Martha Eliza "Lida" McClellan Gregg 
(Contributed by: Elnora Lloyd League) 

Lida was lost on the Steamer Stonewall when it caught fire. The 
tragedy was in the headlines of the Memphis newspaper for 
several days. The fire was said to have been caused by a lantern 
being knocked over on a bale of hay by some "rowdy men" on the 
deck. Over 250 people were aboard, and only a handful of about 
30 survived.

The following is engraved on a Monument in Marshall City Cemetery, 
Marshall, TX. "A Mother Comes Home to Her Daughters. In Memory of 
M. Eliza McClellan Gregg, wife of John Gregg, Born September 16, 
1818, Lost on the Steamer Stonewall, October 27, 1869." The monument 
lies between the monuments for her husband John and daughters Nola 
and Alla, all within an iron fence. Members of the Hynson family 
[her sister & bro.in law] are also buried in this spot.

MARSHALL OBITUARY: IN MEMORIAM -- Among the list of passengers 
reported lost by the burning of the steamer Stonewall, on the 
Mississippi River below St. Louis, was Mrs. M. E. Gregg; wife of 
our fellow citizen, Col. John Gregg. The news of her loss falls 
with crushing weight upon her lonely and disconsolate husband, 
who was daily expecting her arrival, and the hearts of her many 
devoted friends and relatives in our community.

Obituary in Marshall Paper:
What a sad fate was hers, and what a fatality has seemingly 
pursued the family! A few years since no happier household 
could be found in all our Southern country than that of Colonel 
John Gregg's. But death, the merciless despoiler, came, and one 
by one the children were borne away, leaving the aged husband 
and wife alone around their desolated hearthstone. A few months 
since they went to Missouri for the improvement of their health. 
Business called the husband back to his old home, and the wife 
was embarked upon the steamer Stonewall to rejoin him. When the 
joy of again seeing her was seemingly so soon to be realized 
came the news that she was lost! Who can picture the bereavement 
and anguish of Col. Gregg on receiving the heart-rendering 
information that the dear partner of his bosom -- the mother of 
his children who had sunk into the tomb leaving them to mourn 
with and sustain each other -- had met with so terrible a fate? 
The hearts of all our people are deeply moved with sympathy for 
him in his sorrow, and loneliness. May God give him strength to 
bear the blow!

Mrs. Gregg was an estimable Christian woman, and though the 
summons of her Savior was so sudden and unexpected, it did not 
find her unprepared. The long life which she had devoted to God, 
was a sure passport from earth to Heaven. In that blissful land 
she is now singing the new song, and wearing the white robes and 
glittering crown of the redeemed.

SHREVEPORT OBITUARY: The citizens of Shreveport who knew Mrs. 
Eliza Gregg, wife of John Gregg, were shocked at the news of her 
loss, by the burning of the ill-fated steamer Stonewall. For 
several years of her life she had lived and moved among us, 
loving and beloved. She was regarded as nearly faultless as 
humanity may become, and the writer of this humble tribute to her 
memory, who knew her well, endorses the general verdict. When lost, 
she was on her way from Missouri, to join her husband, now in
Marshall, Texas.

She was desirous of being buried by the side of her two daughters 
in the Marshall cemetery, but the third and last telegram from St. 
Louis, dated November 4th and addressed to her husband announces 
that "Parties returned; no hope of recovering remains."

Thus has passed away one of the good ones of this world, leaving an 
aged husband to console himself, as best he may, by swelling on her 
transcendent virtues and by the assurance that she is in a better 
world. ... A FRIEND

(Contributed by: Elnora Lloyd League)