Our Magruders are descendants of the MacGregor clan of Scotland. The following is from Charles MacKinnon's book The Scottish Highlanders, New York, NY: Barnes & Noble, 1984.
Clan MacGregor, the 'Children of the Mist,' proclaim their Alpinian descent in their motto 'S Rioghal Mo Dhream' - Royal is my race.' They have never failed to assert their seniority in the Alpinian 'family,' a menaingless seniority since the clans always acted independently and were bound only by a common origin. In fact . . . if anybody was senior it was the MacNab, who was a generation nearer the ancient thron than MacGregor, MacKinnon or MacQuarrie. . . .
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| Glen Orchy Parish, Scotland |
The MacGregor's earliest lands were in Glenorchy, as far back as the reign of Malcolm Canmore. John of Glenocrchy, who was chief in 1292, was captured by the English in 1296, and his successor, Malcolm, fought for [Robert the] Bruce at Bannockburn [1314] and afterwards accompanied Edward Bruce to Ireland, where he was wounded at the Battle of Dundalk and known thereafer as 'the Lame Lord.'
Despite this support it was Bruce's son, King David II, who gave the Campbells a title to the MacGregors' Glenorchy lands. A situation arose similar to that of the Macdonnels of Keppoch, whose lands were given to the MacIntosh chiefs. Neither the Macdonnells nor the MacGregors were prepared to quit their land, but in the case of the MacGregors their enemies were the powerful Campbells who used legal processes to obtain their ends, and the MacGregors fared far worse than their northern neighbours the Macdonnells.
The second son of Iain of Glenorchy, 'the One-Eyed,' who died in 1390, was Iain Dubh, who founded the Glenstrae branch of the clan, which succeeded to the chiefship when the Campbells ousted the house of Glenorchy. . . .
There is no doubt at all that the Campbells pursued a policy of provoking the MacGregors inot acts of violence - acts which gave the Campbells a legitimate excuse for obtaining government authority to 'subdue' them. Nor is there any doubt that the MacGregors allowed themselves to be provoked. In 1488 James IV gave Sir Duncan Campbell of GLenorchy and Ewen Campbell of Strachur royal authority to enforce an Act to pacify unruly behavior in the west, and this was promptly used to eject MacGregors from Campbell lands and lands wanted by the Campbells. In 1502 Campbell of Glenorchy succeeded in getting a charter for the MacGregor lands in Glenlyon. . . .
In 1589 the MacGregors murdered John Drummond of Drummond Ernoch, forester of the Royal Forest of Glenarty - which was an offense against the King himself - and fresh letters of fire and sword were issued. It was declared to be an offense to shelter them or even to have any dealings with them. But worse was to follow.
When the MacGregors trapped and slaughtered the Colquhouns at Glen Furin on 7 February 1603, an Act was promptly passed by the Privy Council, on 3 April of the same year, proscribing the MacGregor name. 'Proscribe' sounds innocent, but what it actually meant was that anybody bearing the name MacGregor could be beaten up, robbed and killed by anybody who felt like it, with total impuinty. Nobody with the name MacGregor could be baptized, married or buried by the Church, nor could they hear Mass or receive Communion. All MacGregor charters (what few of them the MacGregors had troubled to obtain) were automatically voided. All debts due to MacGregors were cancelled.
It was at this time that the Lamonts in Cowal gave refuge to Alexander MacGregor of Glenstrae and his clansmen, for which they left themselves liable to the direst penalties, to say nothing of the anger of the Campbells who had been quiety ousting the Lamonts from their property too.
In October Glenstrae was taken prisoner; then he escaped and was finally recaptured in January 1604. The 7th Earl of Argyle is said to have promised to spare him and his followers by sending them out of Scotland. He kept his word - he sent them to Berwick bu immediately brought them back again and sent them to Edinburgh, where all were hanged, Glenstrae his own height above his clansmen. It was this treachery, rather than their tug-of-war with the MacDonalds, which gave the name Campbell such a bad reputation among the other clans.
Depsite continued persecutions, and from this time on the Government took a perverse delight in persecuting MacGregors, the clan managed to retain its identity, although of course they had been reduced by Act of Parliament to the status of outlaws.
King Charles I renewed the Acts against them, despite which they followed Montrose in 1644-5 when he fought for the King against the Covenant. As they could ot have been inspired by love for the King, it is reasonable to assume that they welcomed the chance to hit back at the Campbells, and obviously, if they helped win the King's cause, there was always the chance that he would relax the penalties against them and restore their ancient lands.
All did not go well, of course, and it was not till 1661, after the restoration of Charles II, that finally the Acts were repealed, but for only thirty-two years, for in 1693 William III renewed them with full vigour.
Not surprisingly therefore, the clan supported the Stuart cause in 1715 and 1745, while they were still outlaws. It was not till 1775 that the Acts against the MacGregors were finally repealed for all time.
The most famous member of the clan is undoubtedly Roby Roy, whose father, Donald MacGregor of Glengyle, was a lieutenant-colonel in the service of James VII and iI. His mother was a sister of Captain Robert Campbell of Glenlyon who commanded the Government troops who carried out the massacre of Glencoe! Rob Roy's exploits fill a book and were mainly directed against the Duke of Montrose, agains whom he conducted a daring and swashbuckling one-man feud which reads like a Hollywood filmscript but which is in fact well attested. He died in his bed some time after 1738, aged nearly eighty.
Robert, the chief of the clan, was imprisoned after Culloden and died in 1758. His brother Ewen, who succeeded, served with distinction as an officer in the 41st Regiment in Germany. . . .
The MacGregor chief's seat at Lanrick Castle was sold in 1830, since when the chiefs have had their seat at Edinchip in Balquhidder in the very heart of MacGregor country.
1. Sarah Magruder 1713-ca. 1795 md. William Beal ca. 1730
2. Ninian Magruder 1688-1751
3. Elizabeth Brewer 1690-1764
4. Samuel Magruder 1654-1711
5. Sarah Beall 1658-1734
8. Alexander Magruder 1610-ca. 1677 - immigrant
9. Margaret Braithwaite
16. Alexander Magruder
17. Margaret Campbell
32. Gregor MacGregor
64. Malcolm MacGregor
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