M. M. Gregg, a Kansas pioneer who had much to do with the early development of Butler county, is a native of Missouri. He was born in Washington county, May 21, 1847, and is a son of John R. and Elizabeth (Maxwell) Gregg, the former a native of Washington county, Missouri, and the latter of Washington county, Virginia. They were the parents of nine children, seven of whom are living, as follows: Theodore lives in Arkansas; Marshall, Decatur, Tex.; Walter, Decatur, Tex.; Philo, Olympia, Wash.; Lucien, Willow, Cal.; Mary Alice, Olympia, Wash.; and M. M., whose name introduces this review.

M. M. Gregg received his education in the common schools of Arkansas, where the family resided until the Civil war broke out. The Greggs were loyal to the Union, and the neighborhood in which they resided was pretty generally confederate, and the Gregg family experienced considerable hardship and financial loss on account of their loyalty to the Union. However, they remained firm in their sympathy, and active in the cooperation of the Union cause. Their home was burned and various other depredations committed against them by the secessionists.

When Mr. Gregg was about nineteen years old, in 1866, he came to Kansas and settled in Jefferson county on what was then the Delaware Indian reservation, and in 1871 removed to Marion county where he took a homestead. In 1877 he came to Butler county, settling in Rock Creek township near Muddy Creek. Pine Grove postoffice was established here, and Mr. Gregg served as pastmaster for seven years. When he took the office, the mail service in that section was meager and irregular, but through his efforts good service was soon obtained, and he served as postmaster of that place until 1885, when he removed to Augusta in order that his children might have better educational facilities. It has been one of Mr. Gregg's ambitions that his children might have every opportunity to obtain a good education, a privilege that was denied him in the wilds of Arkansas where he spent his boyhood days. Since coming to Augusta Mr. Gregg has followed stone construction work and plastering.

M. M. Gregg and Miss Mary E. Seed were united in marriage at Harris Grove, Jefferson county, Kansas, in 1869. Mrs. Gregg's father

was S. P. Seed, a native of New York. Her mother was Lucy Shew, a native of Indiana. She has a sister, Mrs. Anna Elliott, Norwich, Kans., and four brothers, J. W. Seed, Tumwater, Wash.; William, a Methodist minister, Olympia, Wash.; Philip, Montana, and Albert, Skiatook, Okla. To Mr. and Mrs. Gregg were born the following children: W. H., an electrical engineer, Kansas City, Mo., married Miss Sarah McNabb, Parsons, Kans.; Mrs. Angie May Thomas, Bloomington township; Mrs. Effie Clark, who lives near Haverhill, Kans.; Mrs. Mattie Morris, Winfield, Kans.; P. H., tool dresser in the oil field, married Miss Nora Fanning, of Bartlesville, Okla., and they now reside in Augusta.

Mr. Gregg came to Kansas at a time which gave him an opportunity of experiencing many of the vicissitudes of pioneer life on the plains. He relates many instances of the trials of early days. During one of the bad years in Kansas in the early eighties, like many others, he was hard up and although he had plenty of food, he had no money with which to buy clothing. A friend of his, James Bell, who resided on Rock Creek, told Mr. Gregg that he could have all the walnuts on his place, which were in abundance, if he could make any use of them. Mr. Gregg immediately proceeded to gather them up and hauled about forty bushels to Wichita, which he sold for $1.00 a bushel with the hulls on, which tided him over the winter. Mr. Gregg says that as soon as his neighbors throughout that section learned of his lucky strike, they all immediately proceeded to gather walnuts and within a week the whole population was hauling walnuts to Wichita and flooding the market to such an extent that they were absolutely worthless. Mr. Gregg and his family are well known in Augusta where they have many friends and are highly respected.

Previous | Main Page | Biography Index | Next

Pages 479-480,