Charles McGruder


Charles McGruder was born to Ned and Mariah Magruder as a slave in North Carolina in 1822. Charles' owners used him as a stud, a human breeder, in order to increase their slave population. Charles ultimately became the father to some one-hundred children and is today the progenitor of thousands of people and hundreds of African-Americans men with the surname McGruder or Magruder. After the emancipation proclamation of 1865, his descendants, most of whom spelled their surname McGruder, settled in Hale and Greene Counties Alabama. Many of them became prominent in the area, particularly in Sawyerville, Alabama.

DNA Testing

DNA testing conducted by J.R. Rothstein on male descendants of Charles McGruder confirm that he is a direct descendant of Alexander Magruder. This confirms that a white individual fathered one of Charles' ancestors.