A Stevens, Tomes, and Nash Family History
The McGregor Family Story
The story of the McGregor family, naturally, begins in Scotland. Rewind back to 1755 to the birth of Duncan McGregor in Perth, Scotland--long a home to the McGregor clan. Though the commonality of his name makes it difficult to be historically assured, it is quite likely that my ancestor was active in the British military, and that is what brought him over the Atlantic Ocean to Montreal, Quebec, originally.
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Starting a Life in Quebec
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Quite likely, Duncan served in the 42nd Foot Soldiers, 1st Battalion of the British Military Service. He stood 5' 6" tall, had brown eyes, black hair, a round face, and a "swarthy" complexion. As part of his service, he was stationed in Quebec.
That's where he met Margaret "Jane" Ross (b. 1755, Quebec), his future bride. The two married in March of 1781 in Montreal. Nine months later, Duncan McGregor II was born to the couple on Christmas Day, 1781, while still in Quebec.
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The next eight years of their lives are mostly a mystery. Owing, perhaps, to Duncan's military service, the family may have traveled back to Great Britain, briefly, before settling permanently in the United States. We know, though, that they spent several years in Quebec before ultimately relocating to Alburg, Vermont by 1790.
Settled in Alburg, the Jane and Duncan produced the following children to join older brother, Duncan Jr.:
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1. John D. McGregor (b.24 Sep, 1787)
2. Daniel Ross McGregor (b. 1789)
3. Peter McGregor (b.1794)
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Some records also suggest they may have had the following additional children: Catherine McGregor, Lucretia McGregor, and Neil McGregor. However, the poor record-keeping of the era has blunted all efforts to this point to learn more about the other siblings.
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Both Duncan and Jane lived to hardy ages for the time. Duncan passed first on July 15, 1825. Jane lived for another six years, passing away on June 2, 1831. Both are buried in Alburgh, Vermont.
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The next generation of McGregors primarily stayed close to home in Vermont. While we know very little about Daniel Ross or Peter (who only lived to age 20), a few more details have been discovered about two of Duncan and Jane's children.
John in Illinois
John D. McGregor wed Deborah Hoxie, and then, later, Margaret Shanks during his considerable time living in Vermont near the area in which he was raised. Some time after 1830, when John was past the age of 40, he and his current wife decided to uproot and move to Burlington, Illinois, for reasons unknown. He had several children and ultimately lived to the age of 72, passing away on February 4, 1860 in Burlington, Illinois.
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Farmer Duncan and Wife Eleanor
Duncan McGregor, II, my great x4 grandfather, and the eldest of Duncan and Jane's children, remained close to the family home in Alburg, Vermont his entire life. Duncan worked as a farmer, and at age 27, he wed Eleanor Burghardt (a native of Vermont, and daughter of Eleanor Leake and Conradt Burghardt) on Valentine's Day, 1809 (yes, it was celebrated as an affectionate holiday even back then!). The couple had at least seven children together:
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1. Duncan McGregor III
2. Peter McGregor (b. 1808)
3. Daniel McGregor (b. 1815)
4. Jane McGregor (b. 1816)
5. Nancy McGregor (b. 1821)
6. Mary McGregor (b. 1825)
7. Margaret McGregor (b. 1827).
Duncan the Smuggler & the War of 1812
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Early on during the baby-making days, The War of 1812 erupted, and Duncan McGregor Jr. found a role for himself smuggling goods from Canada. One night, in the course of smuggling, he found himself on Providence Island, hiding from British troops. He was surprised to overhear from the enemy's conversations that three gunboats, under the command of British Captain Pring, lay in wait to ambush the steamship Vermont, one of the first steamships ever built, and the pride of New Englanders. The gunboats were cloaked in branches and foliage and well hidden from sight.
The story goes that, upon overhearing their plans, Duncan silently made his way alone to a small boat and, with muffled oars, rowed his way to intercept the steamer and tell them of the plot. Captain John Winans, who was in command of the Vermont was able to maneuver the ship out of danger's way. For his help, Capt. Winans gave Duncan ten dollars.
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Then, on August 16, 1814, Duncan was witness to a murder of a compatriot, Captain Caleb Hill.
