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Henry Gregory
BIRTH 1580 Nottinghamshire, England
DEATH 14 Jun 1655 Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, USA
BURIAL Unknown
MEMORIAL ID 37616931
MEMORIAL
PHOTOS 0
FLOWERS 27
~MY ANCESTOR~
HENRY GREGORY (GREGORIE) probably came to America with his wife, MARY (GOODY) GREGORY, and at least two adult sons from Nottingham and settled first in Boston as early as 1633. He was in Springfield by 1639 with his son, Judah. His wife, Mary, died about 1641/2, probably in Springfield. Henry took up land in Springfield January 16, 1638 where he built a "waddle and daub, thatched house".
He later removed to New Haven, Colony of New Haven, and later selling his land there to his son, Judah. Then he was in Stratford, where one of his daughters lived. He was a shoemaker and in 1647 a complaint was made to the General Court regarding the workmanship of 14 dozen pairs of shoes that he made. According to testimony, Mr. Meges had contracted with Henry to make these shoes for him (Meges) to sell, and the shoes were defective in that they fell apart in a week to 14 days. Goodman Gregory replied to the court that Meges had brought him defective leather to make the shoes out of and told him that he would bring him hemp to sew them with, but he never did, so Henry used flax instead. His sons, Judah & John, and daughter, wife of William Crooker, testified that their father was old and had poor eyesight. The court found both men at fault, more so Mr. Meges who was fined 10 pounds to the court and to make good on the shoes he sold, and Goodman Gregory was fined 5 pounds and the court charges for faulty workmanship.
In 1650 Henry is mentioned in the will of his brother, William Gregory, who was an Alderman & Mayor of Nottingham. William left Henry 20 marks if he should live for six months after his decease, and five pound to each of his children in New England.
Henry's will was probated and inventory taken on June 19, 1655 in Stratford where he owned property. His oldest son, John, received a double portion.
The pedigree of William Gregory appears in DEERING'S HISTORY OF NOTTINGHAM 1751, where he appears as "Henry 'de Boston in Nova Anglia". He was the son of JOHN & ALICE (ALTON) GREGORY and grandson of THOMAS & DOROTHY (BEESTON) GREGORY, daughter of SIR GEORGE & ALICE (DAVENPORT) BESTOW.
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On May 23rd and 25th of 2017, I traveled to the grave of Henry Gregory in Stratford Connecticut. After doing extensive research at the Stratford Library as well as spending time at the Stratford Historical Society, I and others were able to conclude that Henry Gregory was NOT buried in the Old Congregational Burying Grounds. The entire cemetery is cataloged by the Stratford Library and nowhere is Henry Gregory mentioned. It is also worth noting that Henry Gregory likely died roughly 20 years before the Old Congregational Burying Grounds was even founded. This information conflicts with the information found on FindAGrave.com.
This led to searching for other grave sites in Stratford. We had come across another cemetery that began relatively in the same time frame located at the Stratford Center Historic District (41.189694, -73.128639). We were able to with a gentleman at Christ Episcopal Church who owns the property where the cemetery is located. The gentleman contacted a woman who had the cemetery cataloged. Unfortunately, his location as well did not produce satisfying as she was unable t find a matching name in cemetery as well as the cemetery was founded even more recent than the Old Congregational Burying Grounds located near the Stratford Library.
We ended our journey at the Stratford Historical Society on May 25, 2017 and learned that the oldest cemetery in Stratford was actually located at "Mac's Harbor" (41.182994, -73.1262850). With help from the staff at the Stratford Historical Society, we learned that the graves at Mac's Harbor were not known until more recently when digging began to install a sewer system. Human skeletal remains were identified, placed back into the graves, and then left alone. There is no documentation listing this site as a burial ground that we know of currently so no names of persons have been cataloged. Since however, we were able to verify that Henry Gregory was not buried in the Old Congregational Burying Grounds nor the Stratford Center Historic District, that only leaves Mac's Harbor as a practical location for his burial.
We were able to conclude with the most recent evidence and the help from the Stratford Historical Society, that Henry Gregory is MORE LIKELY buried here at Mac's Harbor. I would ask that the information that I type here be added to the FindAGrave.com's listing of Henry Gregory at the very top as this listing is quite popular. This will hopefully prevent others from traveling to the Old Congregational Burying Grounds in hopes of searching for him as well inspire others to search for more information.
Thank you,
Nathan Robert Gregory (findagrave)