LaVergne L Gregg
LaVergne L Gregg was born nearly 143 years ago on November 18th, 1876 in New Windsor, Illinois to his Father, George W. Gregg and Mother Amy Shaw.
** Interesting events that occurred around the World during Mr. Gregg's birth year of 1876 included...
• On February 14th, 1876 Alexander Graham Bell applies for a patent for the telephone, as does Elisha Gray...Alexander Graham Bell allegedly stole the idea of the liquid transmitter from Gray even though he had been using liquid transmitters in his telephone experiments for more than two years previously... Bell's telephone patent was upheld in numerous court decisions and he received his patent on March 7th, 1876.
• On May 10th, 1876 the Centennial Exposition begins in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. It was held to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.
• On June 25th and 26th, 1876 the Battle of Little bighorn takes place in the Montana territory. 300 men of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment under Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer are wiped out by 5,000 Lakota, Cheyenne and Arapaho, led by Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse.
• On October 31st, 1876 the great 1876 Bengal cyclone strikes the coast of modern-day Bangladesh, killing 200,000 people.
• On November 7th, 1876 Rutherford B. Hayes defeats Samuel Jones Tilden to become the 19th President of the United States.
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Little is known detail wise of his parents but Mr. Gregg had a Sister by the name of Inez.
He loses his Mother Amy when she passes away on July 29th, 1896 when Lavergne it's just 19 years old.
At the age of 21 on June 20th, 1898 as the United States enters the Spanish-American War, Lavergne enlists with the United States Army in New York City. According to his enlistment record Lavergne states his occupation as that of a teacher... ( Image in comments below ) He is stationed in the Philippines.
Mr Gregg would go on to become a career military man in the United States Army and rise to the rank of Colonel in his 36-year career !!
On June 13th, 1904 Lavergne marries Elizabeth Clare Dunham in San Francisco, California. Together they would have a Son and Daughter during the course of their marriage. Their Son Ward Wilton was born on March 30th, 1905 at the Columbus barracks in Columbus, Ohio... He dies on that same day.
Daughter Elizabeth Clare ( Her Mother's namesake )was born nearly two years later on January 31st 1907 also in the buckeye state of Ohio...
Mr. Gregg would be wounded while leading the 7th Infantry Division during the First World War..
The 7th Infantry Division was activated on December 6th, 1917, exactly eight months after America enters into World War I... On October 11th, 1918 it first came under shell fire and later, at Saint-Mihiel, came under chemical attack.. Elements of the 7th probed toward Prény near the Moselle River, capturing positions and driving German forces out of the region.
The Gregg family was always on the move as Lavergne rose through the ranks and was a top-notch recruiter. For more than two decades they were stationed in places like Deerfield lake, Illinois, Camp Funston in Riley, Kansas, New Orleans, Louisiana, and by the early 1930s in China. Mr. Gregg would finally retire in 1934 !!
On February 19th, 1937 while on an around the World cruise with their Daughter, Elizabeth Clare the last surviving Gregg child would pass away in Hong Kong at the age of 30.
Lavergne, and his Wife Elizabeth would next relocate to the Sunshine State of Florida in the late 1930s.
He loses her as Wife Elizabeth when she passes away here in Tampa, Florida on October 11th, 1948 after 44 years of marriage... She was 71
It appears as though Colonel Gregg married for a second time after losing his wife Elizabeth although I did not find any definitive marriage records.
Colonel Lavergne L. Gregg passes away on October 5th, 1963 at the age of 86 in Bay Pines VA Hospital. He was survived by his wife Sadie L. Gregg, a Son by the name of Cyril Silver, and a Daughter, Mrs. M.D. Gaffney... Neither Cyril or Mrs. Gaffney are listed anywhere on the Gregg family Census records between 1910 and 1940. **They may have been Sadie's children
Colonel Lavergne L. Gregg... Beloved Husband, Father, and American Patriot...