PUBLIC "-//University of Virginia::Library::Special Collections Dept.//TEXT (US::ViU::viu00036::Papers of the Magruder Family)//EN" "viu00036.xml" A Guide to the Papers of the Magruder FamilyMagruder Family, Papers 2733-b Special Collections, University of Virginia Library © 2005 By the Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. All rights reserved.

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Machine-readable finding aid derived from WordPerfect. [Date of source: 1997. Description is in English. Feb 16, 2004 PUBLIC "-//University of Virginia::Library::Special Collections Dept.//TEXT (US::ViU::00036::Magruder Family Papers)//EN" "ViU00036.sgm" converted from EAD 1.0 to 2002 by v1to02.xsl (sy2003-10-15). Feb 27, 2004 converted to conform to eadVIVA.dtd by vivastrict.xsl A Guide to the Papers of the Magruder Family A Collection in the Special Collections Department 2733-b

Special Collections, University of Virginia Library 2005 Special Collections Staff Special Collections, University of Virginia Library Descriptive Summary Special Collections, University of Virginia Library Papers of the Magruder Family 2733-b English Administrative Information Access Restrictions

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Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

 Preferred Citation

Papers of the Magruder Family, Accession #2733-b, Special Collections, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.

 Acquisition Information

This collection was donated to the Library on February 19, 1985, by: R. Gregory Magruder, Evalina Magruder, Allaville Magruder, and Elizabeth Henshaw , all of Charlottesville, Virginia; Frances Lummis Lloyd of Longmont, Colorado; Lt. Col. Mason M. Lummis of Alexandria, Virginia; and, Gen. Carter B. Magruder of Arlington, Virginia .

 Biographical/Historical Information

Egbert Watson Magruder was born on October 25, 1868, in Albemarle County, Virginia, the son of Benjamin Henry Magruder and Anne Evalina (Norris) Magruder . After his early education in public and private schools, he entered Hampden-Sydney College in 1887, and received his B.A. degree in 1891. He completed courses in chemistry at the University of Virginia, and entered Johns Hopkins University in 1892, where he was assistant in the department of chemistry during his last two years. Afterwards, he received an appointment to the Mississippi College of Agriculture . For approximately fifteen years, until his resignation in 1915, Egbert Watson Magruder was the Chief Chemist and Pure Food Expert of the State Department of Agriculture . During part of this time, he was also director of the Virginia Test Farm at Saxe, Charlotte County . In 1915, he accepted an offer to become the Chief Chemist of the F. S. Royster Guano Company of Norfolk, Virginia, where his duties included taking charge of all chemical laboratories, and performing analytical and investigation work.

On Novermber 8, 1916, Egbert Watson Magruder married the former Frances Byrd Alvey of Richmond, Virginia . Egbert Watson Magruder was a member of the Board of Visitors of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, Blacksburg, Virginia, the American Chemical Society, Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, Virginia Academy of Science, and American Society of Agronomy, as well as being a member of the following clubs: Virginia Chemists' Club, Hampton Roads Chemists' Club (as one of the organizers and first president of each), the Kiwanis Club, Norfolk Country Club, and the Norfolk Town Club . In addition, he wrote numerous articles on agricultural chemistry and agriculture, including such topics as the manufacture and use of commercial fertilizer, the cultivation of wheat and tobacco, and food and food adulterations. Egbert Watson Magruder owned a farm of ca. 100 acres at Dry Bridge, Chesterfield County; he remained with the F. S. Royster Guano Company until his death in 1945.

Horatio "Rashe" Erskine Magruder was born on September 8, 1846 in Albemarle County, the son of Benjamin Henry Magruder and Maria Louisa (Minor) Magruder . He was educated in private country neighborhood schools before entering the Confederate Army at age seventeen in 1864. He served in the Rockbridge Artillery of Stonewall Jackson's old Brigade, and took part in the battles of The Wilderness and Spotsylvania Courthouse. He was captured, and imprisoned at Point Lookout, Maryland; after a lengthy illness in prison, he was exchanged, and returned to General Robert E. Lee 's army in 1865 after his recuperation. He was in the retreat of the Confederate Army to Appomattox .

After the war, Horatio Erskine Magruder attended the University of Virginia, studying Latin, Modern Languages, and Mathematics. He returned to "Glenmore," the family home, where he formed a partnership with his father, and eventually took over management of the plantation. He was one of the most prominent farmers in Albemarle County . Horatio Erskine Magruder married his cousin, Julia May Chewning, of "Island Home," Albemarle County, on December 12, 1894. He was a member of the vestry of Grace Episcopal Church in Cismont, the American Clan Gregor Society, and president of the Monticello Wine Company of Charlottesville and the Albemarle Mutual Fire Insurance Company . He died on January 19, 1924 at "Glenmore."

