Gregor McGregor, who is a resident of the town named in honor of his father, has made this city his home during nearly his entire life, and has been a much interested participator in its rapid progress and development. For over twenty years he has been engaged in the wholesale hardware trade at this point, and in connection with this does a considerable retail business. His trade extends to many points in Minnesota and Dakota, as well as in the adjacent parts of Iowa, and he carries a large line of heavy hardware, his store being thoroughly equipped with everything usually found in a first-class and well appointed establishment of the kind.

A native of Wisconsin, our subject was born in Prairie du Chien in 1845, and is the son of Alexander McGregor, a native of New York State, who emigrated to the west, becoming a resident of Prairie du Chien in 1842. The McGregor family originated in Scotland, and members of it became residents of the Empire State in an early day. Our subject's mother, who died in 1891, at the advanced age of eighty years, was before her marriage Ann G. Gardner. Alexander McGregor in 1847 came to Clayton County, and in that year founded and laid out the present town of McGregor, in which he continued to make his home until summoned by the death angel on December 12, 1858.

The first five years of the subject of this biography were passed in the place of his nativity, when, with his parents, he came to this section and received his early education. In 1859, soon after the death of his father, he went to New York, where he remained until 1865; while there he continued his higher studies in Port Edward Institute. In 1865 he returned to McGregor, and two years later entered into partnership with Joseph McHose, as a member of the firm of J. McHose & Company, and three years later, in 1872, established his present business, which he has conducted successfully up to the present time, being known as one of the progressive and active business men of the place, to whose prosperity he has in no small measure contributed.

Ever active in local and public improvements, our subject has borne his share in promoting the general good, and though not desirous of public office, as he has preferred instead to devote his time to his own business interests, he has nevertheless been prevailed upon by his fellow-citizens to become Mayor of McGregor, and has for three terms served in that capacity to the full satisfaction of all concerned. His fellow-townsmen truly consider it a most fitting and graceful compliment to bestow the highest office of the place upon the man whose father was the originator and founder of the town organization. A true and loyal patriot, Mr. McGregor uses his power of franchise in favor of the Republican party, and in 1878 was elected to represent Clayton County in the Legislature, and was re-elected in 1880.

~source: Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties; Chicago: Chapman Pub. Co., 1894; pg 487-488
~transcribed by Sharyl Ferrall