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Franklin County Biographies GREGORY, Mrs. Mary Rogers, artist, born
in Apalachicola, Fla., 6th May, 1846. Her maiden name was Mary Bland
Rogers. Her father, Charles Rogers, was a prominent cotton merchant of
Columbus, Ga. Her paternal ancestors were distinguished Revolutionary
heroes. Among them were the celebrated Platt family of Dutchess county,
New York. One of them, Zephadiah Platt, was the first Senator elected by
the State of New York to the first Congress of the United States. Another,
Richard Platt, was aid-de-camp to General Montgomery at the fall of
Quebec. On her mother's side she belongs to the Virginia families of Bland
and Spottswood, and she is closely connected with the family of the artist
Rembrandt Peele. She became the wife, at an early age, of Dr. John R.
Gregory, of a well known Tallahassee, Fla., family. Mrs. Gregory is one of
the most distinguished artists of the South. She has painted many
portraits of prominent men and women. Among her best-known works are
portraits of Hon. Ben H. Hill, Judge James Jackson, Henry Grady and Mary
E. Bryan. The legislature of Georgia paid her the high honor of appointing
her to paint the full-length portraits of Hon. Alex. Stephens and Hon.
Herschel V. Johnson. These pictures adorn the walls of the new capitol in
Atlanta. She holds a life membership in the Academy of Fine Arts in
Philadelphia, where she studied for several years. She also worked in
Cooper Institute and has had training under several noted European
artists. |