William W. McGar

William W. McGar

William W McGar, 1835-1901

• Father: John McGar b. 1 August 1805, d. 20 September 1863
• Mother: Martha Ryons Magruder b. 13 May 1809, d. 15 May 1863

• William W. McGar was born on 7 July 1835 in Alabama.
• John McGar appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1850 in Macon County, Alabama. Other members of the household included William W. McGar, Talbot McGar, John Leith McGar, Josephine Philoqua McGar, Henry Bates McGar, Charles Leith McGar and Estelle McGar.
• He married Georgia Perry on 1 October 1857 in Tuskegee, Macon County, Alabama, with Rev. Sam Henderson, MG, officiating.
• The following appeared on 15 October 1857 in the SouthWestern Baptist Newspaper: Married on Thursday the 1st inst. by Rev. S. Henderson, Mr. William W. McGar of Galveston, Texas to Miss Georgia Perry of Macon County, Alabama.
• William W. McGar and Georgia Perry appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1860 in Waverly, Walker (later San Jacinto) County, Texas.
• He was a farmer, according to the 1860 census.
• He served in Company D, 4th Texas Infantry Brigade, CSA.
• During the 1860s the Texas Land, Labor and Immigration Company was formed under an Executive committee with Thomas Affleck of Washington County as the general chairman. Agents operated south of France very successfully; others in Scotland and England. Offers were made in Poland, Holland and Belgium. Mr. Affleck crossed the ocean in December 1865, to see how matters stood in Europe, and on his way through the North, published letters calling attention to Texas.
       Following the Civil War, when plantation owners needed a labor force after emancipation of the African American slaves, some cotton planters met on 19 September 1866 and organized the Waverly Emigration Society. C. T. Traylor was elected President and Colonel H. M. Elmore was elected secretary of this society. They met in a general store in Waverly, Walker (later San Jacinto) County, Texas, owned by James Meyer Levy, a Polish Jew.
       Mr. Levy voyaged to his homeland in 1867 and recruited laborers from his home village of Exin (today known as Kcynia), Slupy, Smogulec, Szubin and the surrounding areas in Poland. Correspondence reviewed in the John W. Hill Papers at the Center for American History in Austin indicates that Mr. Levy arrived in New York in April of 1867, and passenger records confirm their arrival in New York on 9 April 1867 aboard the steamship City of Antwerp. On 13 April 1867, Mr. Levy notified W. W. McGar in Galveston that he needed funds to complete his journey to Texas.
       Ten days later, 29 families arrived in Galveston aboard the C. W. Lord, a coastal steamer from New York, as reported in the Galveston Daily News. Funds in the amount of $169 were remitted to the teamsters in Houston for passage of the immigrants to Houston, and it is believed that they then journeyed to Waverly, the cradle of Polish Emigration for Southeast Texas.
       Adapted from "Polish Texans," accessed online at the Polish Genealogical Society of Texas website.
• William W. McGar and Georgia Perry appeared in the US federal census of 1 June 1900 in Walker County, Texas. Other members of the household included William W. McGar Jr., Mary Elmore and Wilbourn Gibbs McGar. Also in the household were two boarders -- a female servant and a physician.
• He was a merchant, according to the 1900 census.
• William W. McGar died on 6 November 1901 at age 66.
• He was interred at Waverly Cemetery, Waverly, Walker (later San Jacinto) County, Texas.

• Last Edited: 12 Feb 2016