Year book of the American clan Gregor Society ... - Electric Scotland

74
American Clan Gregor Society
He belonged to the Protestant Episcopal Church, devout and steadfast
in his faith, and widely acquainted with the history of the
Church and its institutions. I believe he knew every psalm by heart,
or at least the greater part of them.
Almost till the end Mr. Magruder retained his general health.
His sight and hearing never failed him, his mind was clear as a
bell, he was never troubled with functional disorders. I suppose you
can truly say that he died of old age. Within a very few weeks he
de(;lined rapidly—with no particular ailment, except that the machinery
of life had run its appointed course. On March 28th, 1916
he passed quietly and peacefully away, in the eighty-seventh year
of his life. He is buried in St. Anne's Cemetery, Annapolis, where
lie his parents and grandparents, his two brothers and his sister.
Mr. Magruder, in the 60's married Emily Erving Nicholson,
daughter of Colonel Joseph H. Nicholson and Eliza Ann Hagner
Nicholson. She died in 1905. They had four children, John Randall
(not living), Mary Nicholson, Peter Hagner and Eliza Nicholson
Magruder, all of whom reside in Annapolis.
My uncle was especially dear to me. I knew him, of course,
only in his later years, when the frosts of age had whitened his beard
though they had not chilled his heart. Despite the great difference
in our ages, we were real companions, for although my uncle had at-
tained unto that calm philosophy of life that is the peculiar possession
of age, he kept, withal, a refreshing up-to-dateness. . Though
he looked the patriarch, with his benign countenance and long flowing
beard, there was much of the boy left in him. We both loved to
talk politics, avA had many animated—and for me, illuminating—discussions
on that engaging topic. He had seen and heard Webster,
Clay, Stephen A. Douglas, and many other celebrities of a time which
seems ancient history to me, and I enjoyed his descriptions of their
appearance and their oratorical powers. Another of our hobbies was
chess—he was eager to play at any time (except Sunday, and I
could never persuade him to break that rule), and I was willing to
play anytime I felt serene enough to take a licking. I always used
to wheel him out to the polls on election day, and at odd times T
used to ride him around town in a bicycle chair. Once I took him
to the moving pictures—that was a new experience for him, but he
seemed to enjoy it immensely. He was so genuinely grateful for the
smallest attentions, his face would light up with such evident inter-
est and appreciation, that I could not help but find great pleasure
in my frequent visits. An interesting, well-informed talker, a cultured
Christian gentleman, as the Chieftain said, a Hero of Peace, he
richlj'' repaid me for the hours I spent in his company, by giving me
the inspiration of his lovely character, by quickening my pride in
the highland race from which he sprung. For he was a MacGregor,
with all that the name implies!