Samuel Gregsten, was born in Ireland, most likely in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland where his family lived was when he was young.
He was the son of Jane Armstrong and John Gregsten. John Gregsten, Sr., died 14 April 1834 after an illness. John and Jane had seven children:
1) Jane Gregsten (1823-1895) who died unmarried
2) William Gregsten
3) SAMUEL GREGSTEN, of this memorial
4) John Lagar Gregsten
5) Edward Gregsten (b. c1830, died in 1846)
6) Sarah Gregsten (b. c1832, died after 6 July 1901), married John Thomas Fitzpatrick
7) Margaret gregsten (1833-1869)
Samuel's mother, Jane Armstrong, of Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, was the daughter of Samuel Armstrong. Samuel Gregsten's father, John Gregsten, was the first publisher of The Impartial Reporter Newspaper in Enniskillen.
FROM: Oscar Wilde's Enniskillen: Fermanagh in mid-Victorian Times 1864-1871 (John Cunningham, Esq., published in 2002)
"William Trimble...was the first editor-proprietor of The Impartial Reporter and Farmers' Journal...Trimble arrived in Enniskillen in 1825, to work on a new newspaper, backed financially by a local consortium of landlords, business and professional men. There was already one other local newspaper, The Enniskillen Chronicle (generally known by its sub-title, the Erne Packet), but as it was considered to be the official mouthpiece for government and establishment, some other voice was needed to satisfy local interest. Trimble arrived from Dublin and the 'first type having been liften, the first formes locked', he pulled the first impression of the new newspaper on 19 May 1825.
Proprietors in those days began newspapers without realising the financial implications involved, and often going out of business as a result. The new newspaper was no exception; and the original consortium, tired of losing money, sold The Impartial Reporter to its publisher, JOHN GREGSEN. Before long, Gregsten's health broke down and Trimble, who had been managing the paper, discovered on Gregsten's death, that his widow was preparing to sell the paper to its rival, the Erne Packet - the very newspaper whose policies had proved so unpopular locally. In his own words, Trimble 'turned the key in the door, locked, it and refused to give up possession.' Financial help came from two landlord members of the original consortium, enabling him to purchase the paper and become independent."
________________________
Samuel immigrated as a young teenager to London, Ontario, Canada, to live with an aunt and uncle there. He later encouraged one of his brothers and a sister-in-law, William Gregsten and his wife, Ellen Harrison Robinson Gregsten to move there. William died in 1869 but Ellen remained living in London, Ontario, Canada for the rest of her life. Another of Samuel's brothers also lived in Canada for a time. His name was John Lagar Gregsten. John returned to Liverpool, England, though, after the death of his first wife, Fanny Bell Quiggin. He remarried and raised his family in England.
By about 1850 Samuel left Canada and came to the United States and established a barge transport company in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the Civil War he ran the blockade to the South, near New Orleans, and as his grandson said, "(I) heard many times, he had six of his barges shot out from under him and decided to retire from that business. With the money he had acquired...he moved to Chicago before the fire and used his capital to invest in real estate."
According to his obituary in The Hotel World (21 May 1910, Vol. LXX - No. 21), written the week after Samuel Gregsten died, he was "active, energetic, fearless, and unconventional...for nearly fifty years (he) was a conspicuous figure among Chicago's business men. (He) came to America as a boy and engaged in the steamboat business on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Immediately following the Civil War he came to Chicago and became interested in the meat packing business, long before such great firms as Armour, Swift, and their kind were dreamed of in this city."
Immediately after the 1871 Chicago fire, Samuel Gregsten was one of the businessmen who helped to rebuild Chicago, investing in the first European hotel in the burned-out area of the city. The Hotel World obituary continues that, "After the great fire, he built the Windsor hotel on Dearborn street, between Monroe and Madison. This was the first and for many years the only European hotel in Chicago and in it was never conducted a bar during the many years Mr. Gregsten was the owner and proprietor. The Windsor had the reputation of being the home of people from small towns and the country. It was preeminently respectable. No man was ever so strict and severe in the management of a hotel as Sam Gregsten, who, upon finding anything wrong or suspicious did not hesitate to throw guests out into the street at midnight and return to them their money."
