Family History of Alexander Gillespie, South Carolina

by Bob Martin of Tennessee

“The Belfast Newspaper, issue of 31st March 1772, announced the sailing within the previous week of the ship, Friendship, with William McCulloch, Captain, destination Philadelphia. On the way up the Delaware, the ship stopped at New Castle on May 13th, 1772. The same day Captain McCulloch assigned the indenture of ALEXANDER GILLISPEY to John Kinkead (Kincaid) of Carlisle, Cumberland Co, Pennsylvania. The terms were four years from date of arrival, with a payment of L17, 10s. This indenture was registered in the Mayor’s office of Philadelphia.

Alexander’s birth would have been circa 1743 in Ireland, possibly Co Antrim, calculated from his death date and obituary in the Southern Star. Apparently Alexander Gillespie accompanied John Kincaid to the border region between North Carolina and South Carolina where John obtained land in York County.

In 1776 both John Kincaid and Alexander Gillespie were participants in an expedition against the Cherokee Indians, serving in a York County Militia. John also served in the American Revolutionary War as an officer in the Calvary, in which he lost three horses in separate engagements. Alexander was a wagonmaster in the Quartermaster Corps, and he lost five horses in various actions.

At the end of hostilities, each man filed claims with the State of South Carolina for his service and losses. One of the claims by John Kincaid was for a sorrel mare he lost at the Battle of Rocky Mount, which was appraised by Alex’r Gillespy at L48, Os, Op.

Abut 1784 Alexander Gillespie moved into Georgia, and on September 5th 1785 was residing in Washington County. He received a Headright Land Warrant of 200 acres of land. It was patented to Alexander Gillespie in Greene Co, Georgia in 1790. On Feb 6, 1792, this land was sold, and Alexander moved to Jackson Co, Georgia where he appeared in several court and land documents until on Nov 6, 1811, Alexander and his wife, Sary, sold their Jackson County property, and in 1812 are in Lousiana.

Shortly after the American Revolution someone from York Co, South Carolina moved to Georgia and his son moved to Mississippi in the early 1800s. He wrote home in 1829 to his elderly father in Georgia, “Your old friend, the vernable Gillespie, lives near my farm. He is near 100 years old. He used to reside near Cousin Dickson. You will recollect that his wife baked cakes. He is deaf and blind in an eye. He often comes to enquire about you.”  Alexander Gillespie died in Copiah Co, Mississippi in 1839.  

 

 

John Kincaid history is available on a Kincaid website

 

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