See article below for possible location.
Cyphering workbooks show Josephus Gregory (Zachariah Josephus
Gregory 1810-1880)"of Lunenburg County" had as his tutor in 1824,
Gabriel G. Osborne; in 1825, Champion C. M. Marable. Josephus's
father, John Gregory, had moved from the Mecklenburg side of South
Fork of Meherrin to the north side of the river, in Lunenburg.
Where was this school? Josephus was the youngest of a large family,
and I suspect it was a local private school. In later years Josephus
in a letter recalled "trudging along to school," holding his small
niece by the hand.
One possible location is the site of the 1 1/2-acre tract John Gregory
conveyed in 1835 to Mount Zion Church. The deed refers to a spring,
"usually called the school house spring." Mount Zion is about .7 mile
north of the Gregory home.
The tutor may have boarded with the John Gregory family, or another
local family. Tutor Champion Carter Meriweather Marable was noted
as "of Lunenburg Co." by Josephus in the workbook. I believe that
Champion C. M. Marable was reared in Mecklenburg, suggesting further
that the tutor boarded in the neighborhood. [See Marable web site
for Champion Carter Meriwether Marable 1795-1879.]
Image of a page from the 1824 cyphering book. (95KB)
Image of a page from the 1825 cyphering book. (95KB)
Interesting: The lesson copied for both years was the same.
Both of the books were handmade, recycling materials at hand. The
1824 cover (106 KB)was crudely handsewn from the back of an old store
journal. Smaller cuts from the workbook, as can be seen, indicate
recycling continued.
The 1825 cover (62 KB-enlarged section to show the design)was made
from a piece of canvas-type material;the side toward the pages has a
faded colonial floral design.
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