Gladys Louise Gregg: 1890-1968
Maternal Third Cousin 1x Removed
While researching James Gregg, I checked on the fate of his
daughter Gladys following his 1899 death, and discovered a fascinating tidbit
about her life: she married her stepbrother!
Gladys married her first husband, John Sylvester Armstrong,
on July 9, 1910, eleven years after her father was murdered. John Armstrong was
a citrus farm employee, working for orange orchards owned by the Union Oil
Company. The couple lived in Fullerton, and had three daughters, Mary, Lola and
Shirley. Tragically, John died December 17, 1918 at only age 32. I can find no
newspaper articles about his death. He could have been a victim of the Spanish
flu epidemic. He had just registered for the World War I draft and died in
Orange County, so he didn’t die in combat.
Following his death, Gladys and her children were forced to
move in with her mother. After James Gregg’s death, his wife, Louise Strong Gregg,
remarried. Her new husband, Walter Vernon, had several adult children from a
previous marriage. One son, Charles L. Vernon, was living with Walter and
Louise when Gladys and her children moved in.
 |
| 1920 Census showing Gladys living with her mother, stepfather and stepbrother/future husband |
While the adage says that familiarity breeds contempt, in
this case, it bred romance. Despite being step-siblings, Charles and Gladys
decided to marry on May 9, 1922. He worked as a janitor and raised John Armstrong’s three daughters. It must have made holiday plans very easy—only one set
of parents to visit!
Charles died in 1950, and Gladys died in 1968.
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