Life History

Notes

• 1850 Federal Census, Roane County, Tennessee, 10 September, Subdivision 20, p 167, Hse #430, Fam #454
  Fu H Gregory 52 M Physician $14,400 Real Estate b Virginia [b abt 1798]
  Martha Gregory 26 F b Tennessee [b abt 1824]
  Susannah V Gregory 7 F b Tennessee Attended School [b abt 1843]
  James F Gregory 6 M Farmer b Tennessee Attended School [b abt 1844]
  Mary E Gregory 4 F b Tennessee Attended School [b abt 1846]
  William R Gregory 2 M Farmer b Tennessee [b abt 1848]
  
  In the 1860 census everyone was reported by only initials.  We find William Richard has left the household but James is still here (JF) and all the girls born up to now.
  
  1860 Federal Census, Monroe County, Tennessee, [no date] September, P O Sweetwater, page 8, Hse #50, Fam #54
  F H Gregory 68 M Married Farmer $400 Real Estate $400 Personal Estate b Virginia [b abt 1798]
  M L Gregory 35 F b Tennessee [b abt 1825]
  S V Gregory 17 F b Tennessee [b abt 1843]
  J F Gregory 16 M b Tennessee [b abt 1844]
  M E Gregory 13 F b Tennessee [b abt 1847]
  W R 12 M b Tennessee [b abt 1848]
  
  -----------------------
  Few Hall Gregory, MD -- married Martha Lynn Reynolds, June 1, 1841
  Children of F H and M L Gregory were:
  1. Susanna Virginia, b. May 13, 1842. PO 1913, Nashville
  2. Jas. Few, b. January 27, 1844; d. April 30, 1897 at Citra, Fla. Married to Georgia Dallas January 19, 1876
  3. Mary Elizabeth, b. February 1, 1846. Married to Daniel J Fogg, January 19, 1885 at Lake Gregory, PO Belleview, Marion County, Fla
  4. William Richard, b. 1848. Died November, 1870, at Ocala, Fla
  5. Geo Washington, b. January 12, 1851; d. February 3, 1855
  6. Martha Georgiana, b. January 17, 1857; d. in infancy.
  7. Ann Eliza, b. October 15, 1858; d. an infant.
  8. Cora Francis, b. January 1, 1861; d. December, 1887, at Livyville [Levyville] Fla. She married Wm. Bro???ni January 1, 1885
  
  Jas. Few Gregory was a student at Hiwassee College when the Civil War began and enlisted from there in 1861, CSA. Daughters of James F G: Lula L??m, b. October 26, 1876. PO (presumably) Citra, Fla.;  George Dallas, b. February 21, 1878.
  
  Children of James and Susanna Hilton. They were married in 1866.
  (1) Robt Reynolds H., b. April 25, 1868. Now in Colorado
  (2) Geo Gregory, b. September 18, 1870. (Dead.)
  (3) Wm Andrew H., b. June 5, 1873. P0 Nashville
  
  These children were all born in Sweetwater Valley.
  Above information was obtained from Mary E. Fogg, of Belleview, Marion County, Fla.
  
  --  History Of Sweetwater Valley, by W B Lenoir (Published by Presbyterian Committee Of Publication, Richmond, Va., 1916), pp 158-159, Archived on Archive.org, http://www.archive.org/stream/historyofsweetwa00leno/historyofsweetwa00leno_djvu.txt
  ----------------------
  
  The Civil War was underway when James turned 18 and, as indicated in the story above, he joined the Confederate forces fighting for Tennessee in the US Civil War.
  
  U.S., Confederate Soldiers Compiled Service Records, 1861-1865
  James F Gregory
  Age 18
  Birth Date abt 1844
  Enlistment 15 March 1862 Madisonville (Monroe County)
  Private, Fifty-ninth Mounted Infantry (Cooke's Reg, Eakin's Batt)
  
  James enlisted at Madisonville, the county seat of Monroe County where they lived.
  