He later purchased the Clifton Hotel, on the northwest corner of E. Monroe and S. Wabash streets, renaming it the Windsor-Clifton. This hotel was an extremely well known "European" hotel of the time. The Carson Pierie Scott building is presently at that spot, in 2011.
The 1910 Hotel World obituary continues, "Mr. Gregsten owned much valuable property in Chicago, about twenty years ago purchasing different parcels on Wabash avenue between Twelfth and Twenty-second streets. He also owned property on South State street. Mr. Gregsten was one of the greatest travelers ever engaged in the hotel business, and nearly twenty years ago the writer remembers when he returned from Europe for the thirty-fourth time. Even last year he made his annual trip to Europe."
In the late 1850's, Samuel married Anna G. Speer, in Dublin, Ireland. They resided in Ohio at first, and then Chicago. They had two daughters: Mary Laura, and Eleanor Frances. Anna died in December of 1871, when her youngest daughter, Mary Laura, was about 5 years old.
After his first wife's death, on one of his many trips back to Ireland, Samuel Gregsten met Francis Priscilla Young at her father's home at Annaguinnea (Annaginny) Lodge in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He and "Fanny" married on 29 July 1873 in Nantenan, near Askeaton, in County Limerick, Ireland (probably because her sister was married to Rev. John Armour Haydn who ministered in that area).
Samuel and Fanny resided on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, and later added a second home "in the country" in Hinsdale, Illinois in 1901. That home was kept in the family for over 70 years. Samuel and "Fanny" had two daughters: Grace Louise, and Adelaide. The family (including all four daughters) was very prominent in Chicago society and regularly appeared in the society columns of the Chicago newspapers.
In the late Spring of 1900, Samuel leased out his interests in the Windsor-Clifton, and purchased the large "retirement" home in Hinsdale. The home allowed his family both more indoor space and large outdoor grounds, things they did not have available in Chicago. They had a stable and a barn for the horses and carriages as well. Later the carriage house also held the new invention - the automobile - which allowed them to travel back and forth to their other home in Chicago at the fast speed of 30 miles per hour.
Samuel Gregsten was a patriarch to his children and grandchildren. The stories of his generosity, his stature, and his achievements are still part of his legacy among his family today.
Biography written by Aileen (Goulding) Blomgren, updated 8/9/2021
He was the son of Jane Armstrong and John Gregsten. John Gregsten, Sr., died 14 April 1834 after an illness. John and Jane had seven children:
1) Jane Gregsten (1823-1895) who died unmarried
2) William Gregsten
3) SAMUEL GREGSTEN, of this memorial
4) John Lagar Gregsten
5) Edward Gregsten (b. c1830, died in 1846)
6) Sarah Gregsten (b. c1832, died after 6 July 1901), married John Thomas Fitzpatrick
7) Margaret gregsten (1833-1869)
Samuel's mother, Jane Armstrong, of Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, was the daughter of Samuel Armstrong. Samuel Gregsten's father, John Gregsten, was the first publisher of The Impartial Reporter Newspaper in Enniskillen.
FROM: Oscar Wilde's Enniskillen: Fermanagh in mid-Victorian Times 1864-1871 (John Cunningham, Esq., published in 2002)
"William Trimble...was the first editor-proprietor of The Impartial Reporter and Farmers' Journal...Trimble arrived in Enniskillen in 1825, to work on a new newspaper, backed financially by a local consortium of landlords, business and professional men. There was already one other local newspaper, The Enniskillen Chronicle (generally known by its sub-title, the Erne Packet), but as it was considered to be the official mouthpiece for government and establishment, some other voice was needed to satisfy local interest. Trimble arrived from Dublin and the 'first type having been liften, the first formes locked', he pulled the first impression of the new newspaper on 19 May 1825.
Proprietors in those days began newspapers without realising the financial implications involved, and often going out of business as a result. The new newspaper was no exception; and the original consortium, tired of losing money, sold The Impartial Reporter to its publisher, JOHN GREGSEN. Before long, Gregsten's health broke down and Trimble, who had been managing the paper, discovered on Gregsten's death, that his widow was preparing to sell the paper to its rival, the Erne Packet - the very newspaper whose policies had proved so unpopular locally. In his own words, Trimble 'turned the key in the door, locked, it and refused to give up possession.' Financial help came from two landlord members of the original consortium, enabling him to purchase the paper and become independent."
