Genealogy Data Page 68 (Notes Pages)

Some sources indicate date of death: July 15, 1946.

2/22/1945- After many years of ill health, Mrs Mary A Cothron, aged 80 years, died at her home at Webbtown Wednesday noon. Survived by husband, John H Cothron, whom she married 58 years ago; one son, Lloyd Cothron of Lafayette;five daughters, Miss Lillie Cothron who resides with her father; Mrs Lydia Polston and Mrs Gertie Polston, both of Nashivlle, Mrs Vela Steen of near Lafayette; and Mrs J J Hill of RBS; 23 grandchildren 13 great grandchildren; two brothers, Ike Cothron of R2 Lafayette; and Bumpus Cothron of Nashville and a sister Mrs Amanda Gregory , of R 2 Lafayette..
The remains were laid to rest in the Butler Graveyard near LAFAYETTE following services conducted by Eldere Calvin Gregory. Mrs Cothron had long been a memof of Meadorville Baptist church. She was born and reared in this county and had lived all her life in the vicinity of Lafayette. Mary Abram Cothron(31March1865-2.14,1945); d/o William B Cothron& Lucinda Elizabeth Ellis; w/o John H (Harrison) Cothron(26 May 1863- 7 15 1946); s/o of Ransom Payton cothron & Margaret Linville.

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Stephen Calvin "Cal" Gregory [Male] b. 8 JUL 1891 Smith County, TN - d. 16 NOV 1957 Haysville Cemetery, Macon Co., TN

Change: 17 JAN 2013

Stephen Calvin Gregory - minister, educator, genealogist, newspaperpublisher, civic and polit ical leader. Cal was born July 8, 1891, the sonof Thomas Morgan (Dopher) and Marietta Ballo u Gregory. He was the eldestof ten children - three boys and seven girls. The family lived i n theMace's Hill community of northwestern Smith County between Dixon Springsand Pleasant Sha de, Tennessee.

He was the great-great-great grandson of Thomas Gregory, who with hissons, William and Bry se ttled in the Nixon Hollow between Carthage andPleasant Shade in the 1790s. Calvin Gregory al so descended from JohnGregory, a brother to the above mentioned, Thomas Gregory. TheseGregory 's all migrated from Chatham County, North Carolina. Another ofCalvin Gregory's ancestors wa s Leonard Ballou (his great-greatgrandfather), who settled near the confluence of Big and L ittle Peyton'sCreek near Pleasant Shade in 1808.

Calvin, as he preferred to be called, rarely used his first name. He wasnamed in honor of hi s paternal grandfather, Stephen Calvin Gregory.Calvin was an extraordinary individual havin g unusual scholarshipabilities. ( In 1957, he was nominated and selected to appear on thet elevision series, "The $64,000 Question", but died prior to hisscheduled appearance.)

He began his education at Mace's Hill school in about 1898 and laterreceived outstanding sc holastic success at Bowling Green Businessuniversity, in Kentucky. After returning home, h e taught school at DeanHill (Defeated Creek area), Mac's Hill, Scanty Branch (near DixonSprin gs), Kittrell's (near Pleasant Shade) and perhaps other locations.He was a mail carrier fro m Pleasant Shade f or about three years startingin 1916.

In 1912, Calvin was married to Miss Mai Gammon and they became theparents of two children , Lawrence and Meddie. Shortly thereafter, Calvinlost both of his parents and in 1914 assume d the awesome responsibilityof rearing and caring for four of his sisters ranging in age fro m sevento sixteen. These sisters all remained with him until they married withthe last one le aving in 1929. During this time, Calvin endured the painof losing his wife Mai to cancer in 1 926. Later, he married Miss EthelGann but she also died (along with a newborn son) as a resu lt ofchildbirth complications in 19 28.In 1930, Calvin was married for thethird time to Mis s Betty Jenkins who presently lives at Lafayette, Tn.From this marriage, they became the par ents of three children, Leonard,Charles and Sue Gregory. Two of Calvin's children still survi ve: MeddieWilburn of Indianapolis, Indiana and Leonard Gregory of Richmond, Texas.

Calvin Gregory professed faith in Jesus Christ at age 18 and united with Mt. Tabor Baptist Chu rch. In 1914, he was ordained as a Baptist ministerby this church which is located near Pleas ant Shade. Here began one ofthe most successful ministries of any Baptist minister in MiddleT ennessee. During his ministerial life, he pastored more than fiftychurches and was instrument al in organizing Mac's Hill Baptist Church in1917. He served until the time of his death as t he first pastor of thischurch which spanned forty years. At one time in his career, he was th epastor of seven churches, simultaneously. He baptized thousands intonumerous Baptist churche s, conducted more than 3000 funerals and marriedover 1200 couples. He was an avid debater i n religious discussionsencountering many leaders of other religious denominations. Calvin wa sclerk of the Enon Baptist Association for forty years and was a muchsought after revivalist , having conducted revivals in all three divisionsof Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Virgin ia.

