1954 - Special Collections

YEAR BOOK A MERICAX CLA!'i GREGOR SOCIETY
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INTRODUCTION TO A CHA RT SHOW IN G
THE LINE OF DESCENT
of
ALEXANDER MAGRUDER
From
SI X MAGNA CH A RT A BARONS
By
BRIG. GEN. MARSHALL MAGRUDER
Alexander Magruder, a Scot, came of a Royal rac e which had through long
suffering learn ed to have confidence in its ability to overcome all odds, and not only
to survive but obtain its sha re of the fru its of the Ea rth.
In th is short article we will seek to find the spark that motivated Ale xander
Magruder in his struggle to establish his line in the new count ry.
Mr s. Olive S. Pope, our clanswoman from Dun woody, Georgia, has prepared
numerous valuable genealogical charts the first of which is "T he Royal Clan Alpin"
which shows the lines of Alexander Magruder back through th e MacGr egor Clan
Chiefs and the Kin gs of Scotland. T he second, which is the subject of thi s article,
shows his descent from six of the Magna Cha rta Barons, who forced Kin g John
to sign the Magna Charta. T his document signed in 1215 was the first written
instrument granting basic freedoms to a people by a Kin g. It was, of cour se, th e
for erun ner of our Bill of Ri ghts, Declar ation of Independence, and of the Consti ­
tuti on, which has become a model for democracies th e world over.
No wonder the British people guard this instrument so closely. It was over
here at th e New York Wo rld's Fa ir when \Vorl d Wa r II began, and was caref ully
gua rded until it could be safely returned to England.
Th is natural desire of freedom of the Scottish people, when in a sense culminat
ed in 1215 with the signing of the Magna Charta, must have been a strong
hereditary influence in th e forming of the char acter of Alexander Magruder.
W e, members of the Clan, are ju stly proud of his descent from these Magna Charta
Barons ; and proud to know that the lines in this chart have been approved by
John S. Wurts, Hi storian of the Magna Cha rta Society, so th at any member of
the American Clan Greg or Society is entitled to member ship in the Magna Charta
Society.
The other important chart prepared by Mrs. Pope on the hereditary influence
of Alexander Magruder is, "A lexander Magruder's direct line from Charlemayne"
through his son P epin, born 776, died 810, Kin g of Lombardy and Italy. Charlemagne
was one of the greatest Kings of all time.
So when Alexander Magruder walked ashore in Maryland in 1652, although
a pri soner of war, he was not alone. The spirit of his illustrious ancestors was
with him, to give him strength, faith, and to succor him in time of need.