Mary C. McGregor
Mary C.
McGregor
Born
Oct 7
1875
Died
Oct. 17
1875
Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales
Biography
Mary C. McGregor
Oct. 7-Oct. 17, 1875
First it should be noted that the middle name used by many of these family members is used with two variant spellings throughout their documents—"Steward" and "Stewart".
Mary C. McGregor is one of four young people in Old Bayview Cemetery with their parents, John Steward (1838-1903) and Frances Jane McGregor (1844-1908). Their paternal grandparents, John Steward McGregor, Sr. (1805-1889) and wife Mary Ann (1810-1891) were also initially buried in the cemetery. However, they were later removed to Rose Hill Cemetery subsequent to its establishment in 1914. Mary's father is John Steward McGregor, Jr. who was born on 28 February 1838 and was 13 years old when he left from London with is parents to sail for Texas in 1852. His family initially settled on the Nueces River at a spot near a conspicuous clump of large trees known as the "Motts". Nuecestown developed there, and other English families settled in the vicinity—the Wrights, Noakes, Orchards, Reynolds, and Howards. Little Mary's paternal grandmother was the former Mary Ann Thomas, daughter of Sir Walter Thomas of London. Mary's mother was Fannie Oliver, sister of D. M. Oliver and E. R. Oliver who lived in the Oso community about 12 miles southwest of the city of Corpus Christi. The Oliver family had a family burial ground on their own property near their homes on the Oso. While her obituary says that Fannie was a native of Red River County, Texas, she usually reports in census records that she is from Mississippi or Missouri. Little Mary's parents married 31 July 1868 (Nueces County Marriage Records, volume C page 373). Their first born child appears to be David (born in 1869) who also died young. Mary appears to have been the first girl born to the couple, but she did not live for even a month. Often in those days, such small infants were simply buried in the family yard with no marker. For that reason it is a tribute to this little one that her parents wanted to see that a memorial would insure she would not be forgotten. At the time of her birth, Mary's parents were probably still living out in the country. In the 1870 census they live next door to her paternal grandparents, John Steward and Mary Ann McGregor (this is John Steward, Sr.). Also nearby is the Wm. B. Terrell family. Mrs. Terrell (Flora S. Terrell) is little Mary's paternal aunt, Flora S. McGregor. By the 1880 census her parents were living closer to her mother Fannie's family in the Oso community (1880 census of Nueces County, p. 41D). The Terrells also moved to this community and are found there in the 1880 census. It seems likely that these families may have moved from the Nuecestown community to the Oso community shortly after the raid of 1875 to seek greater protection. Consequently, Mary may have been born after the move to the Oso community. Mary's older brothers, another John McGregor and Edward Rockhill McGregor, had survived infancy and were surely a source of joy to their mother who had lost two children (David and Mary) between 1870 and 1880. A total of three of Fannie's children would precede their mother to the grave, and a fourth would die only 2 years after her. Three of the children would live to an older age. Her sons John and Thomas both died in 1929 and are buried in Rose Hill Cemetery.
Research and transcription: Michael A. Howell