The McGregor Estate
In the North Iowa Times on June
13, 1860, appeared an account of the arrest of certain
prominent citizens of McGregor, Iowa, on a charge of
“rioting”. They were carried before Squire
Watkins of Farmersburg, and “accused of the forcible
ejection of one James Dymond from premises he claimed by
virtue of a deed from James McGregor.”
A bit of Mediaevalism in the staid nineteenth century!
What could influence men of wealth and dignity, respected
for their judgment, to so behave? Why were the
“rioters” not haled before a magistrate in
their own community for a hearing? Probably the
circumstances were such as to goad them beyond reason,
and to convince them that there was small hope for
redress through orderly channels. And such was the case!
The community of McGregor was twenty years old or more.
It was at the peak of its prosperity, the center of a
wholesale and retail trade stretching far to the west and
even northwest into Minnesota. The business houses ranged
along the river front and through a narrow coulee for
more than a mile. The streets were jammed in favorable
seasons. And yet scarcely a building stood on land to
which its owner had title, and there was no assurance
that titles would be cleared with any great promptness.
All this had come of a family quarrel. On the one side
was James McGregor, Jr.; on the other his brothers,
Alexander and Duncan, and the brothers of Ann Gardner
McGregor, wife of Alexander. A series of law suits both
in New York and Iowa were the bitter fruits of this
dissension.
The McGregor family home was in New York. In 1832
Alexander went west. He stopped for a time at Fort
Dearborn, then went on to Prairie du Chien which he
thought was more favorably located, and decided to cast
his fortunes there. But he did not prosper. Among his
enterprises was the operation of a horse ferry across the
Mississippi River in partnership with Thomas Burnett. In
1837, when the ferry was installed, there was very little
traffic. Settlers were not crossing north of Dubuque,
partly because the tide of settlement was coming from the
southeast and partly due to the rugged nature of the
country in northeastern Iowa.
At the same time McGregor bought an interest in the
ferry, he also acquired a half interest in Burnett’s
share of the Giard tract. Thus two-thirds of the original
Spanish grant was owned by James H. Lockwood, one-sixth
by Burnett, and one-sixth by McGregor. In 1841, McGregor
and Burnett sold all but 160 acres of their interests in
the land to Peter Powell of St. Louis, who also bought
Lockwood’s interest in the tract which he shared
with Burnett. In this Powell became the owner of
approximately two-thirds of the tract, while Lockwood
apparently retained the one-third he had owned
independently.
The quarter section reserved for a ferry landing on the
west bank of the river where the town of McGregor is now
located, became known as the “Ferry Property”.
From a few squatters who had preempted claims adjacent to
the Giard tract, additional land was purchased until the
Ferry Property included about three hundred acres.
It appears that Alexander McGregor was not only
unfortunate in some of his business ventures,
particularly the ferry, but was improvident as well. His
family, moved by Scotch clannishness or sympathy for
Alexander’s wife and children, sent his brother
James out west in 1842 and again in 1845 to relieve his
financial embarrassments. With this aid he purchased
Burnett’s share of the ferry and real estate for
$1500 and bought a preemption claim of forty acres from
Samuel Olmstead. In both deal James McGregor advanced the
money. While these transactions were conducted in
Alexander’s name, he did not claim title to the
property, probably because his affairs were so involved
that he feared losing everything he held in his own name.
Meanwhile James McGregor seems to have become interested
I acquiring Iowa property. Certificates for most of his
brother’s holdings had been assigned to him.
Moreover, when Olmstead purchased ninety-nine acres for
James and Alexander, the transaction was in James’
name. James also bought a tract from Solomon Wadsworth
and another early settler named King which was thereafter
included in the Ferry Property.
Evidently the seeds of trouble were sown early. In 1845
Samuel Murdock introduced a bill in the Iowa House of
Representatives, authorizing Duncan McGregor to operate
“a ferry across the Mississippi in the County of
Clayton”. In the next session Murdock introduced
another bill to authorize James McGregor to “keep a
ferry across the Mississippi in the County of
Clayton”. Neither of theses bills was passed.
There is nothing in the information to be gleaned from
court decisions, newspapers, and such sources to explain
whether the claims made later by James were the result of
his own avarice or whether his acts were in retaliation
for some grievance. But the facts are that, when the town
of McGregor began to grow on the Ferry Property and the
business of Alexander began to prosper, James laid claim
to the entire holding, not only the land obtained from
the Giard estate but tracts of the preemptors as well.
His claim was contested by other members of the family,
however, and long and fierce was the struggle over right
and title to the Ferry Property.