________________________
Samuel immigrated as a young teenager to London, Ontario, Canada, to live with an aunt and uncle there. He later encouraged one of his brothers and a sister-in-law, William Gregsten and his wife, Ellen Harrison Robinson Gregsten to move there. William died in 1869 but Ellen remained living in London, Ontario, Canada for the rest of her life. Another of Samuel's brothers also lived in Canada for a time. His name was John Lagar Gregsten. John returned to Liverpool, England, though, after the death of his first wife, Fanny Bell Quiggin. He remarried and raised his family in England.
By about 1850 Samuel left Canada and came to the United States and established a barge transport company in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the Civil War he ran the blockade to the South, near New Orleans, and as his grandson said, "(I) heard many times, he had six of his barges shot out from under him and decided to retire from that business. With the money he had acquired...he moved to Chicago before the fire and used his capital to invest in real estate."
According to his obituary in The Hotel World (21 May 1910, Vol. LXX - No. 21), written the week after Samuel Gregsten died, he was "active, energetic, fearless, and unconventional...for nearly fifty years (he) was a conspicuous figure among Chicago's business men. (He) came to America as a boy and engaged in the steamboat business on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Immediately following the Civil War he came to Chicago and became interested in the meat packing business, long before such great firms as Armour, Swift, and their kind were dreamed of in this city."
Immediately after the 1871 Chicago fire, Samuel Gregsten was one of the businessmen who helped to rebuild Chicago, investing in the first European hotel in the burned-out area of the city. The Hotel World obituary continues that, "After the great fire, he built the Windsor hotel on Dearborn street, between Monroe and Madison. This was the first and for many years the only European hotel in Chicago and in it was never conducted a bar during the many years Mr. Gregsten was the owner and proprietor. The Windsor had the reputation of being the home of people from small towns and the country. It was preeminently respectable. No man was ever so strict and severe in the management of a hotel as Sam Gregsten, who, upon finding anything wrong or suspicious did not hesitate to throw guests out into the street at midnight and return to them their money."
He later purchased the Clifton Hotel, on the northwest corner of E. Monroe and S. Wabash streets, renaming it the Windsor-Clifton. This hotel was an extremely well known "European" hotel of the time. The Carson Pierie Scott building is presently at that spot, in 2011.
The 1910 Hotel World obituary continues, "Mr. Gregsten owned much valuable property in Chicago, about twenty years ago purchasing different parcels on Wabash avenue between Twelfth and Twenty-second streets. He also owned property on South State street. Mr. Gregsten was one of the greatest travelers ever engaged in the hotel business, and nearly twenty years ago the writer remembers when he returned from Europe for the thirty-fourth time. Even last year he made his annual trip to Europe."
In the late 1850's, Samuel married Anna G. Speer, in Dublin, Ireland. They resided in Ohio at first, and then Chicago. They had two daughters: Mary Laura, and Eleanor Frances. Anna died in December of 1871, when her youngest daughter, Mary Laura, was about 5 years old.
After his first wife's death, on one of his many trips back to Ireland, Samuel Gregsten met Francis Priscilla Young at her father's home at Annaguinnea (Annaginny) Lodge in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He and "Fanny" married on 29 July 1873 in Nantenan, near Askeaton, in County Limerick, Ireland (probably because her sister was married to Rev. John Armour Haydn who ministered in that area).
Samuel and Fanny resided on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, and later added a second home "in the country" in Hinsdale, Illinois in 1901. That home was kept in the family for over 70 years. Samuel and "Fanny" had two daughters: Grace Louise, and Adelaide. The family (including all four daughters) was very prominent in Chicago society and regularly appeared in the society columns of the Chicago newspapers.
In the late Spring of 1900, Samuel leased out his interests in the Windsor-Clifton, and purchased the large "retirement" home in Hinsdale. The home allowed his family both more indoor space and large outdoor grounds, things they did not have available in Chicago. They had a stable and a barn for the horses and carriages as well. Later the carriage house also held the new invention - the automobile - which allowed them to travel back and forth to their other home in Chicago at the fast speed of 30 miles per hour.
Samuel Gregsten was a patriarch to his children and grandchildren. The stories of his generosity, his stature, and his achievements are still part of his legacy among his family today.
Biography written by Aileen (Goulding) Blomgren, updated 8/9/2021
Samuel Gregsten, was born in Ireland, most likely in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland where his family lived was when he was young.
