Fifth Generation

Catherine Magruder is my fourth great grandmother. She is the daughter of Joseph Magruder and Catherine Fleming. he was obviously named for her mother. She was born in 1781 in Montgomery County, Maryland in an area which I believe is now part of Washington DC. She had three older half sisters and four older half brothers. She also had one older sister, Ann and three younger brothers, John Burgess Magruder, Greenberry Magruder, Robert White Magruder. I know she went to a Presbyterian church around there. When she was 17, on April 6, 1798, she married the 28 year old Thomas Spencer Watkins, who was from Ann Arundel county. He was known as Tommie Watkins and moved to Catherine’s family’s lands in the Rock Creek area. They had four sons, Wilson Lee Watkins (1802-1861), Joseph Magruder Watkins (1806-1884), Greenberry Watkins (1808-1896), and White Watkins. Catherine Magruder Watkins died young at the age of 30 in 1811. Tommie Watkins remarried her cousin, Mary Magruder and had a son Samuel Brewer Watkins. Most of Catherine’s descendants moved to Tennessee. They are talked about in the previous post about my roots in Rutherford County, Tennessee.

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As you saw before in the previous post, the children of Ann Magruder, Catherine’s sister, moved to Rutherford County, Tennessee. The Wades were among the first to settle there. William Wade who was James Wade’s brother went first and later settled in Gibson County and had 15 children! James Wade left Maryland around 1819 and set up a farm near Murfreesboro, TN. The Watkins cousins, sons of Catherine also settled around Murfreesboro. My mother has done extensive research on these Rutherford County ancestors. She has more information than I have.

Levi and Samuel Magruder Wade, sons of Ann Magruder and James Wade moved to Rutherford County with their father in 1819. Levi became a successful businessman, banker, and even politician and Samuel, a Harvard graduate, became a doctor.

This is Joseph Magruder Watkins my third great grandfather and father of Annie Elizabeth Watkins. He married first Lavinia Penn and second my third great grandmother, Margaret Linster the daughter of Thomas Wells Linster and Mary Campbell. He is a cousin of Levi and Samuel Wade.

This is Annie Elizabeth Watkins, Joseph Watkins’ daughter. This is the only picture I could find of her. She moved her brothers to Lauderdale County, Tennessee after marrying William Tucker and building Tucker Hill.

This is Joseph Watkins’ half brother and Annie’s uncle Samuel Brewer Watkins. His mother was Mary Magruder. He also moved to Rutherford County and married Mary Ann Wade who is related to his aunt Ann Wade’s husband’s family.

Joseph had other brothers, Wilson Lee Watkins whose family went to Gibson County, Tennessee. He married Carolina Wade daughter of William Wade and Cassandra Jones of Gibson County, Tennessee.

Green lived in Maryland and worked with his father, Thomas Watkins. Green and Samuel Brewer were very close. White died before 1858 in Maryland unmarried. Green took care of his father in his old year got most of Thomas Watkins estate in Maryland. I do not know if Green ever left and what happened to him.

Thomas S. Linster is not related to the Magruders, Watkins, or Wades. He was from North Carolina and moved to Rutherford County, Tennessee after the death of his father, Moses Linster. Thomas soon married Mary Campbell, the daughter of Samuel Campbell and Nancy Mann and they had two daughters, Ann and Margaret. Thomas died when Margaret was one year old and Mary had to raise two young girls by herself. She never remarried. Ann Linster married Edwin Slater when she was 22 years old. Her daughters were known for their beautiful singing voices and talent for learning languages. Margaret stayed with her mother and even traveled with her to visit her North Carolina Linster relatives. She was 26 when she married the 45 year old widower Joseph Watkins. She had four children, Annie, Harry,Wilson Lee, and Elizabeth who must have died very young. Annie went to school in Murfreesboro and became a teacher. She got a job in Ripley, Tennessee where she met the young Virginian, William Tucker. Her mother and brothers soon joined her in Ripley.

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Ann Magruder was the daughter of Joseph and Catherine Fleming Magruder and the sister of my direct ancestor, Catherine Magruder. According to her mother’s bible, Ann was born on March 16, 1779 in Montgomery County, Maryland in what is now part of Washington D.C. Ann was named for her grandmother, Ann White and her great grandmother Ann Burgess. Catherine Fleming Magruder was very proud of her family and named each of her children after her own family members. Ann had one sister, Catherine, and three brothers. She also had three half sisters and four half brothers. The family went to a Presbyterian Church. On September 17, 1795, Ann married James Wade also of Maryland.

I do not have a list of her children. I only know of two sons, Levi and Samuel Magruder who were written about in the
Yearbook of the American Clan Gregor Society. There is another child because their orphaned children were mentioned in the sketch. Ann died young at the age of 36 in 1815 in Maryland. In 1819, her husband James Wade moved to Murfreesboro, TN. Catherine’s sons also moved there as that is where Annie Watkins grew up.

Levi Wade was born on July 14, 1797. He moved with his father to Tennessee in 1819 and worked in the railroad and banking. He became one of the wealthiest men in Tennessee. He married four times and five of his sons fought in the Civil War.

Dr. Samuel Magruder Wade was born on August 8, 1808 in Montgomery County, Maryland. He was almost 11 when the family moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee. He later went to Harvard University and then in 1834 went to medical school in Philadelphia. He came back to Tennessee in 1847 where he soon after married.

I don’t anymore information on this family but am still searching.

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Margaret Magruder is the daughter of Joseph and Mary Jackson Magruder and half sister of my direct ancestor Catherine Magruder. I found a birth date for her that I cannot verify, 25 Jan 1764. She married Josiah Magruder McCarty. I have no information on Josiah McCarty. I only have one daughter for them listed, Mary Ann McCarty. She married in 1820 John Leventon. This line moved to California in the 1850s. I would like to find out more about this family.

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According to the American Clan Gregor Society Yearbook of 1915, the birth of Samuel Jackson Magruder, son of Joseph Magruder and Mary Jackson and half-brother of my direct ancestor Catherine Magruder, was recorded in the St. Paul’s Parish which was then part of Prince George’s County and now part of Washington D.C. He was born on March 2, 1765. He died before 1793 in Montgomery County, Maryland (now part of Washington D.C.). I have no more information on him and it seems he never married nor had children. I cannot find him in the archives.

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