University of Virginia Library

JOHN MUNFORD GREGORY.

The ancestors of John Munford[35] Gregory were early seated in the
Colony of Virginia. The family of Munford is interlinked with many
others of prominence, and that of Gregory has always been held in
esteem. Joseph Gregory received a patent of five hundred acres of
land on Ware Creek (probably in James City County), December 6,
1652 (Virginia Land Records, Book No. 3, p. 136). Early grants are
also of record to Thomas, Roger, and Richard Gregory, severally. The
two last Christian names are favored ones in the family to the present
day. The present deduction, however, commences definitely with John
Gregory, a resident of Charles City County. He was the father of two
gallant patriots of the Revolution, whose names are recorded on the
pension list of Virginia.[36] They were John Gregory, Jr., a man of
family, and William Gregory, Jr., who, in 1776, were commissioned
severally First and Second Lieutenant of a volunteer company raised in
their native county, and which was assigned to the Sixth Virginia Infantry
on Continental establishment. The brothers served gallantly in
the campaigns in the North, both being promoted to the rank of Captain—William
in the staff department, to which he was transferred, and
John as the commandant of his company, at the head of which "he was
killed in action on the Jersey line at a place called Quibbletown."
He left an infant son, John Munford Gregory, who, at maturity, married

Letitia Power, daughter of Ralph Graves, a veteran of the Revolution,
who served in the cavalry corps of Major William Nelson.
Their son, the subject of this sketch, John Munford Gregory, was born
in Charles City County, July 8, 1804. He attended the "old field"
schools until he attained the age of sixteen, after which he alternately
taught school himself and was employed in farm labor. Removing to
James City County, he for a time taught there; and having commenced
the study of law, entered William and Mary College, from which he
was graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Law in 1830. He was,
in the same year, elected the delegate from James City County in the
State Assembly, to which body he was continuously returned until 1841,
when he was elected a member of the Council of State, and, as Senior
Councillor by rotation, succeeded John Rutherfoord as Acting Governor
of Virginia, March 31, 1842. He continued the State Executive until
January 1, 1843, when he was succeeded by Governor James McDowell.
In 1853 Governor Gregory was appointed United States Attorney for
the Eastern District of Virginia, which position he held until the year
1860, when he was elected Judge of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of Virginia,
and continued to serve in this capacity until displaced by the Federal
authorities in 1866. He then resumed the practice of his profession,
but was soon elected Commonwealth's Attorney for Charles City County,
in which position he served until the year 1880, when feeble health compelled
his retirement. In 1881 Governor Gregory removed to Williamsburg,
Virginia, where he at present resides, supported, in his declining
years, by the soothing ministrations of an affectionate daughter. Steadfast
in purpose and of sterling integrity, the dignities enjoyed by Governor
Gregory have been the just meed of unostentatious worth. He
instanced his simplicity of character by refusing to occupy the gubernatorial
mansion whilst the Executive of the State upon the ground of
temporary tenure of office. Governor Gregory married Miss Amanda
Wallace, of Petersburg, Virginia. Their issue was: i. William Thomas,
M. D., a popular physician, married Miss Apperson, of New Kent
County; ii. Mary Elizabeth, widow of the lamented and lately deceased
James P. Purcell, a highly esteemed citizen of Richmond, and a member
of the well-known firm of Purcell, Ladd & Co., of that city, wholesale
druggists; iii. John Munford, Judge of the Supreme Court of the
State of California, married a daughter of Rear Admiral Craven, United
States Navy; iv. Letitia Alice, resides with her father in Williamsburg,
Virginia, v. Margaret Carroll, married Richard E. Waddill, a member of
an estimable family of Charles City County; vi. Amanda Wallace, married
Colonel Robert A. Caskie, lately a gallant officer of Confederate
States Cavalry, son of the late John Caskie, Esq., of Richmond, and
now residing in Missouri; vii. Martha Hill, married Robert Galbraith,
of South Carolina.