WILLAIM GREGG Jr.
THE STORY AS I KNOW IT
William Gregg Jr. was born 1642 in Glenarm,Antrim
Ireland (now North Ireland). This is a baronry on
the north east coast of Ireland 20+ miles north of
Belfast. His father was William Gregg Sr.
His mother unknown.
I'm sure a Baronry sounds like a grand life, but they were
Protestants in a Catholic land. The time when William
Jr. was born was a time of heavy push back by the
Catholics, though in the end, they would lose the rule they had
known. By 1653 William Gregg Sr. walked away
from his Glenarm Barony in northern Ireland and moved his family
to the shore of Waterford County in southern Ireland.
Willaim Jr. married Ann Wilkinson/Hodnut about
1666 in Ardmore, Waterford county, Ireland. Ardmore
is right on the ocean due east of Cork. It is reputed to be the
oldest Christian Community in Ireland.
It is believed they had four children, all born in
Ardmore. They were:
1. John Henry Gregg, born
1668. He died c 1738 in Delaware USA
2. Ann Gregg, born c 1670. She married a Dixon.
She died c1729 in Delaware.
3. George Gregg, born c 1674. Died Sept 14,
1744, I do not know where.
4. Richard Gregg, born c 1676. He died c
1719 in Delaware.
In 1678 William Penn visited Waterford. There he
converted many Scotch-Iris to the Society of Friends. Our
William Jr. was one of those.
From the early 1660s Quakers were looked on with disfavor
and distrust by British Parliament and a steady increase of
penalties were experienced. In 1682 the family and William
Gregg Jr became part of the first group of Quakers
to leave Great Britain for Pennsylvania, probably aboard the
Caledonia. Re Immigration of Irish
Quakers to Pennsylvania by Albert Cook Myers.
The Gregg family settled on the west side of Brandywine
creek near what is now Centerville. The built there was
called Strand Millas. It lay on what is now called
Montchanin Rd and contained land now part of Winterthur and
Wilmington Country Club. Ten Mile country and
Its Pioneer Families by Howard Lewis Leckey, about page 531 has
a section on the Gregg family
The family first participated in the Newark Quaker Meeting
on the east side of the Brandywine. But because of
the danger of crossing the Creek, they were given permission
along with neighbors, Mathias Defosse, Henry and Thomas
Hollingsworth, and others to start their own
meeting. It became Centre Meeting on Centre Meeting Rd,
just East of Centreville.
William
Gregg died five years after arriving in America, in
1687. John H Gregg was 19 years old and became
head of the family at that time.
William's
widow Ann Wilkinson Gregg lived another 5 years, most
likely with her son John Henry. She died Jan
5, 1692. I believe the estate of Strand Millas
was then divided between John and Richard. I don't
know what happened to George Gregg.
William
Gregg Jr. and his wife Ann Wilkinson/Hodnut are
buried in the family cemetery which today is found in the Wilmington
Country Club.
Re Find a Grave, Memorial # 63388074
If you know the answer please CONTACT US
Is there documentation for his birth year?
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Date created 1/4/2022