MARRIAGES:

Wife/wives who would  have been mother(s) of children of Joseph Gregory Senior: UNKNOWN.  He reportedly married four times.[ Frank H. Smith, ”History of Maury County, Tennessee, p. 63. In an interview in 1906, J. Sol Gregory (son of Thomas) stated that his grandfather, Joseph Gregory, married four times] If that is correct, two of the marriages likely occurred before 1807. It is known that Joseph remarried in Charlotte Co., Va., 8 Jan. 1807, Mary Magdalene Herndon, widow, (note: nee Roberts) and remarried again in Lunenburg Co., Va. 11 Dec. 1828, to Alice Davis, spinster. (It is believed that neither of these wives were of child-bearing age when Joseph married them.)

J. Sol Gregory was b. 1829, thus 7 years old when his father Thomas wrote in 1837 from Columbia, TN to Lunenburg Co., VA to have father (Joseph Gregory Sr) brought to TN, and Sol was about 15 when when his grandfather died.

LAND IN LUNENBURG CO., VA BEFORE MOVING TO TENNESSEE:

On the 26th Joseph Gregory pur. in Lunenburg, from wife Alice's brother Robert H. Davis and Sally of county of Dinwiddie, 150 acres; recorded 8 Aug. 1829, the date Joseph Gregory and Ailsey (Alice) his wife of Lunenburg sold the tract to David Thompson Senr.; on waters of the Middle Meherrin. [Lunenburg Co., VA DB 28:394,395]  Tax records of Lunenburg indicate the above 150-acre tract was void of dwelling or buildings.

One might suppose that Joseph Gregory Senior and Alice lived with her parents. The undated will of Alice's father, William Davis, was proved at Lunenburg County 14 Apr. 1834, devised (in part) at the death of Lucy his wife, land to son Solomon Davis, the tract of land "whereon Joseph Gregory now lives containing 244 acres. [Lunenburg Co., VA WB 11:39A] Tax records show that this was, and had been, the William Davis home tract. It was not determined if the widow Davis died during that year, but Joseph Gregory "of county of Lunenburg" purchased the 244 acres from Solomon Davis and Hannah, of Dinwiddie. The land bordered Jesse Watson on the north, Samuel Bruce on the south, David Thompson on the west, and the estate of Samuel Johnson, deceased, on the east; deed dated 10 Dec. 1834, rec. 9 Feb. 1835. In Feb. 1837, Joseph Gregory and Elsey (Alice) his wife of Lunenburg sold 180 acres to William M. Wood. [Lunenburg Co., VA DB 30:184,489] The reason for the difference in acreage is unclear.

Lunenburg County Land Tax Records show Joseph Gregory resided in Lunenburg and was taxed in 1835 and 1836 for 244 acres, with one building (or house) on Crupper Run, 13 miles southwest of the courthouse. The record for 1837 shows Wm. M. Wood taxed with 180 1/4 acres, Middle Meherrin, 13 miles SW of the courthouse, one building, "transferred from Joseph Gregory. [Lunenburg Co., VA. Land Tax Books 1807-1821, Roll 181], The Virginia State Library. Possibly a further study of the tax records would explain the difference in acreage.  The land sold by Joseph Gregory in Feb. 1837 was very near the property of his son John, who died the previous September.

CENSUSES:

1840 Census of Rutherford Co., TN, Joseph Gregory in a household next to his son Edward:
Joseph Gregory age 90-100
Gregory female age 60-70

BEFORE 1772

The first deed record found of Joseph Gregory Senior is dated 23 Mar. 1772, Mecklenburg Co., VA.

Two earlier records of person(s) of the Joseph Gregory name may or may not have been this Joseph Gregory.

1765 Tax List of Amelia Co., VA. lists one Joseph Griggory on the land of Elias Wills [ read by Bel Hubbard Wise] (Joseph Gregory Senior's son John was born 1765.)

1767 Deed 14 Aug 1767 Lunenburg Co., VA; rec 12 Nov (adjoins Mecklenburg) John Smith of county of Mecklenburg sold to Andrew Gregory of same county (Mecklenburg), 370 acres, part of a larger tract formerly granted by patent to Hampton Wade, wit:  Mack Goode Jnr, John Stembridge, and Joseph Gregory.

A memorandum to the deed (same date) was witnessed by Mack Goode Jnr., John Stembridge, John Gregory, Lunenburg Co., Va. [Deed Bk. 11, p. 98.]

(One might wonder if either "John Gregory" or "Joseph Gregory" was an error in clerk's transcription since the deed and memo were recorded same day.) Either way, this suggests that one Joseph Gregory's name is associated with Andrew Gregory in 1767. If John Gregory is correct in the memo, 1767 was too early for the John to have been a son of either Andrew Gregory of Bluestone  in Mecklenburg or Joseph Gregory Senior of South Fork of Meherrin in Mecklenburg.

Deed records of  John Smith show that he was a resident of Amelia Co., Va. before settling on Bluestone Creek, Mecklenburg Co., VA in the part of Lunenburg that became Mecklenburg; however, no record has surfaced of Andrew Gregory in Amelia County. (John Smith and Abraham Crowder, another early settler of Mecklenburg, were married to daughters of Robert Tucker who died in Amelia Co. 1769.) [Amelia Co., Va. Will Bk. 2X, p. 227.] The land on which Joseph Gregory settled in Mecklenburg in 1772 was not far from Bluestone Creek where Andrew earlier settled.