He was the son of Jane Armstrong and John Gregsten. John Gregsten, Sr., died 14 April 1834 after an illness. John and Jane had seven children:
1) Jane Gregsten (1823-1895) who died unmarried
2) William Gregsten
3) SAMUEL GREGSTEN, of this memorial
4) John Lagar Gregsten
5) Edward Gregsten (b. c1830, died in 1846)
6) Sarah Gregsten (b. c1832, died after 6 July 1901), married John Thomas Fitzpatrick
7) Margaret gregsten (1833-1869)
Samuel's mother, Jane Armstrong, of Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, was the daughter of Samuel Armstrong. Samuel Gregsten's father, John Gregsten, was the first publisher of The Impartial Reporter Newspaper in Enniskillen.
FROM: Oscar Wilde's Enniskillen: Fermanagh in mid-Victorian Times 1864-1871 (John Cunningham, Esq., published in 2002)
"William Trimble...was the first editor-proprietor of The Impartial Reporter and Farmers' Journal...Trimble arrived in Enniskillen in 1825, to work on a new newspaper, backed financially by a local consortium of landlords, business and professional men. There was already one other local newspaper, The Enniskillen Chronicle (generally known by its sub-title, the Erne Packet), but as it was considered to be the official mouthpiece for government and establishment, some other voice was needed to satisfy local interest. Trimble arrived from Dublin and the 'first type having been liften, the first formes locked', he pulled the first impression of the new newspaper on 19 May 1825.
Proprietors in those days began newspapers without realising the financial implications involved, and often going out of business as a result. The new newspaper was no exception; and the original consortium, tired of losing money, sold The Impartial Reporter to its publisher, JOHN GREGSEN. Before long, Gregsten's health broke down and Trimble, who had been managing the paper, discovered on Gregsten's death, that his widow was preparing to sell the paper to its rival, the Erne Packet - the very newspaper whose policies had proved so unpopular locally. In his own words, Trimble 'turned the key in the door, locked, it and refused to give up possession.' Financial help came from two landlord members of the original consortium, enabling him to purchase the paper and become independent."
________________________
Samuel immigrated as a young teenager to London, Ontario, Canada, to live with an aunt and uncle there. He later encouraged one of his brothers and a sister-in-law, William Gregsten and his wife, Ellen Harrison Robinson Gregsten to move there. William died in 1869 but Ellen remained living in London, Ontario, Canada for the rest of her life. Another of Samuel's brothers also lived in Canada for a time. His name was John Lagar Gregsten. John returned to Liverpool, England, though, after the death of his first wife, Fanny Bell Quiggin. He remarried and raised his family in England.
By about 1850 Samuel left Canada and came to the United States and established a barge transport company in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the Civil War he ran the blockade to the South, near New Orleans, and as his grandson said, "(I) heard many times, he had six of his barges shot out from under him and decided to retire from that business. With the money he had acquired...he moved to Chicago before the fire and used his capital to invest in real estate."
According to his obituary in The Hotel World (21 May 1910, Vol. LXX - No. 21), written the week after Samuel Gregsten died, he was "active, energetic, fearless, and unconventional...for nearly fifty years (he) was a conspicuous figure among Chicago's business men. (He) came to America as a boy and engaged in the steamboat business on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Immediately following the Civil War he came to Chicago and became interested in the meat packing business, long before such great firms as Armour, Swift, and their kind were dreamed of in this city."
Immediately after the 1871 Chicago fire, Samuel Gregsten was one of the businessmen who helped to rebuild Chicago, investing in the first European hotel in the burned-out area of the city. The Hotel World obituary continues that, "After the great fire, he built the Windsor hotel on Dearborn street, between Monroe and Madison. This was the first and for many years the only European hotel in Chicago and in it was never conducted a bar during the many years Mr. Gregsten was the owner and proprietor. The Windsor had the reputation of being the home of people from small towns and the country. It was preeminently respectable. No man was ever so strict and severe in the management of a hotel as Sam Gregsten, who, upon finding anything wrong or suspicious did not hesitate to throw guests out into the street at midnight and return to them their money."
He later purchased the Clifton Hotel, on the northwest corner of E. Monroe and S. Wabash streets, renaming it the Windsor-Clifton. This hotel was an extremely well known "European" hotel of the time. The Carson Pierie Scott building is presently at that spot, in 2011.
