Guide to the Papers of the Allfree-Gregg Family, 1841-1903
Arrangement
Repository
Heinz History Center
Title
Papers of the Allfree-Gregg Family
Creator
Allfree-Gregg family
Collection Number
MSS#360
Extent
2.0 cubic feet(4 boxes)
Date
1841-1903
Abstract
The Allfree-Gregg family can trace its ancestry back to William Gregg, who emigrated from southern Ireland in 1682 with a group of Quakers, possibly on the ship Caledonia. Other than genealogical information, not much is known about the Allfree-Gregg family. The bulk of the material is correspondence, with some invitations, receipts, bills, drawings, and other miscellaneous papers.
Language
The material in this collection is in English.
Author
This guide to the collection was originally prepared by Katrina J. Moore on May 1, 2002. Revisions occurred to the finding aid as a part of the encoding process in Fall, 2003.
Sponsor
This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
The Allfree-Gregg family can trace its ancestry back to William Gregg, who emigrated from southern Ireland in 1682 with a group of Quakers, possibly on the ship Caledonia. He brought his wife and four young children with him and settled part of the Christiana Hundred between Brandywine and Red Clay Creeks. He was granted 200 acres and built a log cabin, which he called Strand Mills. In the 1700s, many cousins married within the Gregg family, with Eliha (u) Miller Gregg (1804-1888) being one of those offspring and the beginning point for the papers of this collection. He married Lydia Anne Parke (Nana Gregg in the correspondence) (1817-1900). They had a daughter, Lucy Curle Gregg (1853-1936). Lucy Gregg married Thomas Isaac Allfree, (1848-1882) who moved to Hazelwood, Pennsylvania. Isaac and Lucy had three children, Ethel (1874-1968), Kate (died in her twenties, cause of death unknown, perhaps tuberculosis or typhoid) and Thomas. Dates and any other information for Kate and Thomas are unknown. Other than the above genealogical information, not much is known about the Allfree-Gregg family.
Ethel Gregg Allfree was married on Thanksgiving Day in 1897 to David Hutchison Weil. David was an engineer with a degree from Purdue University. He bought a planning mill business in Omaha, Nebraska. This business became Weir Body Company of Omaha, which manufactured truck bodies. The business survived the great depression and continued until about 1960. The Weir's two older children were born in Madison, the two younger, in Omaha. Their birth dates would indicate when the family moved from Indiana to Omaha, between 1902 and 1905. All four children grew up in Omaha in the house that was built in 1904, which is still standing, as of 2002. Ethel's wedding dress has a history itself, as her daughter Helen Weir, in her wedding to Robert B. Parke in Rome Italy in 1936, also wore this dress, thus the dress has a made a trip back and forth across the Atlantic.
Scope and Content Notes
The bulk of the material is correspondence, with some invitations, receipts, bills, drawings, and other miscellaneous papers. Kate and Ethel Allfree are the two who have the majority of the correspondence, both written to, and sent from.
Arrangement
The Allfree-Gregg papers are arranged in four series. Series have been designated for Family Correspondence, Friends Correspondence, Business Correspondence, and Miscellaneous.
The Allfree-Gregg papers are housed in four archival boxes.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
This collection came in four accessions in 1999-2001.
Accession # 1999.0162, 2000.0019, 2000.0154, 2001.0068 Gifts of Harriet Ostler, (papers. descendant of Allfree-Gregg family) and Robert W. Parke, (papers. descendant of Allfree-Gregg family)
Preferred Citation
Papers of the Allfree-Gregg Family, 1841-1903, MSS #360, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania.
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Katrina J. Moore on May 1, 2002.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Robert O. Stakeley on November 11, 2003.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
