Life History

Notes

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  Mr. Richard Gregory, born January 12, 1758, son of Roger Gregory and Mary Cole Claiborne, left a written statement, which was prepared by him, and which reads as follows:
  
  "There were two sisters, named Mary Cole and Jane Cole.  Mary married a Mr. West, a lineal descendant of Lord Delaware, by whom she had two sons, John and Thomas West.  After the death of Mr. West, Mary married Ferdinand Leigh, by whom she had a son and a daughter, named William and Mary.
  
  William Leigh married a Miss Watkins, of Chesterfield, by whom she had Benjamin Watkins Leigh and several daughters.  Jane Cole, the other sister, married Colonel Nathaniel Claiborne, by whom she had two sons, viz., Thomas and William, and five daughters, namely, Mary Cole and others.  Mary Cole Claiborne married Roger Gregory, by whom she had Richard and four other sons, and a daughter named Mary Cole, who married Herbert Claiborne, of Dinwiddle, and died after the birth of her son, Gregory Claiborne.
  
  After the death of Colonel Nathaniel Claiborne, Jane [p 37] Claiborne married Stephen Bingham, by whom she had a son named Roscoe Cole Bingham.  After the death of Bingham she married Colonel Francis West, by whom she had three sons, Roger, Richard, and West Gregory, and several daughters.  Roger Gregory (my father) married Mary Cole Claiborne, by whom he had Richard and four other sons and a daughter, as before stated."
  
  --  Peyton Neale Clarke, Old King William homes and families; an account of some of the old homesteads and families of King William County, Virginia, from its earliest settlement (Louisville: John P Morton And Company, 1897), pp 36-37, https://archive.org/stream/oldkingwilliamho00clar/oldkingwilliamho00clar_djvu.txt
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  RICHARD GREGORY married AGNES WEST, daughter of THOMAS WEST, of KING WILLIAM COUNTY (see WEST FAMILY, post page 267), and had issue:
  
  1. ROGER GREGORY (1729-1803), of KING WILLIAM COUNTY; of whom hereafter.
  
  2. Richard Gregory, of whom nothing further is known.
  
  3. West Gregory (living as late as January, 1758), married Susannah West, daughter of Colonel Francis West, son of Tromas [p 254] West, of King William County (see West Family, post page 281).  Mrs. Susannah (West) Gregory married, secondly, Colonel Holt Richeson.
  
  4. Frances Gregory, married William Phillips.
  
  5. Christiana Gregory, married Samuel Meredith.
  
  6. Agnes Gregory.
  
  7. Unity Gregory.
  
  --  "Gregory Family of King William County, Virginia," in Winston of Virginia and Allied Families, by Clayton Torrence (Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson, 1927), p 253-254
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  Roger Gregory was married twice.
  
  Roger Gregory and Frances Lowry
  March 30, 1776
  Security, Drury McDaniel
  Source: Virginia Marriage Records, From the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, the William and Mary College Quarterly, and Tyler's Quarterly
  Indexed by Elizabeth Bentley, Published by Genealogical Publishing Co, Inc. Baltimore 1984, p 315
  (Ancestry.com, accessed 29 May 2018)
  
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  GREGORY FAMILY of KING WILLIAM COUNTY VIRGINIA
  
  Richard Gregory (1758-1844), son of Roger and Mary C. (Claiborne) Gregory and grandson of Richard and Agnes (West) Gregory, wrote into his family Bible the following account of his ancestry:1
  
  "Memo. There were two sisters named Mary Cole and Jane Cole.  Mary married a Mr. West, a lineal descendant of Lord Delaware, by whom she had two sons, John and Thomas West.  After the death of Mr. West Mary married Ferdinando Leigh, by whom she had a son and daughter, viz.:  WiIliam and Mary.  William Leigh married a Miss Watkins, of Chesterfield,
  
  [page 255]
  
  by whom she had Benjamin Watkins Leigh and several daughters.  Jane Cole, the other sister, married Colonel Nathaniel Claiborne, by whom she had two sons, viz.:  Thomas and William, and five daughters. viz.:  Mary Cole and others.  Mary Cole [Claiborne] married Roger Gregory, by whom she had Richard Gregory and five other sons and a daughter.1  Jane Claiborne then married Stephen Bingham, by whom she had a son named Roscoe Cole Bingham.  After the death of Bingham she married a Colonel Francis West.
  
