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Thank you for sharing in my search for the ancestors of John Gregory and his dear wife, Mary Elizabeth Osborne. They were residents of Southport, CT, for many years. I am looking for their ancestors, his father may have been Stephen Gregory and mother Electra Hawley?
John Gregory, b. 29 APR 1822 in Danbury, CT, grocer in Southport.
Mary Elizabeth Osborne, b. 1 MAY 1824 in NY
They were married __ 6 FEB 1848, by Rev. N. E. Cornwall.
John had a store on New Street and bought the triangular piece of property at the junction of Center Street and the King's Highway in 1856. The unsual structure was octagon shaped building with three floors. It was well known in the comunity of those days as the Roundhouse or Coliseum.
My husband and I ate breakfast at "THE DUGOUT," while we were visiting Southport. This is not the original building but it did have a sense of history. Jut thinking my family lived here one hundred, fifty-six years ago!
The first floor was the store and drinking place. The second floor was for the family and perhaps other boarders. The outside ladder reached the third floor which I imagine as a place of sanctuary where John could get away from the over-stimulation of sights and sounds, commonly find in persons with Huntington's disease. John may have abused alcohol, obsessive compulsive disorder, mood swings, chorea form movements, angry outbursts, lack of inhibitions, haluscultations and suicide. He conducted seances in the home.
Perhaps, knowing he suffered from this genetic inherited condition will provide clues to finding his parents, He did become emotionally unstable and was committed to an asylum for the insane.
For those unfamiliar with HD, go to:
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/huntingtonsdisease.html
John and Mary's children were:
I. Edward Peck Gregory, b. at Southport, 16 APR, 1849, physician (allopath)
m. Betsey Stone, lived in Milford, CT, Son, Robert Gregory, grad of Westpoint, CT
II. Frances Elizabeth Gregory, b. at Hartford, 10 DEC 1850, died 3 AUG 1851.
III. James Halbert Gregory, b. at Southport, 8 MAY 1852, moved to Bakersfield,
CA in APR 1877, unmarried.
IV. Frances Elizabeth Gregory, b. at Southport, 30 JAN 1854, moved to CA.
V. Robert Fremont Gregory, b. at Southport, 30 MAR 1857, moved to CA.
VI. Jessie Benton Fremont Gregory, b. at Southport, 10 MAR 1865, moved to CA
His son, Robert Fremont, b. 1857 (printer) named all but one of his thirteen children, Benjamin Franklin Gregory. He was a medical missionary to China. I suspect the Gregory family at the roundhouse were very impressed with Benjamin Franklin. The Gregory families I have ever met were very active of mind and body. They were highly motivated, intelligent, obsessive with leaning about science, medical, mental, and religious topics. Eccentric and creative might also be a fit description.
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