In 1845 a fourth brother, Gregor McGregor died in his New
York home, He bequeathed $2000 to be held in trust for
Ann, wife of Alexander, “for her sole and separate
use, and free from the debts, control or interference of
her husband”. James and Duncan McGregor, brothers of
Alexander, were named as trustees. If children survived
both Ann and her husband the principal was to be paid to
them; if not, to the “next of kin”. The
intention of the donor seems obvious; but the trustees
did not so dispose. They planned to invest the money in
New York. James claimed that they did; the other members
of the family declared that it was all turned over to
Alexander McGregor - $500 to build a tavern and $1500 to
pay for Burnett’s share of the Ferry Property. When
James McGregor came to Iowa the following year, no
mention as to the source of this loan was made. Some
years later, during a visit in New York, Duncan told
Alexander and his wife that the money was the “trust
fund”, and they agreed to the arrangement., Later
James denied that the trust fund had been so used; but
whatever the disposition of the money, according to later
testimony, Ann had not other benefit from its income.
Meanwhile the property steadily increased in value. A
brisk town of six hundred persons, names for its founder,
McGregor, was located on the property, with a business
far beyond the scope of a town of its size today. It
boasted a newspaper, and a wholesale business in grain
and commodities engaged the interests and resources of
several firms. Alexander began to make sales to these
business men for sites of stores and residences.
With this change in the affairs of his brothers, James
McGregor appears to have been dissatisfied. He seemed to
regret that Ann was profiting so much from the trust fund
and wished to share in the returns from the investments
he had helped to negotiate. In 1851 he again came to Iowa
and threatened to dispossess Alexander and his family.
Finally, Ann agreed to purchase all his interests in the
Iowa property for $6500; James credited her with the
$2000 trust and took her note for $4500. But this
arrangement the family was determined should not stand;
so Ann brought suit in the name of herself and minor
children, Gregor and Gardner, both in Iowa courts and in
New York, to restrain collection of the $4500 note and to
void the agreement of 1851 on the grounds that she and
her husband were sole owners of the property at the time.
The New York Supreme Court decided against her, inasmuch
as the “trust fund” could not legally be
invested in real estate or be paid to herself or her
husband. The District Court of Dubuque had decided in her
favor; but after the New York decision the Iowa Supreme
Court reversed the Dubuque decision, and the case was
retired. On the assumption that the $2000 had not been
invested in the Ferry Property, a special master in
chancery attempted to adjust the financial phases of the
controversy. The sum of $1700 was awarded to James as
still due to him on the various transactions with
Alexander, but this settlement again, however, Alexander
McGregor died, in 1858. His will provided that the case
be defended with vigor; his wife, her brother George D.
Gardner, and other executors took up the fight. A final
award of $3263 to Alexander’s heirs for improvements
was made. With the court’s approval the lands were
divided; lots were drawn by ballot, and the adjustment
filed for record in Clayton County.
It is almost impossible to follow the currents and
counter currents of litigation in this controversy.
Alexander, acting under power of attorney, bought much
property for James in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. On
December 7, 1852, he conveyed by this power of attorney
all of the Iowa real estate held in the name of James to
his brothers-in-law Egbert and George D. Gardner. The
consideration for the land in and about the town of
McGregor was $2000. A year later James brought suit to
set aside the deeds as fraudulent. Although the State
Supreme Court denied any intentional fraud on the part of
Alexander, the deeds were set aside, and after a second
appeal, in 1867, a rehearing was denied.
In 1853 James McGregor, Sr., died in New York. Two wills
were produced, the later will showing distinct preference
for his son, James, Jr., and a grandson, James Buell.
This will was rejected by the courts of New York, and a
will written before the death of his son Gregor was
admitted to probate. This will names three sons, James,
Gregor, and Duncan as executors. Gregor had died; James
was then living in Iowa; only Duncan was left in New
York. When James appealed to the surrogate of Saratoga
County, New York, in 1861 for letters testamentary,
Duncan resisted on the grounds that James had forfeited
his rights when he contested the will, that he was not a
resident of New York, and that he was not a resident of
New York, and that he was “subject to mental
aberration”. The court decided that James, although
“of a high and rash temper” was not insane,
that he was not an alien in the sense of the law, and
might properly act as executor of his father’s
estate.
Of all the ramifications of the bitter feud, the suit
brought to test the title to the Giard tract was the most
amazing. Although Alexander McGregor and James Lockwood
had sold a large portion of the Giard tract (excepting
the Ferry Property) in 1841 to Peter Powell of St. Louis,
in some manner Alexander McGregor acquired this land
again. Powell and Burnett had both died in 1846. In his
will Alexander McGregor provided that a mortgage of
$12,000, secured by the Giard tract, be speedily paid to
John Powell. No doubt this indebtedness was concerned in
his reacquisition of the tract.