  Roger Gregory (my father) was the son of Richard Gregory and a Miss West, the sister of Colonel Francis West, by whom she had three sons -- viz.:  Roger, Richard and West Gregory -- and several daughters.
  
  Roger Gregory (my father) married Mary Cole Claiborne, by whom she had Richard and four other sons, as above stated.  Richard married the widow of William Broadnax and daughter of Colonel Seth Ward, by whom she [sic] had four children, viz.:  Martha Ward, Richard, Maria and Seth.  Martha married General John Pegram, of Dinwiddie, by whom she had five sons -- James West Pegram and four others -- and several daughters.
  
  After the death of Mary Broadnax, a daughter of Colonel Seth Ward, Richard Gregory married Elizabeth Wilkinson, daughter of Colonel Nathaniel Wilkinson, of Henrico, by whom he had Dr. William W. Gregory and four other sons and six daughters.  Dr. William W. Gregory married Elizabeth R. Taylor, daughter of Thomas Taylor, of Richmond, by whom he has three sons at this time (June, 1843), viz.:  Thomas, Richard and William.  The above is correct from the best information I can obtain and recollect.                                            RICHARD GREGORY.
  
  "N.B.  I expect my grandmother Gregory was either the daughter or granddaughter of Lord Delaware, who was named West."2
  
  The accounts quoted above states that Richard and Agnes (West) Gregory "had three sons and several daughters."  The three sons are named as:  (1) Roger Gregory (born May 1, 1729; died October 2, 1803), of whom we have a full account; (2) Richard Gregory, and (3) West Gregory (who, with others, was a sponsor at the baptism of Richard Gregory [son of Roger and Mary Cole ( Claiborne) Gregory], February 2, 1758).
  
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  [footnotes]
  
  1 This account of his family by Richard Gregory (1758-1844} is taken from the Richmond Standard, Volume II., No.4, September 27, 1879.  These data were communicated to the Standard with the following note: "Responding to the request in the 'Notes and Queries' Column of The Standard for information relative to the West family, I send a copy of a transcript which I made from the family Bible of my brother-in-law, Dr. William W. Gregory, of Charlotte, North Carolina, when I was at his house in the year 1869.  The Bible in which the record is contained is a quarto volume entitled 'The Self-Interpreting Bible (&c.].'  By the late Rev. John Brown, Minister of the Gospel at Haddington.  New York. 1806:  and in it is written:  "RICHARD GREGORY'S BOOK.  PURCHASED NOVEMBER 20, 1806.  PRICE $20."
  (Signed) "T. H. E."
  
  --  "Gregory Family of King William County, Virginia," in Winston of Virginia and Allied Families, by Clayton Torrence (Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson, 1927), pp 254-255
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  GREGORY FAMILY of KING WILLIAM COUNTY VIRGINIA
  
  ROGER GREGORY (1729-1803) married, first, September 2, 1756, MARY COLE CLAIBORNE (circa 1730-1771), daughter of NATHANIEL and JANE (COLE) CLAIBORNE, of KING WILLIAM COUNTY (see CLAIBORNE FAlVIILY, post page 293). MRS. MARY COLE (CLAIBORNE) GREGORY died November 10, 1771.1  Roger Gregory married, second (in Lunenburg County), March 31, 1776, Mrs. Fanny (Garland) Loury, widow of Thomas Loury.2  Mrs. Fanny (Garland) Loury-Gregory died June 30, 1816.3
  
  ROGER GREGORY (1729-1803) and his first wife, MARY COLE CLAIBORNE (circa 1730-1771) had issue:
  
  1. Richard Gregory (born January 12, 1758; died December 20, 1844); married, first, September 20, 1777, Mary (1749-1787), widow of William Broadnax and daughter of Colonel Seth Ward; and, second, July 6, 17891 Elizabeth, daughter of Nathaniel Wilkinson, of Henrico County.
  
  2. Roger Gregory, of Henrico County, born February 12, 1761; married Sarah ---------.4
  
  3. Nathaniel Gregory, born March 11, 1763, of King William County, married Mary Ann Beckley.5
  
  4. Thomas Gregory, born March 3, 1765; died April 9, 1783.
  
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  [footnotes]
  
  1 On Sunday last, 10th of this month, in King William County, died Mrs. Mary Gregory, lady of Roger Gregory, Esq.  (Virginia Gazette, November 14, 1771).
  
