MS025
Gillespie Genealogical Record

This record of the Gillespie family begins circa 1700 with David Gillespie, Sr., and his wife, Miss Borthick, both of Monaghan County, Ireland.  Their son, David Jr., had three sons, James, Archibald and Borthick, who emigrated to New Bern, North Carolina.  Borthick returned to Ireland, Archibald and James remained.  James purchased land near Kenansville and named his home Golden Grove.  This record lists James’ descendants, sometimes as far as the ninth generation-James being the third.

A biographical sketch of James Gillespie, appearing in the McGowens’ Flashes of Duplin’s History and Government[1], generally agrees with this record, though it differs on one major point.  This record states James was born in Ireland and emigrated; Flashes, in an excerpt from A.T. Outlaw’s Official Directory, states he was “probably born near Kenansville after the family moved to Duplin County from Ireland”.[2]  James Gillespie was a member of the Provincial Congress of 1776 at Halifax and served as a captain during the Revolutionary War.  He was a member of the State House of Commons, 1779-1783, and of the State Senate, 1784-1786, and again in 1789 and 1792.  He served as Councilor of State and Secretary to Governor Martin and was a member of the State Constitutional Conventions in 1788 and 1789.  Gillespie was elected to the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Congresses (1793-1799) and served in the Eighth Congress from March 4, 1803, until his death in Washington, D.C., on January 11, 1805.

This record is 41 pages long and is a photocopy; the original is in the family’s possession.  With it is a photocopy of a letter from S. Carroll Pearsall, Annandale, Virginia, to Leora McEachern of Wilmington, North Carolina, which contains further genealogical information about the Pearsalls and Gillespies. 

These items were donated to William Madison Randall Library by Leora McEachern on November 14, 1977. 

They have been designated Accession Number 25 of the Manuscripts Collection, Special Collections Department, William Madison Randall Library, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, 601 South College Road, Wilmington, North Carolina 28403-3297.

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Located in MS Box 4

COPYRIGHT:  Retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.