John Goadby Gregory, journalist and historian, was born in Milwaukee July 11, 1856, and spent his entire life there, dying on April 12, 1947. His father, John Gregory, of Irish birth, had come to the United States as secretary of the Irish National Emigration Society and in 1849 settled in Milwaukee. There he published in 1853 a small volume, Industrial Resources of Wisconsin, which was widely circulated and undoubtedly an influence in directing settlement to the Wisconsin region.
Young Gregory attended the Milwaukee city public schools but obtained most of his education through carefully directed instruction at home and the use of the large collection of books in his parents' library. In 1871, at the age of fifteen, he started work in a printing office and throughout the remainder of his long life was connected with printing, publishing, and writing. He worked as a printer, 1871-1878, was editor and leading editorial writer for Milwaukee newspapers beginning in 1880, editor-in-chief of the Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin, 1905-1918, and in later years was author and editor of a number of historical articles and books.
The Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin, with which Gregory was associated for about forty years, was one of the city's leading newspapers. In 1848 William E. Cramer had founded the newspaper and, although he lost both hearing and sight in his last years, he continued as editor until his death in 1905. For about the last twenty years of his life he spent weeks at a time at nearby Pewaukee. From there he wrote frequently to Gregory, outlining newspaper policy, sending editorials which Gregory checked or completed before publishing, and commenting generally on newspaper affairs and public events. After Cramer's death the newspaper was continued until 1918 by his widow, Mrs. Harriet L. Cramer, a well-known Milwaukee philanthropist and art patron, with Gregory as editor, a position he had virtually filled since 1889.
The Gregory correspondence reflected the multifarious happenings in a period of rapid expansion in the history of the United States. As a newspaperman, Gregory was in close contact with developments. But he was far more than a passive recipient of information. A man of varied interests, a native Milwaukeean, a congenial companion, a popular speaker, a “joiner,” a poet, journalist and historian, a politician with more than local influence, a Unitarian who served for years as trustee of Marquette University, Gregory took an active part in the life of his city and state, a participation that is faithfully mirrored in his correspondence.
In 1918 the Evening Wisconsin was sold to the Hearst interests and Gregory's long connection with newspaper work ended. For a year he was professor of journalism at Marquette University. In 1919 he was appointed secretary of the War History Commission in Madison, working with the State Historical Society in collecting and editing records of World War I for publication. In 1925 the position was discontinued and Gregory undertook the preparation of a biography of former governor Emanuel Philipp. Next he turned his hand to writing and editing a series of local and regional histories for commercial publication: History of Milwaukee (four volumes, 1931); Southeastern Wisconsin (four volumes, 1932); Southwestern Wisconsin (four volumes, 1932); and West Central Wisconsin (four volumes, 1933).
