Background
John Robert Gregg was born in Shantonagh, Ireland, as the youngest child of Robert and Margaret Gregg, where they remained until 1872, when they moved to Rockcorry, County Monaghan.
John Robert Gregg was born in Shantonagh, Ireland, as the youngest child of Robert and Margaret Gregg, where they remained until 1872, when they moved to Rockcorry, County Monaghan.
This incident profoundly damaged Gregg's hearing for the rest of his life, rendering him unable to participate fully in school, unable to understand his teacher.
Childhood
Robert Gregg, who was of Scottish ancestry, was station-master at the Bushford railway station in Rockcorry. On his second day of class, John Robert was caught whispering to a schoolmate, which prompted the schoolmaster to hit the two children's heads together. This ultimately led to John Robert unnecessarily being perceived as dull or mentally challenged by his peers, teachers, and family.
He was versed in Pitman Shorthand, and took verbatim notes of the sermon at the village church, causing the preacher to sweat and studder, out of fear that his sermon, which he had plagiarized from a famous preacher, would be made public through Annesley's notes. None of the children succeeded in fully learning the system. On his own, John Robert learned a different shorthand system, that of Samuel Taylor, published in a small book by Odell.
He taught himself the system fully, since he did not require the ability to hear in order to learn from the book. Due to hardships on the family, Gregg had to leave school before the age of 13 in order to support his family's income. He worked in a law office, earning five shillings a week.
Gregg professed he initially set out to improve the English adaptation by John Matthew Sloan of the French Prévost Duployé Shorthand, while working with one of Sloan's sales agents, Thomas Malone. Malone published a system called Script Phonography, of which Gregg asserted a share in authorship was owed to him. It was put forth in a brochure entitled Light-Line Phonography: The Phonetic Handwriting which he published in Liverpool, England.
In 1893, he emigrated to the United States, where he published in the same year Gregg Shorthand. The method met with great success in the new country, and Gregg settled in Chicago where he authored numerous books for the Gregg Publishing Company on the subjects of shorthand and contemporary business practices.
(The endeavor of the author has been to compile a system s...)
(This work has been selected by scholars as being cultural...)
(An EXACT reproduction from the original book THE BASIC PR...)
(An early hardcover copy of Gregg Shorthand published in 1...)
(A comprehensive manual that provides the shorthand outlin...)
(An EXACT reproduction of the original book GREGG SHORTHAN...)
(This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of th...)
( A shortand outline for almost every word in the English...)
(Gregg Shorthand:Functional Method Part 1 Shelf and edge w...)
(An EXACT reproduction of the original book published in 1...)
(This text is designed to accomplish two major objectives:...)
(cover has some wear but pages are clean and very readable)
(A reproduction of the original book published in 1900. Th...)
(Gregg Shorthand Most-Used Words and Phrase.)
(1951 edition, with some writing on it. soft cover with we...)
(Hardcover has a hint of shelfwear. NO dustjacket. Has own...)
(Shorthand Dictionary)
(1 HARDCOVER BOOK)
(No dust jacket. mint condition.)
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(book)
Fellow National Academy of Design. Member Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Commercial Teachers Federation (honorary life), National Shorthand Reporters’ Association (charter. Clubs: Illinois Athletic (Chicago).
Married Maida Wasson, July 3, 1899 (died June 28, 1928). Married second, Janet Fraser, d. Children: Kate Kinley, John Robert.