Capt. Hill--a hotel keeper--had previously organized local townsmen into Company F of the 2nd Brigade of the 3rd Division of the Vermont Militia. Whether or not Duncan served as part of this Company, or in any official military capacity is unknown.
On the afternoon of the 16th, Com. MacDonough and a bodyguard visited Capt. Hill at his home regarding a complaint that members of the Captain's fleet had plundered parts of the nearby island. Capt. Hill agreed that the perpetrators should be caught and punished, and sent Com. MacDonough away to his boat with green corn, new potatoes, and a garden cart from his own garden, the matter seemingly resolved. Apparently some grievances remained, though, and a party of Americans, including one officer, returned later that evening disguised as British soldiers and peacefully entered the Captain's home.
The visitors found not only Capt. Hill, but also his young son, Ira Hill, and Duncan McGregor (among others, possibly). The Captain served the soldiers with refreshments, during which time they attempted to capture the Captain. During the ensuing struggle, one of the soldiers shot Captain Caleb Hill, killing him. Duncan jumped in to extinguish a fire that had caught from the shot. Ira did his best to escape, but met the blade of a soldier's sword, and had a gash cut across his face from below the right eye down to the end of the chin. The lad survived, but carried the scar throughout his life.
The Short Life and Log Cabin of Jane (McGregor) Hyde
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Duncan, the heroic smuggler, survived the war. In fact, Duncan, Eleanor, and all of their children ended up leading long, full lives--except for Jane (McGregor) Hyde, who passed away at the age of 27 in 1843 of unknown circumstances.
At the time, Jane had been married to her husband for just four short years and bore two children. Her husband was Jedediah Hyde, of the Vermont-famous Hyde family. "Jed", came from a long line of Jedediahs. His grandfather was the famous Jedediah Hyde who had surveyed land for Ethan and Ira Allen, of Green Mountain Boys fame. This veteran of the Revolutionary War purchased parcels of land near the Allens, and there he built a log cabin in 1783 for his family to live in. Generations of the Hyde family resided in that log cabin (even until the 1940s), quite possibly including his grandson Jedediah and his bride Jane McGregor. Today the log cabin survives as the second-oldest structure of its type in America. It is aptly named the "Hyde Log Cabin", and is an important historical marker and museum in Vermont, open to visitors. If you stop in, you might just even see some artifacts of Jane and Jed's brief time together.
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Jane's story may have been brief, and ultimately quite sad, but Jed's was, perhaps, more dramatic. After the death of his young first wife, he went on to marry again and have seven more children--all within the following 13 years. Then, he met an untimely demise, drowning in Lake Champlain on October 12, 1856 at the age of 42.
The Hyde Log Cabin
Duncan and Eleanor's Legacy
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While Jane McGregor was (perhaps) hunkered down in a log cabin, and Nancy McGregor was off married to John Rochester, the other two of Duncan and Eleanor's daughters, Mary McGregor and Margaret McGregor, appear to never have married and stayed in residence with their parents. This probably worked out very well since both parents lived to a very advanced age, especially given the era.
Eleanor departed first, passing on February 28, 1866. Duncan passed on January 24, 1877 at age 95. Duncan, and much of the family, can be found resting at the Reynolds-McGregor Cemetery in Alburgh, Vermont.
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The Peter McGregor Story
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As for Duncan and Eleanor's boy, Peter McGregor, his story begins with his marriage to Canadian-born Margaret Murray (daughter of Malcolm and Margaret Murray). The two twenty-one year-olds wed on June 14, 1829 in Vermont.
By the end of that year, young Margaret was expecting, and the couple welcomed the first of three children born during their stay in Vermont:
1. Ellenor McGregor (b.1830)
2. Duncan Gregor McGregor IV (b.1832)
3. Margaret "Jane" McGregor (b.1834)
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The McGregors Move to Michigan
It was summer, 1836, when Peter and Margaret decided to make the cumbersome journey from Vermont to Clay Township, Michigan, situated on Lake St. Clair and bookended by Lake Huron and Lake Erie. The township abuts Ontario, Canada, and is keenly situated for maritime industries. This proximity to the water, which was very similar to their earlier home in Alburgh, would prove to be very key in how the following generations developed. We do not know, however, what specifically brought the family so far southwest from their home, or why they chose to move when they did.
