Laurinton Dairy Farm Collection
Collection
Identifier: Mss-412
The collection consists of five hardbound and two spiral bound volumes of farming records spanning the years 1908-1941 written by A. M. (Angus Malloy) McGregor, and six hardbound volumes of farming records spanning the years 1962-2003 written by Sam E. (Sam Evans) McGregor. All records from 1922 onwards relate to the Laurinton Dairy Farm located in Richland County, South Carolina. In addition to recording farm management activities, weather, and financial accounts, the volumes contain personal diary entries interspersed throughout commenting on family affairs, community news, and world events. The McGregor family was heavily involved in Shandon Presbyterian Church, and later Trinity Presbyterian Church, in Columbia, South Carolina, and A. M. and Sam E. McGregor’s personal accounts reflect this involvement. Also part of the collection are five file folders of printed material related to the McGregor family. Two of these folders contain duplicate material from farming records written by A. M. McGregor between 1908 and 1927; these records were transcribed by his granddaughter Catherine Faver and her husband, Bill, who have added their own commentary. One folder contains a history of the McGregor clan and genealogy of Archibald McGregor (1777-1859) and his descendants, also written by Catherine and Bill Faver. One folder contains material compiled by Sam E. McGregor and Catherine and Bill Faver for the 1989 McGregor family reunion in Columbia, SC. This material includes a detailed family tree and short biographies of each family member from A. M. McGregor and his wife Mollie McGregor (nee McLaurin) onwards, a family directory, and a brief history of Laurinton Dairy Farm. A fifth and final folder contains material related to the 1895 homicide of Murrettus (“Rhett”) McGregor, A. M. McGregor’s brother, who was murdered by a fugitive whom he had been deputized to bring in. He was the first sworn law officer killed in the line of duty in Miami-Dade County. Contents of this folder include an oral history by A. H. McGregor published in the Miami Herald.
A. M. (Angus Malloy) McGregor was born on February 22, 1864, in Anson County, North Carolina. He married Mary Jane (“Mollie”) McLaurin and worked in the turpentine industry in north Georgia before settling with his wife on a farm in Dillon County, South Carolina, which Mollie had inherited, and which was known as McFall Place. The couple would have eight children together. In 1915, Angus purchased property in Richland County with the intention of starting a dairy farm and built a house there. In 1917 the couple moved into their new home and christened the farm Laurinton. Angus would run Laurinton until 1930, when his son Rhett M. McGregor took over. Angus died July 24, 1942, and Mollie died December 13, 1950; both are interred at Greenlawn Cemetery in Columbia, South Carolina.
Sam E. McGregor was born on September 4, 1929, in Richland County, South Carolina, the grandson of A. M. McGregor and son of Rhett M. McGregor. Sam and his father were both graduates of Clemson College; Sam would become an active member of the Clemson Alumni Association, serving as Vice-President and earning its Distinguished Service Award. In 1962, Sam joined his father in ownership of Laurinton, which Rhett had expanded by two hundred acres in 1938. Under Sam’s leadership Laurinton became a milk producer for Pet Dairy for 40 years. Sam received numerous awards for his farming and dairy work, including the Clemson Extension Service’s Farm and Home Award and Master Farm Family Award, and was inducted into the S.C. Dairy Hall of Fame in 2002. Sam retired from dairy farming and sold Laurinton in 2006. He passed away on June 20, 2015, survived by his wife and five children.
1 Cubic Feet
English
Thirteen volumes of farming records written by A. M. McGregor and Sam E. McGregor, in addition to five file folders of printed documents related to McGregor family history.
Donated by Sam E. McGregor. Accession No. 07-69; 09-74.
Part of the Clemson University Libraries Special Collections and Archives Repository