Rev. Anthony & Helen Gregory

Anthony Gregory and Helen (maiden name not known) were married and had the following children:

Children: Samuel, married Anne Kelly on 22 April 1634 at Charles, county Devon.

John

Joshua

Ann (see Appendix for further details)

The Reverend Anthony Gregory, M.A., Rector of Petrockstowe

… had constantly preached twice a day, which was not then usual in those parts, and… he was in such repute, both for his life and doctrine, that many people from Barnstaple and Pilton resorted to Petrockstowe to hear him.[Walker’s Sufferings of the Clergy (1714), cited in W.R. Drake]

This was a period of great social and political upheaval in England. Until 1640 Charles I had governed without parliament. Between 1640 and 1642 there was a struggle for power between the Crown and the Parliament (influenced by Puritan aspirations), which led to civil war from 1642 to 1648. In 1649 Charles I was beheaded, and the monarchy abolished.

(Probably during the English Civil War 1642-8) Rev. Anthony Gregory was sequestrated, or had his church living confiscated, due in large part to evidence brought against him by Lewis Stukley, a noted Independent in the area, and chaplain to Oliver Cromwell. An “Independent” was an advocate of the autonomy of Calvinist (Puritan) religious groups. Stukley alleged that Gregory “had been instrumental in procuring money for the King” (Charles I). The Rev. Gregory’s sequestration had the effect of confiscating or diverting income from his benefice as Rector of Petrockstowe, which “rooted him out of his Living.” [Walker, op. cit.] In Ecclesiastical terms “to sequestrate” is to apply, seize or confiscate the income of a benefice, usually for the clearing of an incumbent’s debts or accumulating a fund for the next incumbent. A “benefice” is a church living (an endowed church office providing a living for a rector, etc.) or property held by a Rector to provide a living.

After his sequestration Gregory was able to obtain the living as Rector of Charles (county Devon), which he was permitted to keep. His son, Samuel, had previously became the Rector of High Bray, which adjoins the parish of Charles. Charles is a village and parish in the valley of the River Bray, 10 km NW of South Molton. In 1634 Samuel married the daughter of the then Rector of Charles, Rev. George Kelly. No doubt this family connection aided Rev. Gregory in obtaining Charles (possibly after Rev. George Kelly had died). In comparison to the parish of Petrockstowe, Charles was smaller and less populated. Reverend Anthony Gregory was Rector of Charles at the time of his wife’s death in June 1654.

In 1653 Oliver Cromwell became Lord Protector of England after dissolving Parliament.

Helen Gregory died and was buried on 16 June 1654 at Charles.

An’. D’ni 1654. Hellin the wife of Anthony Gregorie Rector of this p’ish was buried June 16.

When Oliver Cromwell died in 1658 he was succeeded as Lord Protector by his son Richard.

The Rev. Anthony Gregory died and was buried on 19 November 1659 at Charles.

An’. D’ni 1659. Mr. Antho^ie Gregorie Rector if this P’ish was buried November 19^th.

Rev. Gregory’s will was dated 8 November 1659 and it was eventually proved on 3 July 1663 at Exeter. It read in part:

Anthony Gregory – Poore of Charles. My son Samuell Gregory. Ann Gregory, the unhappy wife of a bad husband, for the benefit of her children. Promised to discharge a debt of Joshua’s, in Exborn, for which John hath stoode long ingaged, and I thought he might have paid som of it out of his unthriftye money, but he told me it was all unpayd. My dear wife. Son John, his wife, and his son Anthony. George Gregory, Grace Bradford, and Ann Gregory. To Joshua, his mother’s gold ring. Mary Berry. Poore brother Matthew. Ann Gregory, my daughter. Samuel, whole Executor.

In 1659 Richard Cromwell was forced to resign by the army and Parliament was reinstituted. In 1660 the monarchy was re-established in England when Charles II was restored to the throne.