Mamekoting was one of the Hudson Valley native American tribes, which is today the name of a town in Sullivan County, NY, and uses the spelling Mamakating, pronounced "ma-MA-ka-TING".
So now we have another fun-to-pronounce place to add to our family geography, one that is a mere 20 miles from another fun-to-pronounce Gillespie location, Shawangunk. I stumbled upon Mamakating by tracing Abraham Gillespie who had some land in Mamakating when the town was in Sullivan county. But Sullivan county was not formed until 1809, and so where was Mamakating before that? Ulster.
In any case, Mamakating Precinct is one place where the 1775 Articles of Allegiance, also called the Revolutionary Pledge, have survived. Four Gillespy names appeared on that list: John, James, David, and George. Along with records showing that the Fifth Hanover Company in 1775 had officers Capt. John Gillespie and Ensign Samuel Gillespie, I think we have a good picture of the Gillespie families with strong roots in the Ulster area. More research is upcoming!
Meanwhile, here is a new article relating more details about my initial research in Sullivan county.
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