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
