Los Angeles County
Biographies
MILES S. GREGORY
GREGORY, MILES S., Broker,
Los Angeles, California, was born in Licking County, near Newark, Ohio,
August 12, 1870. His father was Josiah Gregory and his mother
Sadie F. Gregory. He is descended from a long line of fighting Americans
who served in both the Revolutionary and Civil wars. The farthest distant
American ancestor of whom Mr. Gregory has any trace was James Gregory, who
settled in America in 1696. However, he can trace his family history back as
far as 887, when the Gregorys were a mighty clan in
Scotland. Mr. Gregory has been twice married, his second wife being Ivy
Irene Trott, whom he married at Salt Lake City, Utah,
March 4, 1908. By his first marriage there were two children, Miles
S., Jr., and Marietta Gregory.
He obtained his education in the common schools of
Newark, Ohio, and a business college of that city. Although his father was in
good financial circumstances, young Gregory, at the age of seven years, began
selling newspapers and earned enough to keep him at school until he was
seventeen years old.
At that time he quit school and went on the road
establishing libraries for the “Courier” of Newark. He was forced to resign
this position six months later, when his father died, and the family moved
immediately to Chicago, Ill. He went with the Santa Fe Railroad for a time, but
resigned and engaged in the insurance business, his first commission being
forty-five cents, which he has kept to this day as a memento.
When he was nineteen years old he established a real
estate business with Charles O. Nelson, under the firm name of Gregory &
Nelson. After four months Nelson withdrew, at Gregory’s request, and Gregory
continued alone. He made a tremendous success until 1894, when the real estate
business slumped. He then began the construction of apartment houses for
speculation and made a success of that until 1903, when he decided to leave
Chicago for Los Angeles.
For eleven years of the time he was in Chicago he took an
active part in politics, and after establishing himself in the real estate
business in Los Angeles he there entered the political field. He served as a
member of the Los Angeles City Council during 1910 and 1911 and in 1911 was a
candidate for Mayor.
Mr. Gregory’s success in Chicago business pursuits was
more than duplicated in Los Angeles. Starting in the real estate business, he
has added to that a stock and bond brokerage business and today is one of the
successful men in that line in the city. He joined the Los Angeles Stock
Exchange in 1906, and since has been an influential member of that body. At the
present time he is a member of the Board of Directors of the Exchange.
Aside from his brokerage business, Mr. Gregory has
participated in the organization of a number of other business enterprises.
Among them are the Traders’ Oil Company, of which he is a director,
and the Johnnie Mining and Milling Company, of which he is secretary and
treasurer.
Mr. Gregory has been progressive in politics ever since
he started as a yong man back in Chicago. Since
entering the political field in Los Angeles he has been an advocate for clean
government, more parks and a complete boulevard system for the city. Another
ideal of his is beautiful residence districts, and to advance this he purchased
twenty-two residence lots near his own home, to be held without profit until
the proper kind of homes are pledged to be built.
He is secretary of the Union League Club of Los Angeles,
and in addition holds memberships in the San Gabriel Country Club, the Elks,
Mystic Shriners, Knights Templar, Masons and the Los
Angeles Chamber of Commerce.
Transcribed by Marie Hassard
10 May 2011.
Source: Press
Reference Library, Western Edition Notables of the West, Vol. I, Page 645,
International News Service, New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Boston,
Atlanta. 1913.
© 2011 Marie Hassard.
GOLDEN NUGGET'S LOS ANGELES BIOGRAPIES