The 1910 Hotel World obituary continues, "Mr. Gregsten owned much valuable property in Chicago, about twenty years ago purchasing different parcels on Wabash avenue between Twelfth and Twenty-second streets. He also owned property on South State street. Mr. Gregsten was one of the greatest travelers ever engaged in the hotel business, and nearly twenty years ago the writer remembers when he returned from Europe for the thirty-fourth time. Even last year he made his annual trip to Europe."
In the late 1850's, Samuel married Anna G. Speer, in Dublin, Ireland. They resided in Ohio at first, and then Chicago. They had two daughters: Mary Laura, and Eleanor Frances. Anna died in December of 1871, when her youngest daughter, Mary Laura, was about 5 years old.
After his first wife's death, on one of his many trips back to Ireland, Samuel Gregsten met Francis Priscilla Young at her father's home at Annaguinnea (Annaginny) Lodge in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He and "Fanny" married on 29 July 1873 in Nantenan, near Askeaton, in County Limerick, Ireland (probably because her sister was married to Rev. John Armour Haydn who ministered in that area).
Samuel and Fanny resided on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, and later added a second home "in the country" in Hinsdale, Illinois in 1901. That home was kept in the family for over 70 years. Samuel and "Fanny" had two daughters: Grace Louise, and Adelaide. The family (including all four daughters) was very prominent in Chicago society and regularly appeared in the society columns of the Chicago newspapers.
In the late Spring of 1900, Samuel leased out his interests in the Windsor-Clifton, and purchased the large "retirement" home in Hinsdale. The home allowed his family both more indoor space and large outdoor grounds, things they did not have available in Chicago. They had a stable and a barn for the horses and carriages as well. Later the carriage house also held the new invention - the automobile - which allowed them to travel back and forth to their other home in Chicago at the fast speed of 30 miles per hour.
Samuel Gregsten was a patriarch to his children and grandchildren. The stories of his generosity, his stature, and his achievements are still part of his legacy among his family today.
Biography written by Aileen (Goulding) Blomgren, updated 8/9/2021
He was the son of Jane Armstrong and John Gregsten. John Gregsten, Sr., died 14 April 1834 after an illness. John and Jane had seven children:
1) Jane Gregsten (1823-1895) who died unmarried
2) William Gregsten
3) SAMUEL GREGSTEN, of this memorial
4) John Lagar Gregsten
5) Edward Gregsten (b. c1830, died in 1846)
6) Sarah Gregsten (b. c1832, died after 6 July 1901), married John Thomas Fitzpatrick
7) Margaret gregsten (1833-1869)
Samuel's mother, Jane Armstrong, of Brookeborough, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, was the daughter of Samuel Armstrong. Samuel Gregsten's father, John Gregsten, was the first publisher of The Impartial Reporter Newspaper in Enniskillen.
FROM: Oscar Wilde's Enniskillen: Fermanagh in mid-Victorian Times 1864-1871 (John Cunningham, Esq., published in 2002)
"William Trimble...was the first editor-proprietor of The Impartial Reporter and Farmers' Journal...Trimble arrived in Enniskillen in 1825, to work on a new newspaper, backed financially by a local consortium of landlords, business and professional men. There was already one other local newspaper, The Enniskillen Chronicle (generally known by its sub-title, the Erne Packet), but as it was considered to be the official mouthpiece for government and establishment, some other voice was needed to satisfy local interest. Trimble arrived from Dublin and the 'first type having been liften, the first formes locked', he pulled the first impression of the new newspaper on 19 May 1825.
Proprietors in those days began newspapers without realising the financial implications involved, and often going out of business as a result. The new newspaper was no exception; and the original consortium, tired of losing money, sold The Impartial Reporter to its publisher, JOHN GREGSEN. Before long, Gregsten's health broke down and Trimble, who had been managing the paper, discovered on Gregsten's death, that his widow was preparing to sell the paper to its rival, the Erne Packet - the very newspaper whose policies had proved so unpopular locally. In his own words, Trimble 'turned the key in the door, locked, it and refused to give up possession.' Financial help came from two landlord members of the original consortium, enabling him to purchase the paper and become independent."
