Jehiel Gregory (Jr)

Parents: Sarah Craig & John VanDolah

Parents: Elizabeth Andrews & Jehiel Gregory

Born: ~1793 Fayette, PA

Born: November 20, 1782 Spencertown, Columbia county, NY

Married: June 9, 1816 Jehiel Gregory in Yankeetown (record)

Married: June 9, 1816 Sarah VanDolah in Yankeetown, OH (record)

Died: February, 1824 Fayette, OH (court records)

Died: September, 1823 Madison Twp, Fayette Cty, OH (court records)

Interred: Kirkwood Cemetery in London, OH (reinterred 1903) (documentation)

Interred: Kirkwood Cemetery in London, Ohio (reinterred 1903) (documentation)

Occupation: Farmer and blacksmith

"She [Sarah] is said to have married Jehiel in 1816 and to have died in 1824. I assume she is buried somewhere about Yankeetown or Mt. Sterling, O. In the cemetery at Pancoastburg, formerly Watloo, Ohio I found a stone marked "Sarah, wife of John Vandolah, died October 14, 1860, aged 93 years, 5 mos., 7 days," which quite possibly may mark the grave of the mother of the Sarah Vandolah who married Jehiel Gregory. She was born May 5, 1767. If we assume that Sarah Vandolah Gregory was 20 years old when she was married, the Sarah under discussion would have been 29 years old at the time this daughter was born. This works out _____ for the Sarah Vandolah whose tombstone I found at Pancoastburg. The parents of Sarah Vandolah were John Vandolah and Sarah Craig (Cragg, Cregg, Crega)." -- W. P. Hay (1871-1947. Sarah VanDolah was the third of 13 children. The Crago and VanDolah families were the main “agitators” of the early petition in PA for the new state of Ohio in the 1770s; the Craigs moved there in about 1807 when Sarah was 14. Sarah was just 30, and her fourth child was just one month old when her husband Jehiel suddenly died. Even more tragically, Sarah survived Jehiel by only four months, leaving four very young children under 7. Sarah's cause of death is unknown, but perhaps was the flu or cholera—five of the 10 VanDolah children died in 1822-1824. Adley Gregory, Jehiel’s youngest brother, was appointed guardian of all four on 6/10/1824, but only John, age 2, lived with him. Oldest daughter Elizabeth, age 6½, moved in with close family friend, Isaac Cook. I think the Cooks are just good friends of the Gregorys, since Isaac Cook Sr and Jehiel Gregory Sr were both legislators. However, there may have been a familial relationship too -- Jehiel Andrews (1720 Wallingford,CT-1812 Mt.Holly,VT) married Sarah Cook (1722-1805 Rutland,VT) -- the Jehiel given name and Cook surname are noteworthy. Annis, age 5, lived with John Leavitt and Mary Jane with Otho Williams, also no known relatives.

"Jehiel Gregory is said to have been a blacksmith by trade and to have been a captain in the War of 1812. He died from the effects of an effort to break an attack of chills. He was a strong, healthy man but had ague [chills and fever] and determined to break the disease. When he felt a chill coming on he took some warm drink and began to work as hard as he could to bring on a perspiration. The treatment was a success as far as warding off the chill was concerned but in the fever which followed he became delirious [also with convulsions] and in a few hours was dead. His wife died about a year later The four children, of whom my grandmother was the eldest, were then taken care of by friends or relatives until old enough to care for themselves." -- W. P. Hay (1871-1947). Jehiel moved with his parents and five younger siblings to Ohio in about 1800, at age 18. Jehiel was a private in his father’s (now a Captain) Company of Athens County, Ohio, and became a Captain himself of the first Volunteer Company during the War of 1812. He owned and managed the farm assigned to him by his father with good judgment. His death was precipitous and unexpected, just one month after his daughter’s birth; he died intestate, at age 41, and the farm went to his wife and children. When four months later Sarah also died, the children were all split up, and none of the four orphans lived with either grandmother or each other. I think this underscores how small and close-knit these communities were. After Elizabeth married, her brother John came to live with her, and Joseph Howsmon was appointed his legal guardian. In 1846 both sister Annis and brother John moved to IL with the Howsmon’s, but Mary Jane stayed in Yankeetown, where her family was decimated by a cholera epidemic.

Census data: 1800, 1810, 1820

Census data: 1790, 1800, 1810, 1820

Children:

Name

Date of Birth, Place

Date of Death, Place

Married - date and to whom

# children

1. Elizabeth

5/8/1817 Yankeetown, OH

6/20/1893 Harristown, IL

6/7/1837 Joseph Howsmon

9

2. Annis

3/24/1819 Yankeetown, OH

2/22/1900 Mt. Sterling IL?

2/13/1840 George Washington Knotts

5

3. John

10/8/1821 Yankeetown, OH

3/22/1902 Normal, IL

1- 1/19/1843 Caroline Dawson
2- 7/9/1846 Mary Ann Henline

11

4. Mary Jane

8/11/1823 Yankeetown, OH

7/18/1852 Yankeetown, OH

1/14/1840 James G. Loofbourrow

6

grandchildren