Thanks, Mrs. Kirby

2421 NE Irving St.,

Portland, Oregon

June 26, 1954

Rev. Calvin Gregory,

Editor, Macon County Times,

Lafayette, Tennessee

Dear Sir:

May I take this opportunity to tell you how much I enjoy "Cal's Column." Mr. T. Howard Groves is now donating a copy of your newspaper to our Library so that more can enjoy your paper and Column..

I noticed in one issue that you were asking for a copy of "Historic Sumner County, Tennessee" by Jay Guy Cisco, which was published at Nashville, Tenn., in 1909 and has 319 pages and an index. It so happened that the only copy of the book I have ever seen was in the State Library, Harrisburg, Penn. I hope you are lucky enough to locate a book.

I am enclosing a few notes which I copied from the book.

In one of your articles you mention the Ragon family name. I am very much interested in the name "RAGON." My husband's maternal grandmother was Elizabeth Ragon. Some books say the name was Rogan, Ragan, Reagan, etc., but our family has always called it "Ragon." They probably moved from North or South Carolina into Cherokee country in what is now Bradley and Hamilton Counties, Tenn. I would like very much to know more about the Ragon family and wish to correspond with anyone else who is interested or can help me.

Elizabeth Ragon married William D. Mitchell on December 3, 1846. I would like to know where they were married. He may have been a soldier in the Mexican War.

My husband and I have many connections with Tennessee families. As you may know the south settled Oregon and Washington.

Please continue with your good work of publishing family and county records. You are doing a splendid and worthwhile work.

Very respectfully,

Mrs. W. S. Kirby

My maiden name was Davis--southern line. My husband's grandmother was Julia Ann Deckard Kirby

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This Article Appeared In The Times

But Was Not Actually In Cal’s Column

A Correction

We reported in a recent issue of the Times, in our write-up of the Towns family, that George Oldham had married two of the daughters of the late Edmond Towns. This was an error, as he married only one of them. We are sorry for the error and appologize for same.

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This Article Appeared In The Times

But Was Not Actually In Cal’s Column

HOME-COMING

On Sunday, July 4th, quite a large number of the relatives of Mr. and Mrs. Doug Gregory met in his home some three miles southeast of Lafayette, in a home-coming. A big dinner was served at the noon hour, brought in by relatives and friends of the family.

Mr. Gregory is 83 years old and his wife is four years younger. Both are in fair health, considering their long lives. Mr. Gregory is the son of Binian P. Gregory, commonly known as "Boy" Gregory, who married Miss Wallace. Binian was the son of Gion and Amanda Gregory, and was a first cousin of the editor's father, their mothers having been sisters. Gion was the son of Ambrose Gregory, the son of Bry Gregory, the son of Thomas Gregory, both Thomas and his son, Bry, having been soldiers of the American Revolution. The family arrived in Middle Tennessee from Chatham County, North Carolina, between 1791 and 1800. They are of Scotch descent and the family is now one of the most numerous to be found in this part of Tennessee.

There is to be the annual Gregory reunion on Sunday, August 15th. The place and other details will be announced in the Times at a later date.

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Transcribed by Janette West Grimes

This Article Appeared In The Times

But Was Not Actually In Cal’s Column

A Good Letter

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1727 Nassau Street,

Nashville, Tenn.

June 19, 1954

Brother Calvin Gregory,

Lafayette, Tenn.

Dear Calvin;

I have intended to write to you for a long time and thank you for sending the Times. I appreciate it very much. I wish to renew it and am enclosing the money for sending it again. I think it is the best county paper I ever read.

I so often think of the good old days when we went to school at Mace's Hill, and of the spelling matches we had there. I often think of how hard I used to try to best you and Mance Oldham in spelling. Of course it was no trouble to best "Mut." It seems almost a century since that time. I would like to go back and live those days again. They were happy days.

I try to hear you over WHIN at Gallatin on Sunday afternoons, but my radio is not in very good order. My husband's condition is unchanged. I hope you and your family are well. We do not come to Lafayette often, but am coming in to see you some time when I am there.

Grover and Clara Gregory.

[Editor's note. We appreciate this letter from our old friends of other years. We have known this man and his wife since they were in school at Mace's Hill. The reference to Mrs. Gregory's efforts to beat Mance Oldham and the editor in spelling a long long time ago carries us back through the years to the old school house at Mace's Hill. Grover is our second cousin and is the oldest son of T. J. [Pete] Gregory. His wife is the former Miss Clara Garrett, who entered school at Mace's Hill in the fall of 1904. She is the daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Bill Garrett. Grover has been in failing health for many months and we hope that he may soon show decided improvement. We thank Mrs. Gregory, for her good words about our paper.

The rolling years are making many, many changes. The old school is no more and the building is used for a store and a dwelling house. We still remember where Grover used to sit and study, as well as the seat occupied by Mrs. Gregory. A large number of those boys and girls of 40 to 50 years ago have long since gone the way of all the earth and those who still survive are growing old. In our inmost heart we hope that we may all sit down as it were, in the great hereafter at the feet of the Teacher who taught as man never taught. Our teacher in the school above referred to has been gone for many years. God bless the memory of those happy, carefree days that will come to us never more.]