JOHN ANDERSON GREGORY was the first of eight children born to GEORGE WESLEY GREGORY AND REBECCA FRANCES KNIGHT. He was born May 22, 1840 in Pikeville, Bledsoe County, Tennessee. ELIZABETH JANE FINNEY was born on April 5, 1852 in McMinn County, Tennessee, daughter of JAMES FINNEY AND SAFORNIA JANE WELLS. John Anderson Gregory like his father, was in the Union Army, Carthage Tennessee, Company G 4th Regiment, Mtd. Infantry and served during the Civil War from November 1, 1864 to August 5, 1865 when he was honorably discharged from Carthage, Tennessee.

In the spring of 1867, John and REBECCA FRANCIS BARRET, his first wife who was with child, rode horseback, sometimes as long as thirteen hours a day, all the way from Carthage, Tennessee to Lebanon, Laclede County, Missouri. Shortly after they reached Lebanon, Rebecca died in childbirth, as did their infant son on May 12, 1867.

On September 8, 1867, John and ELIZABETH JANE FINNEY, were married by Justice of the Peace, George Boin in Camden County, Missouri. The marriage was witnessed by Elizabeth's father, James Finney, and Amanda Boin. According to Census data, they lived in Missouri until around 1900, when they appear in the Boone County, Arkansas Census. 1920 Census data, shows Elizabeth in Stone County, Missouri. John and Elizabeth had 14 children, James Franklin (born 2/26/1869), Rebecca Jane (born August 1, 1870), John Wesley (born May 24, 1872), Barney Monroe (born August 25, 1873), Martha Francis Gregory (born June 1, 1882), Ida May (born June 30, 1884), William Henry (born July 31, 1887), Thomas Walter (born November 21, 1890), Minnie Myrtle (born November 19, 1891), Maude Ethel (born January 24, 1894), and Benjamin Harrison (born July 12, 1899).

Elizabeth "Grandma Finney" as she was called by everyone, was indeed a precious gem. Boyhood memories of her are of dimpled cheeks, twinkling blue eyes and a dainty 4'11" tall, small framed body that made me often wonder how she could possibly give birth to, and raise 14 children. Oh how she did enjoy smoking and sharing the corncob pipe with her husband John on their porch in their rocking chairs side by side. Grandma was so proud that she knew personally Harold Bell Wright, the Ozark novelist. She knew his story "Shepherd of the Hills" by heart and told that story over and over again to her grandchildren when they would sit at her feet out on the porch during those wonderful summer evenings. She was the favorite story teller of the Gregory clan.

John Anderson died February 18, 1918 in Reeds Springs Junction, Stone County, Missouri, and is buried in Eisenhour Cemetery in Reeds Springs, Missouri. Elizabeth lived alone until the age of 86 in Reeds Springs, at which time she went to live with her son, William Henry and his family, in Hasty, Arkansas. She died November 28, 1940 in Hasty, and is buried along side John in Eisenhour Cemetery in Reeds Springs, Missouri.

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