John Bowie Magruder was born on November 10, 1839, in Albemarle County, the eldest son of Benjamin Henry Magruder and Maria Louisa (Minor) Magruder . After graduating from the Albemarle Military Academy, he entered the University of Virginia, where he received his M.A. degree in 1860. In the spring of 1861, he took a special three-month military course at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, and raised a company in Albemarle County known as the Rivanna Guards . As captain, he took the company to Richmond in June 1861 where they were mustered in with the 57th Regiment under Lewis A. Armistead . He was promoted to Colonel after the Battle of Fredericksburg on December 22, 1862. He was wounded during Pickett's Charge in the battle of Gettysburg July 3, 1863, and carried to a hospital near the battlefield where he died on July 5th.

 Scope and Content

This collection consists of ca. 2988 items (10 Hollinger boxes and oversize items), ca. 1787-1945, pertaining chiefly to the career of Egbert Watson Magruder as an agricultural chemist for the Department of Agriculture of Virginia and, later, for the F. S. Royster Guano Company of Norfolk, Virginia . Included are correspondence, reports, articles and speeches, laboratory data, architectural drawings and blueprints, printed material, and photographs. Egbert Watson Magruder collected material, 18981945, on various subjects related to the different aspects of his work, including agriculture, chemistry, chemists' associations, fertilizer, horticulture, livestock, and mineralogy. Also included are Magruder family papers, consisting of correspondence, legal and business papers, plats and surveys, and related papers. Topics or items of interest include several letters,1861-1863, from John Bowie Magruder during his service in the Confederate Army during the Civil War describing several battles, including Fredericksburg and Suffolk, and camp life at Fort Dillard, Fort Drury (near Fredericksburg), and on White Marsh Road near Suffolk; an 1861 account book kept by John Bowie Magruder for the Rivanna Guards; a letter, October 17, 1864, to Benjamin Henry Magruder from his son, Horatio Erskine Magruder while a prisoner at Point Lookout, Maryland, during the war; papers pertaining to the purchase of "Glenmore"; papers concerning various Virginia estates such as "Edgehill" and "Glenmore" in Albemarle County, "Blenheim" in Caroline County, "Union Mills" in Fluvanna County, and "River Bend" in Spotsylvania County; an account book from the Charlottesville Grange; and genealogical and biographical information for the Magruder family and allied families.

 Arrangement

The collection is divided into six series: I. Correspondence; II. Family and Personal Papers; III. Egbert Watson Magruder Papers; IV. Miscellaneous; V. Bound Volumes; and Oversize. Folders are arranged alphabetically within each series. Oversize items are arranged chronologically. Included in the miscellaneous series are printed material and photographs.

