McGregor Family
From Scotland to North Carolina to Haskell by Alan Ratliff
Charles and Juliana standing in front of their house in Haskell.
Charles Malcom McGregor is my maternal Grandfather. He was born in Waco Texas, the son of Dr. Gregor Carmichael McGregor, and Ana Portia Fortran of Industry, Texas.
The McGregors were Scottsmen who migrated to North Carolina and then to Texas. Dr. McGregor graduated from a New York Medical school and then came to Texas where he met and married Ana Portia Fortran. Through his work as a physician as well as inheritance from his father he was able to buy various pieces of land in Texas. The town of McGregor is named after him since he bought land in that area. In Haskell County he purchased land, (approximately 2,400 acres) in the far north west part of the county. His son, Charles Malcom, who was a wonderful artist, went to Royal Bavarian Art Academy in Munich Germany to study art. There he met and married Juliana Hoover. After Dr. McGregor's death in Waco, Texas, Charles Malcom received word that he should return to America to claim his inheritance which included the Haskell County Ranch/Farm.
Charles came to Haskell with his wife Juliana in about 1898. Assuming the role of land owner he began to make many improvements on the land so that it could be properly farmed. He built 13 houses and divided the land into small workable tracts for many tenant farmers who would work the land for portions of the crops raised. Each family had a cow, pigs, chickens and other things needed to sustain them as they farmed their part of the land. They plowed with mules or horses until the advent of the tractor and had to depend strictly upon rainfall for watering their crops of corn, cotton, and maze. Charles and Juliana built their own home on the ranch and had to use a horse and buggy to come to Haskell, or one of the other small towns that sprang up, to buy supplies.
Juliana had already had the first of her five children (Karl) while still in Germany. Knowing that Karl would not have access to schools and speaking German, they decided he would stay with Juliana's parents until he was out of school.
Coming to Haskell was certainly a shock for Juliana, a refined European city girl. My mother, Irene McGregor, was the last child born to Charles and Juliana, born in a home that was standing on the edge of the canyons of the Salt Fork of the Brazos River. A family picture of that young girl shows her sitting on the porch of their ranch home. She had but her dog, Gravy, and chickens to play with since her brother, six years older, was sent away to school. My mother wrote a book, "My Little Mom", containing many of her thoughts and the adventures she experienced during her early years, and focused on the hardships that her mother Juliana endured as a pioneer wife and mother in Haskell County. When Irene became of school age, the McGregors moved from the ranch home to one in the town of Haskell. This house is still standing and has been renovated in recent years.
© Alan Ratliff, 2012