He was the great-great-great grandson of Thomas Gregory, who with
his sons, William and Bry settled in the Nixon Hollow between Carthage
and Pleasant Shade in the 1790s. Calvin Gregory also descended from
John Gregory, a brother to the above mentioned, Thomas Gregory. These
Gregory's all migrated from Chatham County, North Carolina. Another of
Calvin Gregory’s ancestors was Leonard Ballou (his great-great grandfather),
who settled near the confluence of Big and Little Peyton’s Creek near
Pleasant Shade in 1808.

Calvin, as he preferred to be called, rarely used his first name. He was
named in honor of his paternal grandfather, Stephen Calvin Gregory. Calvin
was an extraordinary individual having unusual scholarship abilities. ( In
1957, he was nominated and selected to appear on the television series,
"The $64,000 Question", but died prior to his scheduled appearance.)

He began his education at Mace’s Hill school in about 1898 and later
recieved outstanding scholastic success at Bowling Green Business
university, in Kentucky. After returning home, he taught school at
Dean Hill (Defeated Creek area), Mace’s Hill, Scanty Branch (near
Dixon Springs), Kittrell’s (near Pleasant Shade) and perhaps other
locations. He was a mail carrier from Pleasant Shade for about three
years starting in 1916.

In 1912, Calvin was married to Miss Mai Gammon and they became the parents
of two children, Lawrence and Meddie. Shortly thereafter, Calvin lost both
of his parents and in 1914 assumed the awesome responsibility of rearing
and caring for four of his sisters ranging in age from seven to sixteen.
These sisters all remained with him until they married with the last one
leaving in 1929. During this time, Calvin endured the pain of losing his
wife Mai to cancer in 1926. Later, he married Miss Ethel Gann but she also
died (along with a newborn son) as a result of childbirth complications
in 1928.In 1930, Calvin was married for the third time to Miss Betty
Jenkins who presently lives at Lafayette, Tn. From this marriage, they
became the parents of three children, Leonard, Charles and Sue Gregory.

Two of Calvin’s children still survive, Meddie Wilburn of Indianapolis,
Indiana and Leonard Gregory of Richmond, Texas.

Calvin Gregory professed faith in Jesus Christ at age 18 and united with
Mt. Tabor Baptist Church. In 1914, he was ordained as a Baptist minister
by this church which is located near Pleasant Shade. Here began one of the
most successful ministries of any Baptist minister in Middle Tennessee.
During his ministerial life, he pastored more than fifty churches and was
instrumental in organizing Mace’s Hill Baptist Church in 1917. He served
until the time of his death as the first pastor of this church which spanned
forty years. At one time in his career, he was the pastor of seven churches,
simultaneously. He baptised thousands into numerous Baptist churches,
conducted more than 3000 funerals and married over 1200 couples. He
was an avid debater in religious discussions encountering many leaders of
other religious denominations. Calvin was clerk of the Enon Baptist Association
for forty years and was a much sought after revivalist, having conducted revivals
in all three divisions of Tennessee, Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia.

During the late 1920s, he was a correspondent for the Carthage Courier and
Nashville Banner newspapers and put his home town of Pleasant Shade "on the
map" through his reporting of the local news events. He was also the agent
for Macon, Smith and Trousdale counties for the "Newspaper Printing Corporation
of Nashville". In 1930, he bought one-half interest in the Macon County Times,
Lafayette, Tn. and in 1937 assumed full control of the "Times", developing it
into one of the top weekly newspapers in the state. Under his direction as editor
and publisher, the Times grew to a circulation of more than 4000 and ranked as the
third largest in circulation of any weekly newspaper in Tennessee.

His popular "Cal’s Column" section of the Macon County Times was devoted to
genealogy and research on the history of the Upper Cumberland area of northern
Middle Tennessee. He was widely recognized as a genealogical expert and researched
hundreds of families and published the results in his column. At one point in his
career, Calvin was asked by United States Senator Joseph McCarthy of Wisconsin, to
travel with him to Europe (he respectfully declined) to research his family history.
His work has been listed as a reference source for genealogical research and is well
known by genealogists throughout the United States.

In addition to his Baptist ministry and newspaper work, Calvin gave extensively of his
time to civic activities. He was elected to and served for many years on the Macon Co.
Quarterly Court. He was instrumental in the court’s voting to build the Macon County
High School. As president of the North Central Telephone Cooperative, Inc., dial
telephone service was made available to Macon, parts of Smith, Trousdale and Sumner
Counties of Tennessee and Allen County , Kentucky in the early 1950s.

In 1981 he was honored, posthumously, by being elected to the Tennessee Newspaper
Hall of Fame, joining 26 other former newspaper individuals so honored.

Calvin Gregory touched the lives of thousands of people in the Middle Tennessee and
southern Kentucky area. He maintained a standard in his religious practices, service
to his community, ethics, integrity and intellect that only a few people could approach.
His outstanding life was cut short near the zenith of his career and had he survived to
a ripe old age one can only wonder what other contributions he might have made to his
community and fellow citizens. He died on November 16, 1957 in Lafayette at age 66 after
suffering a heart attack. Preceding him in death earlier the same year was his son, Lawrence,
who died as a result of an automobile accident.

Calvin’s funeral was held in the Macon County High School gymnasium where
approximately 3000 people attended. He was buried in the Haysville Cemetery
in Macon County.

Leonard C. Gregory 1986 (Additional information by Thomas D. Dickerson 2000)