It might be safe to presume that wife Margaret had very little say, for she was very far along in her fourth pregnancy when they progressed by wagon south through New York and toward their new home. Their new baby arrived during the journey, under what one can only imagine were less-than-ideal circumstances. Son Peter Ross McGregor was born in the family's wagon, somewhere in the State of New York, on July 8, 1836.
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Once established in Michigan, the family added three more children, the last of whom came along after the eldest was married and removed from the home:
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5. John Murray McGregor (b.4 Jun, 1841)
6. Wilson Brooks McGregor (b.17 Sep, 1843)
7. Charles Myron McGregor (b.Oct, 1849)
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Daughter Ellenor McGregor Weds
Eldest child, Ellenor was 17 when she chose to wed Charles H. Brown in St. Clair, Michigan. The couple settled for over 30 years in the Cottrellville area of St. Clair County, Michigan, very near to her family. It seems that the couple was never able to have any children of their own, but by 1860, they had adopted a young girl named Martha (b.12 Mar, 1852). This may have been an organized adoption, or one wonders if Ellenor's 18 year-old little sister, Jane, who never married and worked as a domestic servant, may have gotten in trouble and Ellenor and Charles adopted the child.
Frankly, given timing discrepancies between later siblings, one historically raises an eyebrow at the birth of Charles Myron, and wonders if he truly was the naturally born child of Margaret and Peter, instead of a ward. Could it be that Jane had two babies in her early years (very much out of wedlock), and sent them to be raised by her mother and eldest sister? This is, of course, purely wild speculation, since anyone who would know for sure is long gone. So I may be sullying Jane's name for no good reason.
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Martha Brown never married and lived with her parents throughout their remaining days. After Ellenor passed on Sep 18, 1905, Martha moved in with her first cousin Bertram McGregor and his wife and daughter in St. Clair, Michigan. We know that she was boarding with them by 1910 at the latest, which meant that, sadly, she probably was in the residence around Christmas, 1913 went Bertram went missing and was found dead days later.
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Duncan McGregor the Younger: The Move to Bay City
Our story now jumps to the year 1857 when second child, Duncan Gregor, wed Martha McDonald. Almost immediately, Martha became pregnant with the first of five children:
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1. Helen McGregor (1858-1948)
2. Mary McGregor (1860)
3. Robert McGregor (1864)
4. Margaret R. McGregor (1875)
5. Walter McGregor (1876)
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Duncan found steady work as a ship carpenter and, later, a mill engineer. The mill work drove the family north from their St. Clair County home toward Bay City, Michigan, where he spent the rest of his very long life, passing on April 7, 1921 of senility.
Peter Ross McGregor: Life and Death on the Great Lakes
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Fourth child, Peter Ross, migrated even farther north, settling near the shores of Lake Michigan in Frankfort, Michigan. The sailor and steamboat captain married Diana Keeler in 1862, and eventually welcomed four children:
1. Merta P. McGregor (b.1862)
2. Frank Ross McGregor (b.1865)
3. Watson McGregor (b.1868) (Isn't that a great name?)
4. Margaret "Bertha" McGregor (b.1873)
Just as all of his brothers did, Peter Ross made his living on the waters of the Great Lakes. He was a boat captain throughout his career. This family business led to great tragedy, though, in 1887. Peter Ross was Captain of a propeller boat called the George D. Sanford, Jr. on Lake Michigan when, on May 13, it caught fire, heavily damaging cargo and at least part of the cabin. In the chaos, Peter's son and crew member, Watson McGregor, went overboard and drowned. He was only 19 years old.
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Back in Frankfort, Michigan, the family carried on and very little is known of their mostly quiet lives until Peter and Diana adopted a child in 1891. Jessie McGregor was born in 1891 and were raised by the 50+ year-old couple. Again, tawdry speculation could suggest that maybe Jessie could be the offspring of youngest daughter, Bertha, who was 18 years old in 1891. But, again, the truth is lost to time.
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Peter Ross, the boy who was born in a wagon, would eventually live to the age of 80. He passed away on October 2, 1914 of prostate cancer and is interred at Crystal Lake Cemetery in Frankfort, Michigan.