  "Madisonville is a city in Monroe County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 3,939 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Monroe County and the location of Hiwassee College."
  --  Mapquest, https://www.mapquest.com/us/tennessee/madisonville-tn-282033825
  
  "The 59th Regiment, Tennessee Mounted Infantry (Cooke's) (Eakin's 1st Battalion) was organized in June, 1862, using the 1st (Eakin's) Tennessee Infantry Battalion as its nucleus. During the spring of 1865 it disbanded in Southwestern Virginia."
  --  Wikipedia, https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/59th_Regiment,_Tennessee_Mounted_Infantry_(Cooke%27s)_(Eakin%27s_1st_Battalion)
  
  After the Civil War was over there was an event that changed the lives of James and two of his siblings.  Robert Hankins informed me of a story in the Hankins family tradition about the murder of Edward Ezell Hankins in December 1866.
  
  Edward's burial memorial on Find a Grave reports that Edward was returning from the Civil War when he was shot.  The story as received says the Gregory siblings were indicted by a grand jury but fled the area before they could be put to trial.  Their father paid the court costs, but nothing further was done on the case.  Robert reported that court documents name the three Gregory murderers as James F Gregory, Susannah Virginia Helton (his sister) and their younger brother William Richard Gregory.
  
  -------------------------
  Wednesday January 16th, 1867
  
  The State vs. James F. Gregory, William R. Gregory, Susan Helton
  Murder
  Came the grand jury into court headed by their foreman and brought with an indictment for murder. . ..
  
  Circuit Court January term AD 1867.  The Grand Jurors for the State of Tennessee. . . present that James F. Gregory, William R. Gregory and Susan Helton late of said County, not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigations of the Devil on the first day of December A.D. 1866 with force and arms . . . in and upon one Edward Hankins, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, maliciously, feloniously and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault . . . with certain pistols and guns. . .  they held to against and upon the said Edward Hankins . . . did shoot and discharge (weapons). . . in and upon the said head, breast and body of the said Edward Hankins. . .divers mortal wounds. . . of which the said Edward Hankins, languishing did live and of which mortal wounds, he the said Edward Hankins afterwards, to wit, on the third day of the said month of December AD 1866. . . died... .
  J. M. Shernburgh, Atto., Gen.
  Witnesses: Julia Hankins, Sophia Hankins, Mat Hankins, Milly Hankins, sworn in open court and sent before the Grand Jury Jan. 16th 1867.
  -------------------------
  
  -------------------------
  I am hoping that someone in the Gregory family can report stories, or family lore, surrounding my GGGrandfather, Edward Ezelle Hankins, who was a neighbor of the Gregory family.  Edward was shot and killed at his home after he returned from the Civil War.
  
  The three named children of Few Hall Gregory were indicted for the murder but left the area and were never prosecuted.  Edward's widow left afterwards and moved to NW Missouri.  It is from this line that my family comes.
  
  We have known of the incident but have no information about any relationship between the families, what motivated the shooting, how the families got "cross-ways" with one another, etc.  Hoping that someone might be able to provide insight and information.
  --  Robert Hankins, Ancestry Messaging to Orville Boyd Jenkins, 13 April 2020
  -------------------------
  
  I did considerable searching and read through some discussion groups, but could not find any reference to this event.  I similarly had nothing about it in any of my collected source documents.
  
  The story that the shooting happened in connection with Edward's return from the war did not track.  The date of his shooting was December 1866, and the Civil War was over before the end of 1865 and all prisoners released and units disbanded.  The shooting was on 1 December 1866.
  
  By the time of the 1870 census, both James and William were missing from their parents' home, but Susanna was still there.  Oddly, also, she was listed under her maiden name as Susanna Gregory, and no reference was made to a husband.  Yet the court documents six weeks later in January 1867 had named her as Susanna Helton, her married name.
  
