Columbia County OR Archives Biographies.....Magruder, Richard Brooke April 8, 1867 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/or/orfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com February 14, 2011, 4:39 pm Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 948 - 950 Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company RICHARD BROOKE MAGRUDER. Among the citizens of Columbia county, Oregon, whose activities here have been distinctly constructive in character and crowned with a well merited measure of success, stands Richard Brooke Magruder, of Clatskanie, who is the owner of two thousand acres of as fine land as can be found in the Columbia river valley and is recognized as one of the representative men of his locality. Mr. Magruder was born at Sandy Springs, Montgomery county, Maryland, on the 8th of April, 1867, a son of Dr. William E. and Margaret (Brooke) Magruder. In the paternal line he is of Scotch ancestry, the American family of Magruder being a branch of the famous MacGregor clan of Scotland, one of the sturdiest and most active clans of that country, descended from Gregor, third son of Alpin, king of the Scots, who reigned about 787. From him the clan derived its original name of the clan McAlpine. They were located in Glenorchy as early as the reign of Malcolm Canmore, 1057-1093. Hugh of Glenorchy was the first of the great MacGregors, and Malcolm, the chief of the clan in the days of Robert Bruce, fought on the national side of the battle of Bannockburn, 1306. They were a strong and warlike clan and in the course of time became so powerful as to incur the displeasure of the king, whose edicts against them became so severe as to rouse the clan to open rebellion and finally ended in the whole clan being laid under the ban of outlawry. By an act of the privy council all of the name MacGregor were compelled on pain of death to take another surname, were forbidden to meet in greater numbers than four at a time, and the earls of Argyll and Athol, the most powerful of the nobles, were granted a commission to "pursue the MacGregors with fire and sword." During these stirring times was born Rob Roy MacGregor, whose deeds are known to most American youths. The MacGregor family was established in America by Alexander MacGregor, who went to Maryland in 1652, settling in Calvert county, where he had a patent of five hundred acres. He took the name Alexander Magruder, and the family name remained that way until 1820, despite the act of grace of 1717, granting pardon to the family who had rebelled and restoring their name. In 1820 one branch of the family resumed the name MacGregor, which is now largely found in this country. Richard B. Magruder's great-grandfather, Dr. Zadok Magruder, was a prominent physician in Maryland, where he owned much land and many slaves. His son, William B. Magruder, also a physician in Maryland, was located for many years at Brookeville, Montgomery county. In that place, in 1836, was born William E. Magruder, who graduated from Brookeville Academy, a preparatory school, and then entered the medical department of the University of Maryland, from which he was graduated, with the degree of Doctor of Medicine. He then took a theological course and was ordained a minister of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which calling he devoted the ensuing eight years, or until his father's health failed, when he quit the ministry, took up his father's medical practice and followed that profession for nearly sixty years, his death occurring July 13, 1914. William E. Magruder was married to Miss Margaret Brooke, who was born in 1840 and died in 1916. She was a member of the Brooke family of England, the pre-served record of which dates back to 1530, with Richard Brooke, who married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir Bryan Twyne. To the memory of this early Brooke and his family there are brass markers on the walls of Whitechurch, Hampshire, England, placed there in 1603. Robert Brooke, the youngest son of this union, came to the American colonies in 1649, having been commissioned by Lord Baltimore to establish the colony or county of Charles, Maryland. He was the progenitor of the Brooke family in this country and was of the Friends religious faith. Members of this family took an active part in early events in Maryland, and the house intermarried with the Meriwether family, a descendant of which was Captain Meriwether Lewis, of Lewis and Clark fame. To William E. and Margaret (Brooke) Magruder were born five children, of whom four are living, namely: Mary, of Sandy Spring, near Washington, D. C.; Richard Brooke, of this review; Emma, of San Diego, California, and Dr. Edward, of Baltimore, Maryland, who is of the fourth successive generation of the family to follow the profession of medicine. Richard B. Magruder received his educational training in the Friends elementary and high schools at Sandy Spring, Maryland, after which he devoted his attention to farm work for several years. He then became a traveling salesman for the well known firm of John A. Roebling Sons Company, of Trenton, New Jersey, manufacturers of wire and wire rope. It was the founder of this firm who built the Brooklyn bridge. About 1900 Mr. Magruder came to Portland, Oregon, in the interests of this company, first as salesman, and later as assistant manager, and also helped to establish a branch agency at Seattle, Washington. About 1907 he became interested in the idea of reclaiming tide lands on the lower Columbia river, near Clatskanie, and formed a syndicate to acquire the land and proceed with its reclamation. The Lower Columbia Agricultural Company was formed, the officers and directors of which were: E. S. Collins, president; P. J. Brix, vice president; R. B. Magruder, manager; and these gentlemen, with A. J. Byerly, Albert Brix and Asmus Brix, comprised the board of directors. The company acquired fourteen thousand acres of land and set to work reclaiming it by dredging, dyking and ditching. They constructed a large dredger, which they named the "Skookum," which did splendid work, and which during the years of its service has been used in the reclamation of over fifty thousand acres of land on both sides of the Columbia river, and is still in use. In the course of time they succeeded in reclaiming all of their land, which is now regarded as about the richest and most valuable dairy land in the state. In 1920, its object having been attained, the company was dissolved and the land was divided among the original stockholders. Mr. Magruder's share amounts to two thousand acres, which he is subdividing and selling in small tracts. He was the superintendent and active manager of the company's operations throughout the work of reclamation and was highly commended for the ability and judgment which he showed in the prosecution of the project. He has a fine herd of registered Guernsey cattle on his farm and has a splendid set of farm buildings, including a large and well built barn and a modern silo. On the heights overlooking the valley, he built an attractive home, from which he has a splendid view of both sides of the river. In 1913 Mr. Magruder was united in marriage to Miss Grace Kent, who was born at Uniontown, Kansas, in which state she was reared and educated. They are the parents of a son, Kent, who was born on October 9, 1915. Mr. Magruder is a member of Clatskanie Lodge No. 133, A. F. & A. M.; Oregon Consistory No. 1, A. A. S. R., at Portland; Al Kader Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., at Portland, and the Cowlitz Shrine Club, at Cowlitz, Washington. He has in his possession an old French watch, which had been in the Meriwether branch of his father's family since the time of Nicholas Meriwether, who lived between 1631 and 1678. The watch, which is still in good running condition, has engraved on its hunting case the names of its successive owners and is a valued and interesting heirloom. Mr. Magruder is a man of strong character and substantial personal qualities and his record since coming to Oregon has gained for him an enviable place in the confidence and respect of all who know him. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/or/columbia/bios/magruder1507gbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/orfiles/ File size: 8.6 Kb