  2 This marriage took place in Lunenburg County. The marriage bond of Roger Gregory and Fanny Loury, dated March 30, 1176, is on file in Lunenburg County (William and Mary College Quarterly Historical Magazine, Volume IX., page 177) .
  
  3 For dates of the births, marriages, deaths of Roger Gregory, Mrs. Mary Cole (Claiborne) Gregory and Mrs. Fanny Loury-Gregory and their children, see post excerpts from the Gregory family Bible.
  
  4 This Roger Gregory (born 1761) had a son:  Fendall Gregory, who married Maria Gregory (daughter of Richard Gregory [1758-1840], son of Roger and Mary Cole [Claiborne] Gregory), Clarke, Old King William Homes and Families.
  
  5 Nathaniel and Mary Ann (Beckley) Gregory had a son:  Thomas West Sidney Gregory, Member Virginia House of Delegates from King William County, 1827 and 1828, who married Mary Gregory, daughter of William and Ann (Sutherland) Gregory.
  
  [p 259]
  5. WILLIAM GREGORY (1767-1840) of "ELSING GREEN," KING WILLIAM COUNTY; of whom hereafter.
  
  6. Molly Gregory, born August 25, 1769; died August 26, 1798; married Herbert Claiborne, of Dinwiddie County.
  
  Roger" Gregory (1729-1803) and his second wife, Mrs. Fanny (Garland) Loury, had issue:
  
  7. Herbert Gregory, born April 3, 1777; died October 2, 1824; married Lucy Osborne Thweatt.1
  
  8. Francis Gregory, born December 25, 1780.
  
  9. Fanny Gregory, born January 27, 1783.
  
  10. Patsy Gregory, born March 16, 1786.
  
  WILLIAM GREGORY (son of ROGER and MARY COLE [CLAIBORNE] GREGORY) was born May 12, 1767; died January 21, 1840.2  In 1808 he was sheriff of King William County, and for half a century, 1790-1840, an honored magistrate.  He was a representative from King William County in the Virginia House of Delegates, 1798-9, 1801-7 and 1815-16.3  In 1820 he acquired by purchase the estate of "ELSING GREEN" in [continued on page 260]
  
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  [footnotes]
  
  1 We are indebted to George Craghead Gregory, Esquire, Richmond, Virginia, an authority on the Gregory family history, for a critical reading of the data herein offered relative to Richard and Agnes (West) Gregory, their children and grandchildren, and for permission to reproduce in facsimile the records from leaves of the family Bible of Roger Gregory (1729-1803) which are in his possession.  George Craghead Gregory is the son of Archibald Hatchett Gregory and his (first) wife, Lucy Jane Brodie; grandson of Richard Henry Gregory and Mary Elizabeth Hatchett; great­ grandson of Herbert Gregory and Lucy Osborne Thweatt.
  
  2 Died Jan. 21, 1840, aged 73, William Gregory, Sr. of "Elsing Green," King William County, a Justice for 50 years and a member of the House of Delegates for 13, beginning in 1798-9; descended from ancestors of more than ordinary celebrity in England, and maternally from John West, Governor of Virginia, left many children (an obituary quoted in Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Volume V., page 163).
  
  3 King WilIiam County Records and Swem & Williams, A Register of the General Assembly of Virginia, 1176-1918, page 381.
  
  [259]
  
  --  "Gregory Family of King William County, Virginia," in Winston of Virginia and Allied Families, by Clayton Torrence (Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson, 1927), pp 258-259
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  Roger Gregory
  Birth May 1, 1729 King William County, Virginia, USA
  Death Oct 2, 1803 Mecklenburg County, Virginia, USA
  [no photo of the gravestone]
  ROGER GREGORY,ESQ.
  Spouse Fanny Gregory (____ - 1816)
  Son Herbert Gregory (1777 - 1821)
  Burial Phillips Finch Cemetery, Mecklenburg County, Virginia, USA
  Maintained by Find A Grave, Originally Created by traciedcurnell Apr 05, 2013
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #107870038, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/107870038

Sources

• 1. Virginia Will Records
• 2. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 3. Virginia Marriage Records
• 4. Archive.org