Dr. John J. Gregory

Asleep in Jesus
GREGORY

Photo Credit: Rosa G. Gonzales

Biography

Submitted by Patricia Gregory Green

Dr. John Jefferson Gregory was born June 2nd. 1836, in Louisville, Jefferson County, Georgia.  He was the son of Mr. Hardy Battle Gregory (and Irene Elizabeth Hudson) who raised a large family in Jefferson County, Georgia.  He graduated "in a medical school and had just commenced the practice of medicine when the unfortunate Confederate war broke out.  He enlisted as a private in Capt. Malcomb Jones company, composed in part of Burke and in part of Jefferson County men.  As a soldier, as a companion he was genial and whole souled.  Several gentlemen in this immediate community refer to him by the campfire and on the march across valleys and mountains of Virginia, and think of those hardships and the rough and tumble life that was led, not as all of shadow but full of patches of blue sky, of rifts in the cloud of sunlight through the lattice.  Dr. Gregory survived the war and after remaining here about a year went to Texas.

"There he worked up a good practice and acquired some property, leaving his family in good circumstances.  Above all he won that esteem and commanded that respect to which his character was justly entitled, and in contrast with which other advantages dwindle into insignificance for we are told that a good name is to be desired above great riches.  He was buried by the Knights of Honor, as he was a member of said order.  So passes away another one of Jefferson county's men, one who she fostered in youth and who never forgot to mention with pride where ever he was thrown, that he was a native of Jefferson count, Ga., and while his services for the most part since the war has been given to another state, he has lived to some purpose and the world has been better for his having lived in it." (From a clipping found in old records of Florence Moxley Carswell, daughter of Amanda Gregory Moxly who was a sister of Dr. John J. and (?) L. Gregory, by Mattie Moxley Carswell Stephens on June 8, 1960.)

On April 23, 1857, Dr. Gregory married Laura J. Lucas Hunt, who was a widow with one child, (Mrs. Eva Hunt Martin, who preceded her mother).  They were married in Athens, Georgia, and ten years later, they moved to Cameron in Milam county, Texas, from which place they came to Corpus Christi, Texas in May 1879. (NOTE:  They also lived in Salado, Texas for two years, where their youngest son, Benjamin Thomas Gregory, was born on April 17, 1871, before the family came to Corpus Christi.)  Six children were born to this union, five sons and one daughter: Charles Hardy, John J., Benjamin Thomas, William H., Robert L., and Mrs. Henry E. (Hattie) Luter.

The north boundary of the "ranch" acquired by Dr. John J. Gregory was a Hancock Street, and then east along the shoreline of Corpus Christi Bay; the western boundary was in the area of the present 19th Street.

            Dr. Gregory had a good practice as a physician and dentist here.  While attending a patient on a Wednesday evening, he was stricken with apoplexy, and lived only 24 hours afterward, during which time he never spoke, and he died at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas on Thursday, March 23d , 1882 at 7:10 o'clock p.m.  He had joined the Methodist Church at the Jefferson camp meeting twenty-two years before.  His generosity was almost beyond his means and his disinterested kindness to the poor was such as to gain him the enviable distinction of the "poor man's friend".  It was said that he was a good supporter of the Methodist Church where his funeral was held on March 24, 1882 at 4:30 o'clock, with the funeral services at the grave conducted by the Knights of Honor, of which he was a member.

Other information from the research efforts of his granddaughter, Laura Luter Matthew, was apparently to establish eligibility for membership in the United Daughters of the Confederacy, and was copied by Agnes Holloway Gregory (Mrs. Mark J.) for Mark's daughters in the 1940s, stated that John Gregory belonged to Hood's Texas Brigade.  In Neals Publishing Co. there is some account of his service by Joseph B. Polley: He was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg; he was a Surgeon in the Cavalry; his commander was a Lt. A. A. Aldrich, 1st Com. of Company Q and Col. F. S. Barnes of Hood's Texas Brigade.  Historical Proof cites: Copy of Record from Texas State Archives: John Gregory, private., enlisted in March and April 1862 for the war in C.M. Winkler's Co. 2, 4th Regiment Texas Volunteer Infantry, Hood's Texas Brigade, Confederate States Army.

Remarks: Muster Roll of recruits enlisted by Captain Winkler during March and April 1862; reported to Adjutant and Inspector General of Texas, Aug. 6, 1862.

One muster Roll on file in Texas State Archives in the Texas State Library, Austin, Texas

Harriet Smither, Archivist

 

NOTE: The above account seems to differ slightly from the first account, which does not place Dr. John Jefferson Gregory in Texas until after his military service was completed at the end of the war, and a year or so after his return to Jefferson county, Georgia.

Also, it should be noted that the grave foot stone, furnished by the United States government, shows: John J. Gregory, Georgia, Pvt. Cobb's Legion, Ga Cav. Confederate States Army, June 2, 1835* to March 28, 1882**

* Correct Year of Birth in most (and more reliable) accounts is 1836

** Correct Year of Death in most (and more reliable) accounts is March 23, 1882.        

 

Research article submitted by descendent Patricia Gregory Green

Transcription: Michael A. Howell