 Contents List Series I. Correspondence Correspondence 1906-1945 Box 1 (3 folders) Series II. Family and Personal Papers Caroline Bennett Alvey Estate 1934-1944 Box 1 American Clan McGregor Society 1909-1939, n.d. Box 1 DeJarnette Family 1934-1945 Box 1 Joseph E. Dickerson 1926-1947 Box 1 Dower Land, Fluvanna County; John W. Chewning and James M. Strange Estates 1856-1896 Box 1 Edge Hill, Albemarle County; Cary Ruffin Randolph 1885-1914 Box 1 Empire Consolidated Mining Company 1932-1935 Box 1 First Presbyterian Church 1934-1945 Box 2 First Presbyterian Church Brotherhood Bible Class 1924-1940 Box 2 Fluvanna County Land Tracts 1868-1915 Box 2 Glenmore Farm, Albemarle County 1885-1897, 1935, n.d. Box 2 Hampden-Sydney College 1906-1934 Box 2 Hammocks Gap Road Three Chopt Road C & O Railroad Relocation of Public Road 1856-1924, n. d. Box 2 Legal Papers 1787-1927, n. d. Box 2 Benjamin Henry Magruder 1850-1874 Box 2 Egbert Watson Magruder 1891-1945, n. d. Box 2 Henry Minor Magruder 1871-1896 Box 2 Herbert Thomas Magruder 1921-1938 Box 2 Horatio Erskine "Rashe" Magruder 1864-1929, n.d. Box 2 John Bowie Magruder Letters, chiefly during the Civil War 1859-1865, 1900 Box 3 Magruder Family Genealogy 1914-1935,n.d. Box 3 Magruder Family Letters, chiefly during the Civil War, 1856-1864 n. d Box 3 (typescripts) Norfolk Community Fund Campaign 1930-1945 Box 3 Norfolk National Bank of Commerce and Trusts n. d. Box 3 Plats and Surveys of Virginia Land owned by the Magruder and other Families 1800-1897, n.d. Box 3 (2 folders) River Bend, Spotsylvania County John Tyler Estate 1883-1906 Box 3 South Plains Church, and other papers re Keswick 1871, 1879,1926, n.d. Box 3 William D. Tompkins and Brother 1873-1892 Box 3 Tyler Family 1874-1890 Box 3 Union Mills, Fluvanna County 1863-1883, 1905 Box 3 Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, Blacksburg 1888-1889 Box 3 III. Egbert Watson Magruder Papers Agriculture/Horticulture 1898-1943, n.d. Box 4 Agronomy;Crops and Soil 1915-1942, n.d. Box 4 Almanack 1914, 1926, n.d. Box 4 American Chemical Society 1926-1945 Box 4 American Chemical Society Printed Material 1915-1944 Box 4 Analysis 1916-1939 Box 4 Association of Official Aricultural Chemists 1902-1943 Box 4 Buildings and Drawings n.d. Box 5 Climate 1904-1941 Box 5 Colloidal Chemistry 1926-1936 Box 5 Cotton 1915-1933, n.d. Box 5 Cyanamid 1924-1928 Box 5 Department of Agriculture and Immigration of Virginia 1908-1921 Box 5 Department of Agriculture: Laboratory Expenses 1903-1910 Box 5 Diseases and Insects 1923-1943, n.d. Box 5 Facts 1907-1936 Box 5 Fertilizer 1902-1943, n.d. Box 5 (2 folders) Fertilizer Printed Material 1912-1942, n.d. Box 6 Fruit 1907-1936 Box 6 Fuel 1914-1928, n.d. Box 6 Hampton Roads Chemists' Club 1922-1937 Box 6 Inventories n.d. Box 6 Labels n.d. Box 6 Lime and Limestone 1910-1943, n.d., 1905-1942, n.d. Box 6 Livestock Feeding 1908-1943, n.d. Box 7 Magnesia 1931-1938, n.d. Box 7 Metals 1917-1940 Box 7 Metric System 1922-1929 Box 7 Minerals 1917, n.d. Box 7 Naval Fuel Testing Laboratory Lists of Books 1922, n.d. Box 7 Nitrogen Compounds 1916-1941, n.d. Box 7 Oyster Investigation 1913-1915, 1933, n.d. Box 7 Paints 1926-1929, n.d. Box 7 Pasture 1919, 1941, n.d. Box 7 Patents 1901-1936 Box 7 Pecans 1908-1927, n.d. Box 7 pH Measurements 1930-1935, n.d. Box 7 Phosphates 1917-1942, n.d. Box 8 Potash 1901-1934, n.d. Box 8 Potatoes 1916-1935, n.d. Box 8 Potomac River Water Investigation 1912-1913, n.d. Box 8 Poultry 1919-1945 Box 8 Preservation 1902-1903, n.d.,1941 Box 8 Progressive Farmer Series: "$500 More a Year for the Average Southern Farmer" 1916 Box 8 F. S. Royster Guano Company 1915-1945 Box 8 Seeds 1910, 1936-1938 Box 8 Speeches by E. W. Magruder 1900-1932, n.d. Box 8 Standardization 1905-1939, n.d. Box 8 Sulphur 1906-1924 Box 8 Surface Binders 1929-1930, n.d. Box 8 Sweet Potatoes 1924-1940, n.d. Box 9 Sweets 1907, 1941, n.d. Box 9 Test Farm, Saxe, Charlotte County 1901-1910, n.d. Box 9 Tobacco 1915-1942 Box 9 Trees 1929-1941 Box 9 Vegetables 1906-1944, n.d. Box 9 Virginia Chemists' Club l907-1938, n.d. Box 9 Water 1916-1938, n.d. Box 9 Weeds 1909-1913, 1941 Box 9 George Wilkinson Company, Inc. 1917-1945 Box 9 Wines 1941, n.d. Box 9 IV . Miscellaneous Miscellaneous 1880-1926, n.d. Box 10 Miscellaneous Printed 1898-1945, n.d. Box 10 Photographs of Cattle and Sheep on the Test Farm 1907-1909 Box 10 Photographs of Corn on the Test Farm and Bremo Estate, and Monticello 1908-1909 Box 10 Photographs of Hogs on the Test Farm 1907-1908 Box 10 Photographs of Members of the Magruder Family 1911, n. d. Box 10 Photographs of Plowing and Harvesting, including various tractors, and blacks picking cotton n. d. Box 10 Photographs of Scientists n. d. Box 10 Photographs of the Test Farm, Saxe, Charlotte County 1908-1910 Box 10 Photographs of Tobacco on the Test Farm 1906, n.d. Box 10 V. Bound Volumes Account Book of Egbert W. Magruder 1912-1928 Box 10 Account Books of Henry Minor Magruder 1865-1915 Box 10 Farm Account Book kept by Egbert W. Magruder 1910-1919 Box 10 VI. Oversize Deed of sale for tract of land in Albemarle County, Commonwealth of Virginia to John Henderson, signed by Lieutenant Governor Beverley Randolph 1787 Aug 10 Survey of Benjamin Henry Magruder's land, by William E. Haden 1863 Nov 28 Surveys done by Horatio Erskine Magruder for tracts of land in Albemarle County owned by 1) Daniel Carter, 2) Philip Edwards, 3) John Jones, and 4) Sally Jones 1880 Jun 20 Bound volume kept by Egbert Watson Magruder containing "Miscellaneous Collections from Chemistry, Physics, and Mineralogy" 1891 Feb 18 Photograph of the 41st Annual Convention of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists. Egbert Watson Magruder is standing second from the left 1925 Oct Unidentified plat n.d.