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William R. Gregory (b.1848, La Grange,Texas) m. Nancy Jane Wade on dec. 31, 1867 and had children — Tom, Clyde, Nollie and Robert. He was brother to my Thomas Clark Gregory. Deserving of the first entry for Gregorys on their own thread because, IF she is the right person, Nancy Jane Wade is reported to be NDN (Cherokee or Choctaw). (Which would be unusual and interesting in a prominent family, in a place like barely post-war Texas.)
So, now I’m going back to my suspicions about why and how he went through, or came out of Missouri/Kansas Indian Territory, in the 1830s and 40s.
I’ve had suspicious on this line already, because, as reported elsewhere (I’ll try to get it all moved here), their father, David G. Gregory, (b. around 1808/10, probably in Bradley, Tenn) has mystery forebears, despite his prominence — being a Minister, doctor, one of the first postmasters, successful horticulturist (published articles on this), pillar of society (high up in the Masons, etc), father of 11. He had so much Drive!
There were articles written on him, but nothing told his parents, siblings or those of his wife, Mary Fant. Only Umbelton Gregory (a bit of an unusual man, himself — 3 wives, at least 21 children) connects him to any Gregory family. Another thing that made me wonder, is that his kids married people who with names that seemed unexpected, such as Alonzo Atkinson.
Then I saw a picture of David, with his long face, prominent, high cheekbones, deepset eyes. He didn’t look like the Scot I expected. Yes, I know peoples ethnicity doesn’t always look the way you expect — but he looked more like my presumed mixed-blood g-grandpa on another line than like other more Anglo forebears.
So, there is Mary Jane Gregory who married an Ingham, another who married a Kirby. Back later.
Good to see you. I have been hoping to see some Gregory’s here. 🙂
I remember seeing a Gregory somewhere in my studies — maybe a neighbor in Spartanburg SC in 1790? Or maybe in Lower Russell County,late 1790s to 1815??
Also there is the story of Hiram Gregory — that is nearly 100 percent known to be fictitious — written by Dan Troxell, about Gregory participation in the “Massacre of Yahoo Falls”. This account is not based on fact but rather it is just a story that turned the Gregory’s into Villians. I personally don’t believe it, and think Dan Troxell ought to be ashamed of himself forwhat he says about the Gregory’s. This massacre supposedly occurred in Wayne County, Kentucky. If you are related to this line, I have something written by a local Wayne County historian that you might like to read, vindicating these Gregory’s from participating in this “massacre”, since in all likelyhood there never was any “Yahoo Falls Massacre,” It is all fiction according to local Southern Kentucky historians and archaeologists.
I think many people in this part of Kentucky had Indian blood, but it probably was NOT Cherokee, but rather from tribes that disapeared East ot the Appalachians and this is based on Cherokee known history and migrations as well as the dates other tribes further East dissapeared. Can’t prove it, tho, beyond all doubt. However Cherokee marrying Whites and moving to this area is a possibility, but no mass migration of Cherokee into South Kentucky occurred during this time fame.
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Hi! Nope, not Kentucky. Farthest back I’ve gotten is a couple (David G. and his wife Mary Fant) who claim to have been born in Tennessee (about 1808/10) and then went to “Missouri, Indian Territory” around Kansas City area. Worst I can see said about these Gregorys is that he Was a preacher at a Shawnee Mission for a couple of years.
(But my suspicious side wonders if he wasn’t half-Shawnee himself, and this was a way to get on the side of safety and then get out. Certainly nothing to show this beyond his mysterious lack of forebears and Gregory relatives — except for one, Umbelton, a notorious ladies’ man, which seems an odd choice for a preacher and future pillar of Texas community. Did give him legitimacy as a Gregory, though.)
Someone here found me a Robert Gregory and Rachel Ross, who married near Bradley Tenn in 1808, as possible parents but I haven’t found any other info on them.
Admittedly, I don’t have a lot to go on with these Gregorys, besides things like some unusual associations and marital choices. (And I don’t even really know that I Am a Gregory, as I’m mistrustful of the… how to put this delicately? ‘relationship truth,’ of two of my female ancestors on that line. There are two — mother and daughter — whom it wouldn’t absolutely shock me to learn that they had married kind, responsible, upstanding men… after getting pregnant by someone else. There, now was that delicate? 😉 😀 Hey, what can I say? Some of us are lusty and some of us are upstanding, but only the rare few of us are both! And… on the other hand, wasn’t a little premarital hanky-panky, followed by marriage and a 6th month baby, a time-honored traditional way to get a kind, responsible upstanding man to marry? Sigh. Don’t know that there is a way, outside of genetics, to find the answer to this one.)
Hana, you’re way too subtle and delicate for this crowd!:)
AND…
There was a time when a woman was required to prove she was fertile before a marriage would be legalized, i.e., the prospective wife moved in with her prospective husband, had to become pregnant (and sometimes even deliver a healthy child) before the marriage was considered legal, mainly in “parently confirmed marriages” (the parents enforcing the terms of the temporary union); this “practice” being definitely practiced in the 1700s and before, but continued into the mid-1800s even east of the Mississippi, in more remote rural areas so it may also have been practiced further west.
I suspect that the arrival of an “established” church in a community usually put an end to this.
Altho I haven’t found any evidence pointing in that direction, it kinda sounds like an outgrowth of the old “Bundling” ritual in New England (probably elsewhere) where a young man who had asked the girl’s parents for their permission to court her, was allowed to spend the night with her in her bed but a board was placed down the middle of the bed between them and the guy was not allowed (on his honor) to trespass the board but there was no rule against the girl/young woman going over to the young man’s side of the bed if she so wished – in fact, she was allowed to do anything but he was not allowed to touch her with his hands (hmmm). Yes, it’s pretty funny in the retelling, these many years since!
Bill
Originally posted by Bill Childs
Hana, you’re way too subtle and delicate for this crowd!:)
Why thank you sir, I take that as a compliment — ‘course it means I have a very poor grasp of the obvious… which is unfortunate, given that the obvious is where the truth lies most of the time (life not being an Agatha Christie mystery), and I’m so busy spinning theories from straw that time and again I’ve not taken the time to dig out the facts. (Getting better — census records are now my friends!)
Btw, got to admit that Bundling sounds like fun! 😎
Originally posted by Bill Childs
I suspect that the arrival of an “established” church in a community usually put an end to this.
In the case of David G., he Was the arrival of established church.
His arrival in La Grange and becoming postmaster was the beginning of his visible, recorded, community pillar part of his story, so proof of child-bearing seems unlikely.
Interestingly, however, Pillarhood and church-ties to the contrary, David G. seems to have been involved in shenanigans right toward the end. After outliving many of his kids, he had a child with his second wife to-be before his first was dead. His first left stipulations in her will that he be cut off if he remarried. Her executors quit when, after Mary Fant Gregory died, David tried to become administrator of her estate, clearly against her wishes. He got his wish. And it looks like he got her estate, too, and it also looks like he left anything Mary hadn’t already given to the kids, to his second wife when he died.
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