In 1854, James McGregor, Jr., in an effort to secure this
property for himself, induced the heirs of Giard to
re-sell their inheritance to him in order to test the
validity of the transactions which took place prior to
the award of government patent on July 2, 1844. The case
went to the Iowa Supreme Court; in rendering decision the
court sharply rebuked James McGregor. “To our minds
it would be a reproach upon the principles of the law
– a premium paid for cunning and duplicity – a
reward offered to those who would stir up and maintain
litigation to permit him to take advantage of any defects
in this deed.” The alleged sale of the land to James
McGregor in 1854 had been for a very small consideration,
a few dollars, gift of a “patent coffee pot” to
each heir and interest in a company to manufacture them.
Unpleasant notoriety developed over the “coffee-pot
patent” during the course of the suit.
The cases of McGregor v. McGregor and McGregor v. Gardner
were appealed and reappealed. Suit was brought in the
United States Circuit Court. Every phase of the dispute
was tested: the disposition of the “trust
fund”, the intent of James as to the disposal of the
Ferry Property when he received the patent for it, the
value of improvements, and the rights of Alexander under
his “power of attorney”. Final division of the
property by the court allotted to James a considerable
share, but not until his death 1867 did the heirs of
Alexander cease their persistent efforts to dispossess
him.
But troubles were not over for the citizens of McGregor.
In 1845, $1500 was considered a fair price for half
interest in the Ferry Property. When Alexander McGregor
attempted to transfer the property to his brothers-in-law
in 1852 the price was set at $2000, while James McGregor
had contracted to sell the property to Ann McGregor for
$6500 in 1851. But meanwhile, the “City of
McGregor”, so called in the special charter under
which it was governed, had prospered. Every bit of land
where a house could perch along the rugged hillside was
occupied. North and south along the river stretched an
imposing line of warehouses and grain elevators; the
“Main Street” was crowded with traffic, for
McGregor had become a center for wholesale trade; the
town lots were valuable.
What is more, pubic opinion was sharply partisan;
Alexander and his family had fostered the town and the
great majority of his neighbors wished him to succeed.
They firmly believed he had been defrauded by his
brother. By his will Alexander bequeathed $5000 to build
a road through the Giard tract to Monona, and he had
previously donated a plot for a cemetery. James, who had
transferred his residence to McGregor, must have often
met coldness if not actual antagonism on the part of his
neighbors in his new home.
After the favorable Iowa Supreme Court decision in 1860,
James began to exert pressure to force the townsmen to
buy the property upon which their buildings stood. But
the heirs of Alexander McGregor were in court again, and
the citizens refused. Then came the determination to
offer the lots for sale to whomsoever would buy, without
consideration for the occupants. A “riot” was
the consequence. A citizens’ committee was formed to
protect the interests of claimants. Every member of the
committee had more than local fame for ability and
fairness; they did what they could to prevent open
rupture between the citizens and James McGregor.
Late in 1861 the proposal was made that five hundred lots
be sold to the citizens for the lump sum of $190,000, and
a committee of appraisal was appointed to assess the
lots. But their findings were not satisfactory to Mr.
McGregor, who changed the appraisals to suit himself.
Again the citizens held a mass-meeting, the third in a
fortnight, and resolved not to purchase any property of
James McGregor or of heirs of Alexander McGregor until
the true ownership was finally adjusted. They arranged
for funds to resist sales to third parties and appointed
able counsel of the town to protect their interests.
Court records of Clayton County abound with cases
relating to titles to town lots in McGregor –
foreclosures, damage suits, and efforts to recover under
title bonds. Many residents asserted their
squatters’ rights under the “Occupying Claimant
Law”. In some few instances clouds upon title were
cleared by allowing the lots to be sold for taxes and
repurchasing from the holders of tax titles. The Iowa law
was soon changed, however, to prevent fraud in tax sales,
so this legitimate use of the scheme was no longer
possible. Many titles remain clouded to this day, but if
traceable to transactions with the McGregor family they
do not often defeat sales. And the claim that title is
still vested in the Giard heirs is a pure myth.
Alexander McGregor and on of his family were buried in
the tract proposed for a cemetery, on a beautiful knoll
now included in the property of the McGregor Heights
Association. When this portion was awarded to the heirs
of James McGregor, the bodies were removed to the
cemetery in Prairie du Chien. James McGregor died in New
York, but was buried in McGregor in the exact center of a
beautiful formal park a block square, under an imposing
shaft of granite.
What long litigation had left of the fortune of Alexander
was gradually dissipated by his heirs. The affairs of
James Buell, however, nephew of James McGregor, prospered
mightily and as a result most of the beautiful bluff
lands about McGregor remained in the family. These have
been recently presented to the government of the United
States to be included in the “Wild Life
Refuge”. What more lasting monument could be
conceived to perpetuate the name and fame of the family
that was so closely associated with early fortunes of the
community!
-source: The Palimpsest,
edited by John Ely Briggs, Vol.XII Issued in January 1931
No.1 Copyright 1931 by the State Historical Society of
Iowa; pg 7-19
-transcribed by Lisa Hanson-Braun, January 2005
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