San
Joaquin County
Biographies
MANSFIELD F. GREGORY
The opportunities afforded by the
west to men of energy and determination are exemplified in the success of
Mansfield F. Gregory, one of the leading citizens of San Joaquin Valley, whose
prosperity is the result of wise investments and industrious application since
he came to his valley some fifty-four years ago. His valuable fruit and grain ranch of 640
acres is located twenty-six miles east of Stockton, where he settled in 1870
and has continuously resided ever since.
He was born near Bingham, England, July 4, 1841, and he traces his lineage
back to the time when his grandfather Mansfield Gregory was mayor of Leicester,
England. Wellington Gregory, the father
of our subject, was the proprietor of a hotel in London and Mansfield F. was
sent to the Academy at Derbyshire for his preliminary education; later he
entered the College of Plymouth and completed his education with a course at
the College of Pas de Calais, France.
About 1852 the father of our subject had removed to America and located
on a homestead twelve miles from St. Paul, Minnesota, at that time an
outfitting post.
At eighteen years of age, Mansfield
F. Gregory left home determined to reach America, coming via a sailing vessel,
and six weeks were consumed in making the voyage and in September, 1859, he
arrived at St. Paul. He was not, at that
time, in robust health and the Minnesota winters proved very trying to him, and
in 1868 he sought a milder climate and spent a season in Florida; then
concluded to try the California climate.
Accompanied by his wife, he went to New York and there took passage on
the S. S. Arizona bound for Colon.
Arriving in Colon they crossed the Isthmus of Panama and boarded the S.
S. Colorado for San Francisco, arriving in the Bay City on Christmas Day,
1868. At that time a severe smallpox
epidemic was prevalent in San Francisco so Mr. Gregory came to Stockton. He soon invested in land, buying 160 acres
eight miles southeast of Stockton, where he remained long enough to harvest one
crop, selling out in 1870 when he removed to his present location twenty-six
miles from Stockton and purchased the Boyd and Gorham ranch, on which in 1849,
was located a sheep camp. Mr. Gregory
has added to his ranch from time to time until he now owns 640 acres, which he
has developed to orchards of peaches, apricots, prunes and walnuts, besides
raising large quantities of wheat and barley and since the beginning of his
agricultural activities has owned considerable choice livestock. In 1920 his prune orchard yielded enough
fruit to make fifty tons of dried prunes.
Mr. Gregory also owns valuable farming land in San Joaquin County and
real estate and securities in the city of Stockton.
On Christmas Day, 1862, at Cylon, Wisconsin, Mr. Gregory was married to Miss Anna
Gibson, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, March 2, 1844, a daughter of John and
Anna (Cassidy) Gibson, both natives of Pennsylvania. Mrs. Gregory removed with her parents in 1851
to Dane County, Wisconsin, locating near Madison, but two years later they
removed to Hudson, Wisconsin, and there she grew to womanhood, receiving a good
education in the public schools.
She is a refined and cultured woman
and their union has been a very happy one and has been blessed with eight
children, three of them born in Wisconsin and five in California: Ford Gibson, Clara Victoria and Anne Belle,
are deceased; Stockton Mansfield is married and has four sons and is associated
with his father in their ranching enterprise; Wellington Russell is married, has
four sons and makes his home in Stockton; Froane
Livingston lives in Los Angeles, is married and has a son; Ann Inez is the wife
of Ed Gall and they have two children and reside near Milton, California;
Frisbee Roy is also associated with his father in farming, is married and has a
son.
There are seven grandchildren and
three great-grandchildren and the reunions on the old home place are the most
enjoyable of times and are anticipated with the keenest delight by all. Mr. Gregory received his U. S. citizenship at
San Andreas in 1875; he is past master of the Grange at Jenny Lind and for the
past twenty-five years has represented the Fireman’s Fund of San Francisco and
is also the agent for the Home Insurance Company of New York City; always a
friend to the cause of education Mr. Gregory has for many years been trustee of
Chaparral school district. The Gregory
residence is built on a sightly eminence amid large oak trees, and the view of
the surrounding country is a delight to the occupants of this home, where old
time Californian hospitality is dispensed and where peace and comfort prevail.
Transcribed by Gerald Iaquinta.
Source: Tinkham, George
H., History of San Joaquin County, California , Pages
424-429. Los Angeles, Calif.: Historic
Record Co., 1923.
© 2011 Gerald Iaquinta.
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