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Loss in the 1870s
Despite the threat of the American Civil War, the McGregor family seemed to navigate the perils without tragedy. In fact, it is hard to even pinpoint what some of the boys' roles may have been in the war, though it is easy to presume that they may have spent the duration on the Great Lakes.
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Loss caught up with the family by the 1870s, however.
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On January 14, 1870, Peter and Margaret's youngest child, Charles Myron McGregor, who was a sailor on the Great Lakes like his brothers, passed away from typhoid at the age of 21.
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A similar affliction brought tragedy to the family of fourth child, John Murray McGregor, in the 1870s, as we explore below.
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Peter also said goodbye to his brother, Duncan, in 1872, and father Duncan McGregor in 1877. Both were quite far removed, still residing in Alburgh, Vermont, so it is quite likely that Peter did not have the opportunity to say farewell to his father and brother.
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Jane and Wilson: Close to Home
Peter and Margaret's second daughter, Jane McGregor, never had the mobility to stray too far from her parents. She worked as a servant girl locally, and ultimately lived with her parents for the length of their lives. Jane never chose to marry and had no (known) children.
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Wilson Brooks also opted to stay close to his parents and older sisters. In 1850 he married Florence McDonald in Port Huron, Michigan. They had at least three children: Charles Duncan McGregor (b.1878), Maxwell S. McGregor (b.1883), and Roy J. McGregor (b.1886).
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The youngest of the McGregor children, Charles Myron, also stayed close to home, but sadly had very little opportunity to spread his wings. Much like his older brothers, he took up work as a sailor on the Great Lakes. But in January of 1870, he contract typhoid and passed away in Cottrellville, Michigan at the age of 21.
Loss: 1890-1892
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In 1890, the family lost its matriarch, Margaret (Murray) McGregor on August 5, 1890 of bowel disease.
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Within a year of her mother's departure, in 1891, spinster Jane McGregor, also passed away and was buried near her mother. And then only a few months after that, the patriarch, Peter McGregor passed away on January 26, 1892.
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Charles, Jane, Margaret, and Peter can all be visited at Oaklawn Cemetery in St. Clair, Michigan.
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John Murray McGregor: A Young Great Lakes Captain
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My great-great grandfather, John Murray McGregor (Peter and Margaret's fifth child) chose a life on the Great Lakes, just like his brothers. His career began at the age of 12, in 1853, when he began work at a saw mill. By age 15 he was a sailor on Michigan's Great Lakes, and by 18, in 1859, he was given command of a tugboat.
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He was also very politically minded, even at an early age. In 1860, the 19 year-old actively stumped the State of Michigan for Abraham Lincoln, though he had been an enthusiastic Democrat prior to the election.
John Murray McGregor's Steamboat Pilot's Certificate, 1864
The Unknown Impact of the Civil War​
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It is important to acknowledge at this point in our McGregor history that just as the young men of the family were coming of age in Michigan, the Civil War was active. However, curiously, whatever their roles may have been in the war, we know not how they served the Union, though perhaps this had a great deal to do with how the sons all became sailors on the Great Lakes.
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An Unlucky Union: John Murray McGregor and Nettie Snyder
Military service was hardly the only impact the war had on the family, though. As the Civil War played out, typhoid fever, and assorted other deadly ailments, ravaged the American landscape. John Murray McGregor felt this most acutely of anyone in the family. Near the close of the war, John married Elizabeth Henrietta "Nettie" Snyder in Detroit, Michigan on August 3, 1864. Almost right away, the young couple started a family of at least five children:
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1. Charles Stanley McGregor (b. 14 Aug, 1865, d. 22 Aug, 1865)
2. Wilson McGregor (b. 4 Jun, 1868)
3. Carrie McGregor (b. 1866)
4. [Infant] (b. 1869, d. 14 Feb, 1869)
5. Bertram McGregor (b.14 Apr, 1872)
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Most likely, it was an aforementioned disease that claimed the life of their first child, Charles Stanley, who lived only eight days. After little Charles's death, the couple experienced more tragedy in 1869, when first they lost an unnamed infant on February 14, 1869, and then less than six months later, they lost their daughter Carrie on August 1, 1869 (aged three years).
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Less than five months later is when John lost his little brother, 21 year-old Charles Myron, from typhoid on January 14, 1870. Two years later, in 1872, John Murray's wife, Nettie McGregor, died of typhoid, leaving John to care for the couple's remaining two sons.