During the late 1920s, he was a correspondent for the Carthage Courierand Nashville Banner ne wspapers and put his home town of Pleasant Shade"on the map" through his reporting of the loc al news events. He was alsothe agent for Macon, Smith and Trousdale counties for the "Newspa perPrinting Corporation of Nashville". In 1930, he bought one-half interestin the Macon Count y Times, Lafayette, TN and in 1937 assumed full controlof the "Times", developing it into on e of the top weekly newspapers inthe state. Under his direction as editor and publisher, th e Times grew toa circulation of m ore than 4000 and ranked as the third largest incirculatio n of any weekly newspaper in Tennessee. His popular "Cal'sColumn" section of the Macon Count y Times was devoted to genealogy andresearch on the history of the Upper Cumberland area of n orthern MiddleTennessee. He was widely recognized as a genealogical expert andresearched hund reds of families and published the results in his column.At one point in his career, Calvin w as asked by United States SenatorJoseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, to travel with him to Europe ( herespectfully declined) to research his family history. His work has beenlisted as a referen ce source for genealogical research and is well knownby genealogists throughout the United St ates. In addition to his Baptistministry and newspaper work, Calvin gave extensively of his t ime to civicactivities. He was elected to and served for many years on the Macon Co.Quarterl y Court. He was instrumental in the court's voting to build theMacon County High School. As p resident of the North Central TelephoneCooperative, Inc., dial telephone service was made ava ilable to Macon,parts of Smith, Trousdale and Sumner Counties of Tennessee and AllenCounty, K entucky in the early 1950s. In 1981 he was honored,posthumously, by being elected to the Ten nessee Newspaper Hall of Fame,joining 26 other former newspaper individuals so honored. Calvi n Gregorytouched the lives of thousands of people in the Middle Tennessee andsouthern Kentuck y area. He maintained a standard in his religiouspractices, service to his community, ethics , integrity and intellect thatonly a few people could approach. His outstanding life was cu t shortnear the zenith of his career and had he survived to a ripe old age onecan only wonde r what other contributions he might have made to hiscommunity and fellow citizens. He die d on November 16, 1957 inLafayette at age 66 after suffering a heart attack. Preceding him in death earlier the same year was his son, Lawrence, who died as a resultof an automobile accid ent. Calvin's funeral was held in the Macon CountyHigh School gymnasium where approximately 3 000 people attended. He wasburied in the Haysville Cemetery in Macon County. Leonard C. Grego ry 1986(Additional information by Thomas D. Dickerson 2000)

From "Cal's Column": "On our father's side of the house, we were whatmight be called "Hill B illies," our ancestors having been dwellers amongthe hills since the Gregory family was found ed in the ninth century inthe mountains of North Scotland. Our mother's people were originall y fromNormandy, in Northern France, the first of the family having come fromFrance to Englan d in the year 1066 when he fought in the battle ofHastings under William the Conqueror" and m ore from the column: ". Theeditor was born on July 8, 1891, a hot, sultry Wednesday morning a boutsunrise. Dr. S.C. Bridgewater was the attending physician. I weighednine pounds at birt h and was normal in every respect although some maythink that I was weak mentally and never r ecovered from same. I was giventhe name of Stephen Calvin Gregory, for my father's father, w ho bore thesame name. He was born on October 30, 1827, and married his third cousin,Miss Sin a Gregory, when he was about twenty-five years of age. My father,who was the fourth child bor n to this couple, was born Jan. 4, 1862. Mygrandfather, Stephen Calvin Gregory, had an uncle , Stephen Gregory, abrother of his father, Major Gregory. Just where the name Calvin, camefr om we do not know, as our grandfather was the first of our family whowore it so far as we hav e been able to learn, and we have traced thefamily back through 1,100 years of time. The fi rst of the Gregory familyto come to America was Richard Gregory who arrived at Jamestown, Vir giniain 1620. We have the name of the ship on which he crossed the Atlanticto America from N orth Ireland, but had previously come to Ireland fromScotland where the family originated o n the shores of Loch Lomand inthe ninth century. "and again: "In the Gregory line of descen t, we havefound that Rob Roy, the old Scotch freebooter, was a distant relative ofours, and w as Sir Walter Scott's hero in his tale, with the title of "RobRoy." East of Loch Lomond in No rthern Scotland lies a section still knownas the "Rob Roy country." On the shores of Loch Lo mond, the Gregoryfamily had its origin in the ninth century. " and still more: "The firstof t he Gregory family to come to America was Richard Gregory, whoarrived at Jamestown, Virgini a in 1620. We name of the ship on which hecrossed the Atlantic to America from North Ireland , but had previouslycome to Ireland from Scotland where the family originated on the shoreso f Loch Lomand in the ninth century."
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Cause of Death: Myocardial infarction Christening: buried in HaysvilleCemetery, Macon County , TN Steogen was a Baptist minister, publisher ofthe Macon County Times and buried Haysvill e Cemetery, Macon County, TN