Can Y'all add it to Alexander Magruder and other profiles?
Erica Howton C
5/26/2021 at 1:41 AM

https://www.wikitree.com/g2g/287061/margaret-blaithwaite-a-legend-i...

“ I queried earlier about William Blainthwaite, who turns out to be a real person who left tracks in all sorts of ways in early Maryland. He travelled, undertook responsibilities for Lord Baltimore and traded with Indians. He married. But I can find no documentation that he had a daughter Margaret.

Margaret is said to have married Alexander Magruder, immigrant and progenitor of his numerous Magruder and other descendants. Numerous prominent secondary sources over the years have given her dates of birth, marriage and death, none without a trace of documentation in primary sources. As more and more real facts are found about her supposed father, husband and children, the harder it becomes to sustain a credible narrative for Margaret. And the most recent credible genealogists and historians don't believe she ever existed. So I'm documenting all this on Margaret's profile. At a point in time this will lead to severing her from the people who are not her parents, whom she never married, and from the children she did not bear.

None of this should happen, of course, if there are facts out there proving she was real. I've looked and looked for them and haven't found them, but there have been plenty of times when someone else has found stuff that I couldn't. So please, if you can prove Margaret was real, add some good documentation to her profile!”

Private User
5/26/2021 at 8:24 AM

I should have said that I have changed the profile name of "John McGruder, of Innerclair" to "John McGruther of Meggar". This man was the tenant in "Innerclair" when he acquired part of the land of Megour from Patrick Drummond of Easter Crieff in 1620. Meggar is the modern form of the place-name Megour. Thereafter this man was known as Johanni McGruder of Nathir Megour, now changed by me to John McGrouther of Meggar. I hope that this has not confused the issue.

John MacGruther of Meggar

The change of spelling from M'Gruder to MacGrouther was suggested by the spelling used by Stirnet, in their account of the Campbells of Keithick, which follows the Red Book of Perthshire.

https://www.stirnet.com/genie/data/british/cc4aq/campbell24.php

Private User
5/26/2021 at 8:28 AM

John P. Vickery's last contribution about the Edmonstone family appears to have nothing whatsoever to do with the ancestry of Alexander Maryland immigrant named Alexander Magruder.
Erica Howton C
5/26/2021 at 9:43 AM

Added “ Joanni McGruder in Innerclair” to “also known as.”

Private User
5/27/2021 at 3:05 AM

Dear John,

It would appear that my comments about your last contribution (Virtus Auget Honorem) has offended you. I did not mean to be dismissive. I simply wanted to bring the focus of the discussion back to Alexander Magruder. Please accept my unreserved apology.

Yours Sincerely,

Neil

Private User
5/28/2021 at 11:02 AM

Charles Kurtz, the author of the McGruder Lineage in Scotland, believed that it was Alexander Magruder, the Maryland settler, who was prosecuted on 22 November 1622, for illegally carrying firearms and shooting deer and wild fowl. However, an examination of the printed version of the record clearly shows that the man involved in this criminality was called “Alexander McA Growder”.

Here the second name McA may represent the first name of Alexander’s father, Alexander, or Alister, perhaps, but the surname Growder, which is similar to but different from McGruder, and Magruder, is extremely rare in Scottish records. Only one example is noticed in Scotland’s baptismal registers, viz. Robert Growder, son of Robert Growder and his wife Janett Dowie, whose baptism was registered at Perth on 11 June 1657.

Kurtz also believed that Growder’s crime took place at Spittalfields, in Caputh parish, Pethshire, which he says was near Cargill, about six miles from Dunkeld. It would seem, however, that he confused Spittalsfield with Spittal of Glenshee, which was evidently Growder’s usual place of residence. This is confirmed by the published record which identifies him as “Alexander McA Growder in Spittell of Glenschie.” The record does not say where the crime was committed but all 35 of the accused men appear to have resided in or near Spittal of Glenshee, and it seems quite likely that the crime was committed there.

Susan Tichy, the author of McGruder’s Landing, had this to say about Alexander McGruder, the Maryland pioneer: “On 22 November 1622, one Alexander McGruder, 12 years old, was fined at Spittalsfield, Caputh Parish, about six miles from Cargill near Dunkeld, for illegally carrying firearms and shooting deer and wildfowl. It is from this single record that we date Alexander’s birth to 1610”. This is clearly nonsense.
Erica Howton C
5/28/2021 at 11:39 AM

Great find! Thank you.

Carol Collins PRO
5/29/2021 at 8:45 AM

Tho my records are in complete disarray I finally remembered where I found the proof of Margaret Campbell's marriage to Alexander. It was in the court case of Margaret's probate. It listed her three marriages and included Alexander as her second marriage.
I'm sorry that I can't find the exact reference to help you all -- I've looked everyplace in my home, but haven't had a chance to get to my granddaughter's to see if it's there.
Supposedly -- and I say that strongly -- when her first husband, Sir Andrew Drummond, died Alexander moved into her home uninvited and according to Scottish law if he were there or three days she had to marry him. Not sure how true this is.
If I find the record I'll send it along. I found the book in the Birmingham, Ga. library when I was there for a seminar on Scottish research many years ago.
Happy hunting every one.
Carol

Private User
6/15/2021 at 12:29 AM

Alexander Magruder is noticed in the records of Colonial Maryland on 7 October 1653, for the first time, perhaps, when Charles Steward assigned 50 acres of land to “Alexander Macruder”. Less than one month later, on 19 November 1653, John Ashcomb assigned another 50 acres of land to “Alexander Macruder my servant” and Macruder received a warrant to survey his 100 acres in June 1654.

https://media.geni.com/p13/1d/ed/62/48/534448430acec0e7/kurz2_origi...

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