By 1880, John sent his two sons, Wilson and Bertram to live with his brother Wilson Brooks McGregor and his wife Florence (McDonald) McGregor. In just a seven-year period, the McGregor family had buried at least five of its members, all under age 30. John Murray had lost three children, his brother, and his wife.
John Murray McGregor Rebuilds His Family
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Amidst the tragedies and upheavals, John Murray's career continued to thrive. As early as 1867, he worked as a ship carpenter who helped to build two giant wooden vessels in Detroit, under the employ of J.M. Jones.
After the the immense losses in his life, John began to put his personal life back together again. On March 10, 1880, 39 year-old J.M. McGregor married his second wife, 21 year-old Caroline "Carrie" Burnett Woodcock (b. 1859), a lifelong resident of Detroit from the well-known Woodcock family (read the Woodcock Family Story).
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Caroline "Carrie" (Woodcock) McGregor as a young woman
Presumably, the couple brought back 8 year-old Bertram and 12 year-old Wilson to come and live with them as they began their own family. Eight months after their marriage, John and Carrie began welcoming children:
1. Alfred McGregor (b.14 Nov, 1880)
2. James McGregor (b. early 1882)
3. Guy McGregor (b. 3 Feb, 1883).
Sadly, James did not live long and passed away on June 9, 1883. It was another four years until records indicate the couple had additional children:
4. Robert McGregor (b. 29 Oct,1887)
5. Eleanor M. McGregor (b. 20 Oct, 1891)
6. Clara McGregor (b. 20 Oct, 1899)
During this time, John continued to advance professionally, and commanded the ship Saginaw Valley on its maiden voyage in 1888.
For a few years the large family lived well without any documented upheavals, until in September of 1894, 12 year-old Guy McGregor developed a toothache. According to newspaper reports, within a few days the glands of his throat began to swell to a suffocating size. Two physicians worked to aid him, but ultimately Guy strangled to death on September 4, 1894. The official cause of death was blood poisoning
from an abscess.
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The grief and sense of loss did not close off the couple from their families, though. By 1900, John's (alleged) "nephews" George and Porter McGregor were living with him (though they had moved on by 1910), and in 1910 Carrie's sister Elsie Woodcock and mother Eliza Woodcock were living with them.
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The Captain Travels West
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For Carrie, having so much family close-by must have been welcomed, as husband John spent some time in the late 1890s out west. The Klondike Gold Rush called him out to the Yukon, where he was able to make overly generous income, in theory, offering to ferry prospectors and their heavy cargo along waterways.
Capt. J.M. McGregor (left) between 1896-1899 in the Yukon for the Klondike Gold Rush
The Story of Captain Bertram McGregor's Watery Death
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The family's ill fortunes continued later on in 1913, when John's son Bertram McGregor (from his first marriage to Nettie)--by then a 42 year-old Great Lakes Captain (like his father and uncles)--mysteriously drowned.
Captain Bertram McGregor (husband to Lillian F. Cottrell...of Cottrellville) was first mate on the sand steamer C.H. Little, and was responsible for being on watch and aiding the steamer safely through the thick fog when it arrived at a dock from Lake St. Clair on the evening of Sunday, December 14, 1913. By all accounts, he did so well and admirably. The next evening, Monday, he reportedly left the Little to run an errand for the vessel's captain. Officials believed that he slipped and fell off the dock when returning to the ship.
His body was not found and fished out of the water until four days later, on Thursday, December 18--one week before Christmas--and the same day his wife reported him missing. He left behind a 12 year-old daughter, Elizabeth H. McGregor (b. 1902), who probably never thought of Christmas quite the same way again. In the years shortly following Bertram's death, his wife Lillian packed up and moved to Minnesota to live with her sister's family, where she lived as a widow.
The incident was particularly odd given Captain Bertram's extensive experience on the water. He was a skilled navigator who had worked for the Pittsburgh Steamship Company and the Gilchrist Transportation Company around the Great Lakes. This has led the family to quietly speculate in modern times that perhaps Bertram was intoxicated when he allegedly stumbled and fell. We will never know.
