In 1830, Charles Fordtran (1801-1900) emigrated from his native Germany to Texas, then under Mexican rule. His daughter, Annie Portia, married Dr. Gregor McGregor, a physician and land speculator, who came to Texas in 1852. In 1859, McGregor built the McGregor House, which today is part of the Winedale Historical Center at the University of Texas.
Comprised of scrapbooks, photographs, correspondence, newspaper clippings, scholarly articles, genealogical materials, published items, songbook and sheet music, as well as assorted historical documents, the Fordtran-McGregor Family Papers, 1836-[1990s], documents the history of the family, particularly during the nineteenth century. The papers of Gregor and Annie Portia McGregor, contain correspondence; photographs of their home and family; photocopies of Annie Portia’s sheet music; the diary of Gregor, which documents his trip from North Carolina to Round Top, Texas; and photographs of the McGregor House. The papers of lawyer Arthur Williams McGregor include love letters from him to Irene Lescher between 1896 and 1898, correspondence with his father, and photographs. Additionally, published articles discuss the history of Texas and of various communities related to the families, notably Round Top, Texas.
This collection is open for research use.
Fordtran-McGregor Family Papers, 1830s-[1990s], Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
This collection contains unprocessed materials.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s