Life History

Other facts

Notes

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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 GRECORY.
  
  "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-Interprrting 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"
  Winston of Virginia and Allied Families
  
  WILLIAM GREGORY (1767-] 840) married, October 27, 1785, ANN SOUTHERLAND (born 1769), daughter of FENDALL and MARY SOUTHERLAND, of KING WILLIAM COUNTY (see Southerland Family, post page 387).2
  
  WILLIAM and ANN (SOUTHERLAND) GREGORY had issue:
  
  1. Thomas Gregory, born June 17, 1786; died October 20, 1786.
  
  2. Mary Gregory, born March 15, 1788; married Thomas West Sidney Gregory.
  
  3. Ann Gregory, born June 25, 1790; died 1797.
  
  4. William Gregory, born July 17, 1792; married, May 25, 1813, Judith F. Wilson.
  
  5. Roger Gregory, born May 8, 1795; died February 28, 1850; married, November 9, 1829, Maria G. Ellett.3
  
  6. FENDALL" GREGORY (1797-1867) I M. D., of "PIPING TREE," KING WILLIAM COUNTY; of whom hereafter.
  
  7. Henrietta Gregory, born November 27, 1799; died January, 1809.
  
  8. Ann Gregory, born April 3, 1802.
  
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  [footnotes]
  
  1 On December 16, 1820, William Burnet Browne and Louisa Ann, his wife, of King William County, for $15,700, conveyed to William Gregory, of King William County, the tract called "Elsing Green," whereon the said Browne lives in King William County, on Pamunkey River, containing 870 acres of high land, also all marsh and boggy land and river shore (King William County Records, Book 17, page 136).
  
  2 For dates of births, marriages and deaths, see post, excerpts from family Bible of William Gregory.
  
  3 Roger Gregory (1795-1850) inherited the "Elsing Green" estate in King William County; married Maria G. Ellett, and had issue: (1) Doctor Junius C. Gregory, of Tunstall's, New Kent County; (2) Doctor Ducalion" Gregory, of King William C. H.; (3) Roger Gregory, of "Elsing Green," King William County; Lieutenant-colonel of the 87th Regiment, Virginia Militia; attorney at law; judge of the County Court of King William; member Virginia Legislature; Professor of Law. Richmond College, Richmond, Virginia; married July 4, 1861, Elizabeth Frances Allen, and had issue: (1) Maria Ellette Gregory; (2) Roger Grgeory [sic]; (3) William C. A. Gregory; (4) Evelina Gregory; (5) George Edwards Gregory; (6) Mary Cole Gregory; married Doctor Edward May Magruder.  (P. N. Clarke, Old King William Homes and Families, pages 60-61.)
  
  (260]
  
  [Continued from p 260]
  
  9. Evelina Gregory, born April 30, 1804; married, first, March 6, 1823. Newman B. Roane; second, November 20, 1833, Robert G. Garrett; third, William Brooks.
  
  10. Richard Gregory, born December 1, 1805; died June 10, 1806.
  
  11. Matilda Gregory, born July 20, 1807; married, first, March 23, 1834, Peter Ainslie (who died February 9, 1835); second, November 25, 1839, William Wilie Jones.
  
  12. Lucinda Gregory, born February 19, 1809.
  
  13. Edulia Gregory, born March 15, 1813; married, December 24, 1834, James Mill.
  
  FENDALL GREGORY, M. D. (son of WILLIAM and ANN [SOUTHERLAND] GREGORY), of "PIPING TREE," KING WILLIAM COUNTY, born June 6, 1797; died April 4, 1867. He was a physician of the "old school," greatly beloved by the hundreds to whom he ministered during the course of a long life. From 1835-1842 DOCTOR GREGORY was a magistrate in King William County.
  
  In May, 1838, WILLIAM GREROGY [sic] conveyed to his son, FENDALL GREROGY [sic] , the "PIPING TREE" estate on the PAMUNKEY RIVER in KING WILLIAM COUNTY.  To this estate DOCTOR GREROGY [sic] removed with his family and there continued to reside until his death.  DOCTOR and MRS. GREGORY are buried in the old graveyard at "PIPING TREE.''1
  
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  [footnotes]
  
  1 On May 28, 1838, William Gregory conveyed to his son, Doctor Fendall Gregory, in fee, 530 acres on Pamunkey River, King Willlam County, called "Piping Tree" together with ferry thereunto belonging as established by [law?] (King William County Records. Book 5, page 209).  William Greg­ory (as trustee for Mary King and her daughter Elizabeth) and Roger Gregory, commissioners appointed by the Court of King William for that purpose, make deed to Fendall Gregory for 500 acres in King Wiliam called "Piping Tree," which land Miles [King] gave to his son, Robert J. King, who sold same to William [Gregory], and which said William Gregory afterwards by his last [will] gave to his son, the said Fendall Gregory.  Recorded January 25, 1841. (lbid., Book 1. page 160).
  
  [261]
  
  --  "Gregory Family of King William County, Virginia," in Winston of Virginia and Allied Families, by Clayton Torrence (Richmond, Virginia: Whittet & Shepperson, 1927), p 260-261
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  William Gregory
  Birth May 12, 1767
  Death Jan 21, 1840
  He was the son of Roger Gregory and Mary Cole Gregory, was born in King William County 12th day of May 1767 and departed this life 21st day of January 1840.
  Spouse Ann Gregory (1767 - 1841)
  Children:
  Roger Gregory (1795 - 1850)
  Ann Gregory (1802 - 1878)
  Evelina Gregory Shelton (1804 - 1885)
  Burial Elsing Green Plantation, King William County, Virginia, USA
  Created by King William County Historical Society Mar 12, 2012
  --  Find A Grave Memorial #86646850, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/86646850/william-gregory
  
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  Sacred to the memory of
  WILLIAM GREGORY
  Whose body is interred here.
  He was the son of Roger and Mary Cole Gregory,
  Was bom in King William County 12th day of May 1767
  And
  Departed this life 21st day of January 1840.
  "For the Just there is a rest in Heaven."
  
  Here lie the remains of
  ANNE GREGORY,
  Who departed this life 28th of October 1841
  In the 74th year of her age.
  She was consort of
  William Gregory of King William County,
  Whose body reposes near this of his beloved wife.
  Cheerfulness, the result of innocence, always sparkled in her
  face, and by the sweetness of her temper she gained universal
  good will. Her husband enjoyed in her a dutiful wife; her
  children an indulgent mother; her servants a gentle mistress,
  and her acquaintances a faithful friend.
  
  Rest here oppressed by pale disease no more,
  Here find that calm thou sought so oft before.
  Rest undisturbed beneath this humble shrine,
  Angels awake thee with a voice like thine.
  
  (p 14)
  
  --  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), https://archive.org/stream/oldkingwilliamho00clar/oldkingwilliamho00clar_djvu.txt
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Sources

• 1. Virginia Will Records
• 2. Find a Grave Memorial Registry
• 3. Archive.org
• 4. 1850 Federal Census, King William County, Virginia
  • 9 November, page 515 (scan 258), Hse #394, Fam #355