The History of the Gregg Cane

cane Most Gregg researchers, especially those descended from the Quaker Greggs, are familiar with the stories of the silver studded ivory handled cane which has passed through generations of Greggs to the present day. The version of the story below comes from the book Quaker Greggs by Hazel May Middleton Kendall, and the book “ The Ancestors of Gregg Livingson Neal”, but there are researchers who disagree with Kendall that John Gregg is descended from Black John of clan Gregor or received the cane in gratitude from King James I. We do know there is no doubt the cane exists today and there is a link to a photo below.
King James of Scotland, also known as James VI of England, encouraged Scots to colonize Ireland. Thousands left Scotland for Nova Scotia and Ulster. After King James second visit to Scotland in 1617, many communities of various clans moved to Ulster. John Gregg descended from the second oldest son of Black John of the Coat of Mall, (a descendant of Kenneth MacAlpin) lead the Gregs from the clan MacGregor. John Gregg received the cane from King James I in esteem and appreciation of his influence and responsibility in the removal of the Gregs from Scotland to Country Antrim, Ulster about 1618.
John Gregg settled in the barony of Glenarm, County Antrim, Ireland on the northeast coast. During the reign of Charles I (1625-1649), Ulster Presbyterians defying their treatment joined General Robert Monroe's Scottish army at an insurrection at Carrickfergus in May 1653. William Gregg , oldest son of John Gregg, was forced to leave his inheritance of Glenarm Barony in 1653. He was the first to inherit the Gregg Cane which his father decreed should be handed down to the second son in each generation because the oldest customarily inherited the land.
William was born in Scotland in 1616. He moved to Waterford County, Southern Ireland where he died about 1672. He had three sons, John, William, and Richard. John and Richard died in Ireland. William left Ireland in 1682 with the silver studded ivory cane he had inherited from his father.
William Gregg was among the many Greggs who became Quakers when William Penn visited Ireland in 1678. The Quakers, called Friends, arrived aboard the ship Caledonia in Upland, now Chester County, Pennsylvania in 1682. William arrived with his wife and four small children and settled down the Delaware River at Christiana Hundred.
William's four children were John, Ann, George, and Richard. The book, Quaker Greggs, by Hazel May Middleton Kendal, says John administered the estate, and George inherited the cane, but we know from the present owner of the cane that the cane ended up in the John family line. The present owner of the cane is Stanley Charles Gregg, of Knox, County Ohio, who plans to give it to his second son Randy.

See photographs of the Gregg Cane

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