C. A. McGregor – Pontiac, Ill. is a private label pocket watch in Seth Thomas 18-size open-face Model 5 with 15 jewels, a micrometric regulator, and it is not adjusted. The movement is grade 159. The dial is signed “Livingston”, which is the county name where Pontiac, Illinois is located.

Charles A. McGregor, born on March 14, 1844, in Clermont, Ohio, served in the Civil War with Company C, 39th Illinois Infantry and was a druggist and merchant in Pontiac, Livingston, Illinois from 1866 until his death on December 15, 1920. According to the Pontiac Illinois City Directory the store C. A. McGregor & Son, located at 113 W. Madison Street served the community’s needs for prescription druggists, jewelers, toilet articles, school supplies, wallpaper, paints, oils, and glass. In 1869 Charles McGregor was appointed to the position of Postmaster of Pontiac Illinois and he served one term in that role. In 1871 he was married to Eunice J. Johnson, and they had five children together, two dying in infancy. Eunice McGregor died in 1886. After the death of Charles McGregor in 1920, his son, Ellis McGregor continued to run the store.

The top postcard photograph shows McGregor & Sons Store on W. Madison Street on the corner of Mill Street in the left foreground. The second postcard photograph also shows McGregor & Sons Store on W. Madison Street in Pontiac, Illinois from the opposite direction as the first postcard.