________________________
Samuel immigrated as a young teenager to London, Ontario, Canada, to live with an aunt and uncle there. He later encouraged one of his brothers and a sister-in-law, William Gregsten and his wife, Ellen Harrison Robinson Gregsten to move there. William died in 1869 but Ellen remained living in London, Ontario, Canada for the rest of her life. Another of Samuel's brothers also lived in Canada for a time. His name was John Lagar Gregsten. John returned to Liverpool, England, though, after the death of his first wife, Fanny Bell Quiggin. He remarried and raised his family in England.
By about 1850 Samuel left Canada and came to the United States and established a barge transport company in Cincinnati, Ohio. During the Civil War he ran the blockade to the South, near New Orleans, and as his grandson said, "(I) heard many times, he had six of his barges shot out from under him and decided to retire from that business. With the money he had acquired...he moved to Chicago before the fire and used his capital to invest in real estate."
According to his obituary in The Hotel World (21 May 1910, Vol. LXX - No. 21), written the week after Samuel Gregsten died, he was "active, energetic, fearless, and unconventional...for nearly fifty years (he) was a conspicuous figure among Chicago's business men. (He) came to America as a boy and engaged in the steamboat business on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Immediately following the Civil War he came to Chicago and became interested in the meat packing business, long before such great firms as Armour, Swift, and their kind were dreamed of in this city."
Immediately after the 1871 Chicago fire, Samuel Gregsten was one of the businessmen who helped to rebuild Chicago, investing in the first European hotel in the burned-out area of the city. The Hotel World obituary continues that, "After the great fire, he built the Windsor hotel on Dearborn street, between Monroe and Madison. This was the first and for many years the only European hotel in Chicago and in it was never conducted a bar during the many years Mr. Gregsten was the owner and proprietor. The Windsor had the reputation of being the home of people from small towns and the country. It was preeminently respectable. No man was ever so strict and severe in the management of a hotel as Sam Gregsten, who, upon finding anything wrong or suspicious did not hesitate to throw guests out into the street at midnight and return to them their money."
He later purchased the Clifton Hotel, on the northwest corner of E. Monroe and S. Wabash streets, renaming it the Windsor-Clifton. This hotel was an extremely well known "European" hotel of the time. The Carson Pierie Scott building is presently at that spot, in 2011.
The 1910 Hotel World obituary continues, "Mr. Gregsten owned much valuable property in Chicago, about twenty years ago purchasing different parcels on Wabash avenue between Twelfth and Twenty-second streets. He also owned property on South State street. Mr. Gregsten was one of the greatest travelers ever engaged in the hotel business, and nearly twenty years ago the writer remembers when he returned from Europe for the thirty-fourth time. Even last year he made his annual trip to Europe."
In the late 1850's, Samuel married Anna G. Speer, in Dublin, Ireland. They resided in Ohio at first, and then Chicago. They had two daughters: Mary Laura, and Eleanor Frances. Anna died in December of 1871, when her youngest daughter, Mary Laura, was about 5 years old.
After his first wife's death, on one of his many trips back to Ireland, Samuel Gregsten met Francis Priscilla Young at her father's home at Annaguinnea (Annaginny) Lodge in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. He and "Fanny" married on 29 July 1873 in Nantenan, near Askeaton, in County Limerick, Ireland (probably because her sister was married to Rev. John Armour Haydn who ministered in that area).
Samuel and Fanny resided on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, Illinois, and later added a second home "in the country" in Hinsdale, Illinois in 1901. That home was kept in the family for over 70 years. Samuel and "Fanny" had two daughters: Grace Louise, and Adelaide. The family (including all four daughters) was very prominent in Chicago society and regularly appeared in the society columns of the Chicago newspapers.
In the late Spring of 1900, Samuel leased out his interests in the Windsor-Clifton, and purchased the large "retirement" home in Hinsdale. The home allowed his family both more indoor space and large outdoor grounds, things they did not have available in Chicago. They had a stable and a barn for the horses and carriages as well. Later the carriage house also held the new invention - the automobile - which allowed them to travel back and forth to their other home in Chicago at the fast speed of 30 miles per hour.
Samuel Gregsten was a patriarch to his children and grandchildren. The stories of his generosity, his stature, and his achievements are still part of his legacy among his family today.
Biography written by Aileen (Goulding) Blomgren, updated 8/9/2021