  Concerning Hankins and Gregory being neighbors, a search of several census pages before and after the listing for Few H Gregory revealed no Hankins family.  In 1870, neither son was found in a similar search of the census.  Neither has been found anywhere in the 1870 census.
  
  This is consistent with the story from the Hankins family tradition about Few's sons fleeing the county after their indictment for murder.  But that story is called into question by the presence of Susannah in 1870.  She lived out her life right there in Monroe County.
  
  I was finally able to find a genealogy on TribalPages that had a statement on the murder.  The text was actually said to have come from Edward Ezell's gravestone.
  
  -------------------------
  About Hankins, Edward Ezelle
  
  Tombstone reads "Held in fondest remembrance his children"
  
  Murdered - Two brothers and their sister were indicted for his murder.  Could have been a property dispute.  Both the murder suspect (James F Gregory) and Edward were in the 59th Tennessee Mtd. Infantry Division (Confederate) together in Company E.  The other in Company G.  Both were Privates.  Edward was shot as he answered the door one night   He fought in the Civil War with two brothers, one of whom was killed in battle.
  
  --   Clevenger and Takes, TribalPages, https://takes.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=takes&view=0&pid=19632#moreinfo_
  -------------------------
  
  The story here says Edward was shot when he opened his door one night.  The death apparently had nothing to do with the war or with Edward's return home.  This story also confirms that one of the sisters was involved.  This story tells us a few facts that clarify, but is still so cryptic it introduces even more uncertainties and questions.  Only one person's name was given in the story, apparently meaning to say that James F Gregory was the actual shooter of the three.
  
  Robert Hankins provided a summary quote from the grand jury case on the murder.
  
  -------------------------
  Wednesday January 16th, 1867
  
  The State vs. James F. Gregory, William R. Gregory, Susan Helton
  Murder
  Came the grand jury into court headed by their foreman and brought with an indictment for murder. . ..
  
  Circuit Court January term AD 1867.  The Grand Jurors for the State of Tennessee. . . present that James F. Gregory, William R. Gregory and Susan Helton late of said County, not having the fear of God before their eyes, but being moved and seduced by the instigations of the Devil on the first day of December A.D. 1866 with force and arms . . . in and upon one Edward Hankins, willfully, deliberately, premeditatedly, maliciously, feloniously and of their malice aforethought, did make an assault . . . with certain pistols and guns. . .  they held to against and upon the said Edward Hankins . . . did shoot and discharge (weapons). . . in and upon the said head, breast and body of the said Edward Hankins. . .divers mortal wounds. . . of which the said Edward Hankins, languishing did live and of which mortal wounds, he the said Edward Hankins afterwards, to wit, on the third day of the said month of December AD 1866. . . died... .
  J. M. Shernburgh, Atto., Gen.
  Witnesses: Julia Hankins, Sophia Hankins, Mat Hankins, Milly Hankins, sworn in open court and sent before the Grand Jury Jan. 16th 1867.
  -------------------------
  
  James was mentioned in his father's will.
  
  Tennessee, Wills and Probate Records, 1779-2008
  F H Gregory
  Will written 22 Mar 1871 Monroe, Tennessee, USA
  Wife Martha L Gregory nominated as Executrix
  Children mentioned:  Susannah V Helton, James F Gregory, Mary E Gregory, William R Gregory, Carra F Gregory
  (p 14)
  Witnesses C B Martin and S J Martin
  Probated September Court Term 1872. Monroe County, Tennessee, USA
  Registered Will Records, Vol 1-4, 1833-1922, pp 13-14
  

Sources

• 1. 1850 Federal Census, Roane County, Tennessee
  • 10 September, Subdivision 20, p 167, Hse #430, Fam #454
• 2. Archive.org
• 3. 1860 Federal Census, Monroe County, Tennessee
  • [no date] September, P O Sweetwater, page 8, Hse #50, Fam #54
• 4. Tennessee, Wills and Probate Records, 1779-2008