Though my Gregg family was first settled in New Castle County, they would soon spread to Chester County as well, and some of the earliest records can be found in the Concord Friends records. The family history of the Greggs includes all sorts of interesting ‘legends’, some of which may actually have a basis in fact, but many grains of salt may be needed as well.

The earliest known ancestor of the family in this area is William Gregg, who died in 1687 and was buried on his property in Montchanin, New Castle county, Delaware. Conrad’s History of Delaware (Volume 2, p. 462) shows that he had two parcels of land, one in 1683 for 200 acres and the second on January 26, 1684 for 400 acres, in what was part of Rockland Manor, one of the early Penn land grants. On the second of these, which he called “Strand Millas”, he built a log cabin. The second house on the property, built by William’s son John, is still standing and listed as a historic property. By the peak of the roof on the side of the house is a date of 1701, though this date may refer to a later addition to the house.

Unfortunately, the bulk of misinformation seems to come from one predominant source – Hazel May Middletown Kendall’s book The Quaker Greggs, written in 1944. Since much of her information in the book is unsourced, it often gives the appearance of merely being pieced together out of thin air. One of the first of these questionable tales is that of the Gregg Cane, of which Kendall write: “Previous to the reign of Mary Stuart’s son James I, 1603- 1625 (known also as James VI of England) a curious rumour floated that a Scottish King would sympathize with Ireland because the Irish were the original ‘Scots.’ James I establis hed circuits and a complete system of shires in northern Ireland. The English system was violently substituted. He had a mania for colonization. Thousands left Scotland for Nova Scotia and Ulster [in Ireland]. King James visited Scotland for the second time in 1617 after which whole communities of various clans were transplanted to Ulster. Among them were many Greggs from the clan Gregor. Their leader, a John Gregg, evidently descended from next to the oldest son of Black John of the Coat of Mail, received from King James I a silver-studded ivory-headed cane in esteem and appreciation of his influence and responsibility in the removal of the Gregs from Scotland to County Antrim, Ulster, about 1618.” The Cane itself does exist and is currently in the hands of Stanley Gregg, but it seems more than a bit of a stretch to assume that King James would have been interested in rewarding a Gregg in any fashion at the time. I would actually be rather interested in knowing exactly when this cane story first appeared.

Though I’ve never seen reasonable documentation to provide the name of William’s wife, folks seem to be overly fond of listing Ann Wilkinson as William’s wife, probably based on a note in Albert Cook Myers’ Immigration of the Irish Quakers book, in which he includes a footnote that reads as follows: “One William Gregg, of Toberhead Mtg., and Ann Wilkinson, of Antrim Mtg, were married at Antrim, 11 Mo 5, 1702.” The only problem with this idea is that William died fifteen years before this date, so obviously he could not have been married to this particular Ann Wilkinson.

Of William’s four known children, John, Ann, George and Richard, I’m only going to concentrate on the descendants of John, as that is my direct line. In 1694, John married Elizabeth Cooke, in Friends Meeting at Concord in the present day Delaware County, PA. From his will, we know he and Elizabeth had at least seven children as shown below:

The Last Will and Testament of John Gregg
of New Castle County, Delaware

In the name of God and on this twenty-second day of April in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and thirty-eight, I John Gregg of the County of New Castle on Delaware and Christiana Hundred, a yeoman being of perfect mind and memory thanks to God and calling to mind the mortality of my body and knowing that it is appointed once for all men, today Do make and ordain this my Last will and testament that is to say principally and first of all I Give and Recommend my Soul unto God that loves it and for my body I recommend it to the earth to be buried in a Christian manner at the discretion of my executor, not doubting but at the General Resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of God and as touching such worldly estate which it hath pleased God to bless me with. In this life I give and devise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form:

In promise I give and bequeath to Elizabeth, my Dearly Beloved wife, the sum of ten pounds of Good and Lawful money to be Raised and Levied out of my Estate; besides the third part of the produce of the plantation I now Dwell on; with the privilege of the new Rooms at the East end of the house and the third part of the cellar under the same During her widowhood; together with the third part of my moveable Estate as the law directs.

Item: I have made over unto William my Eldest Son’s home I make one of my estates a tract of Land containing two hundred acres Laying and being on Red Clay Creek, it being in the County of New Castle, which is his part.

Item: I give and have made over unto my son Thomas two hundred acres of Land laying and being on Red Clay Creek in the County of Chester, which is his part.

Item: I give and bequeath unto my son Joseph two hundred acres of Land also lying and being on Red Clay Creek in the County of Chester to be possessed and enjoyed by him, his heirs and assigns forever, it being his part.

Item: I give and bequeath unto my son Samuel, who I make the other of my executors, all the tract of Land I now live on being and containing seven hundred acres or there abouts with the improvements thereunto belonging by him to be possessed and enjoyed by him, his heirs and assigns forever, it being his part.

Item: I give and bequeath to my two Daughters Hannah and Rebecah, in the first place, twenty-nine pounds of Good and Lawful money to each of them to be raised and levied out of my moveable estate; besides sundry goods that have been already Promised to be theirs which I compute will make them Equal with what I have already given to my Daughter Emey; And the remainder part of my moveable estate shall be equally Divided between my three Daughters: Emey, Hannah and Rebecah.

And I do hereby totally Disallow, Revoke and Disavow all and every other former testaments, wills, Legacies and [ ? ] by me in any way before this time [ ? ], willed and bequeathed. Ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament, In witness whereof I have here unto set my hand and seal the day and year above written. Signed, sealed, published, pronounced and Declared by the said John Gregg as his last will and testament.

Signed by John Gregg
Witnessed by Christopher Wilson, Thomas Wilson and Adam Kirk