More wild speculation posits that it could have been murder (did he owe anyone money? Or cross anyone the wrong way? Did he fight with the captain?), or even suicide. After all, the death certificate even describes the cause as "supposed accidental". Or perhaps a sober Bertram simply lost his footing on a cold and icy night. In any case, this was the sixth child that Capt. John Murray McGregor had to bury.
Newspaper article about Bertram's death, 1913
John Murray McGregor: From Great Lakes Captain to Labor Leader
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Never settling for humble success, Capt. John Murray McGregor continued to move upward in the world. The constantly politically minded captain ran for Michigan State Legislature and Mayor of Detroit, losing both times. He was also an active and interested member of the "Noble Order of the Knights of Labor of the World". His pro-labor views became so vocal that when he began organizing Great Lakes pilots into the Order, he was blacklisted from his job as captain.
He kept the moniker, though, known by many simply as "The Captain".
In 1904, McGregor was called to speak at the Hearings Before the Merchant-Marine Commission in Illinois, in front of Senators and Representatives. The Commission was considering what legislation might be needed to build and fortify Merchant Marines once again in the United States, and McGregor, as the President of the International Pilots' Association (recall, this was before airplanes!) had a great deal to say on the topic.
Thanks to the book Hearings Before the Merchant Marine Commission, written in 1904, McGregor's entire testimony was preserved for future generations. The Captain primarily argued for fair wages for the mates on the steamers, wages that would match how postal workers wages were set, and doing so by lowering the cost of materials without sacrificing quality.
By 1914, at the age of 73, with his sailing days behind him, Captain McGregor took a position working for the Detroit Health Department that would last for 15 years until his death at age 88. During his time at the health department he reportedly never missed a day of work or was tardy even once. In fact, he was granted a bonus week of vacation for his stellar record, and on Thursday of his bonus week, he first became ill, ultimately passing on Sunday after being ill ever-so-briefly. ​It was said in newspaper articles marking his passing that he knew the floors
of the Great Lakes as well as he knew the floors of his home.
John Murray McGregor: Captain, Labor Activist, Husband, Father
Looking back on his very active life, his political conclusions may have been best expressed in the book All-American Anarchist: Joseph A. Labadie and the Labor Movement, when author Carlotta R. Anderson noted about J.M. McGregor:
"He told Labadie he was overwhelmed with pessimism and saw America inescapably headed for
the fate of the old Roman Republic. McGregor found the numbers of the 'disinherited' multiplying
and the capitalist system 'more strongly enthroned than when we first began protesting more
than forty years ago.' A long-lasting industrial depression lay just ahead, he correctly predicted
in 1927, two years before it occurred; he wrongly believed it would culminate in a revolution."
Author Anderson also commented about McGregor and Labadie's friendship:
"...he recalled with nostalgia their camaraderie in the old Henry George assembly of the
Knights of Labor back in the 1880s. The years had gone so fast, they had accomplished so
little, he mourned two years before his death in 1929. Yet this old comrade-in-memory of
Labadie's expected they would 'keep on protesting because it is a part of us'."
The McGregor Women Moving into the 20th Century
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As the generations of the McGregor family moved in to the 20th century--a time that would bring two World Wars and the passing of both Captain John Murray (on August 16, 1929 at his home) and Caroline (on September 29, 1937, at the same family home)--times of great tragedy and drama seemed to ease for the family. The family was generally professionally successful, and that included the amazing women raised by Captain McGregor.
He had two living daughters who grew to be women with active professions in a time when most women did not do such things. Both Eleanor M. McGregor and Clara McGregor worked as stenographers by 1910. Eleanor was in the advertising industry, and Clara was employed by an iron works outfit.
By 1930, Clara had advanced to become a bookkeeper at a local hotel. While Eleanor (my great grandmother) gave up her occupation once she married my great grandfather, Earle A. Tomes (see The Tomes Family Story), I cannot help but believe the McGregor strength was transferred to her daughters as well. My grandmother, Mary Ellen (Tomes) Stevens, would grow to be a school teacher who worked outside of the home in the 1940s and beyond, even while married and raising a family of four children.
Eleanor (McGregor) Tomes, c. 1910
John Murray McGregor on his 83rd birthday, 1924
J.M. McGregor, son Alfred McGregor, and Carrie (Woodcock) McGregor, c. 1920s