*Hunter Gathering*

The next phase of my research involves investigating more about associated families to the early NY Gillespys, specifically those of the surname HUNTER and WILKIN(S). Each of these associated family groups have their own rich and complicated history, so I'm prepared for this study to take awhile. As true as that is to say, today a rather startling realization popped out which deserves making note.

First, to give a little context. The Hunter family history tells us that Robert Hunter I came to America about 1727 from Northern Ireland with three sons: Archibald, James, and Robert. The Hunters settled in Shawangunk, and their names can be found among those who served in the 1738 Walkill militia. As the story goes, the Hunters also brought a couple of Gillespys with them from Northern Ireland, specifically Samuel (Sr.) and Elizabeth. We've not yet found any record of Samuel Gillespy Sr, and supposedly Elizabeth Gillespy (1715-1756) married Robert Hunter Jr. (1714-1776). To be honest, I haven't yet found an actual record of Elizabeth Gillespy Hunter either, but let's just say she did exist, and she had six children before her death. One of those children, Eliza Lily Hunter (1754-1828) married her first cousin, James Hunter (son of James, son of Robert I). I know I know, eyes are rolling, but bear with me.

Eliza Lily Hunter, daugther of Elizabeth Gillespie Hunter, had several children with James Hunter, the youngest of whom was James I. Hunter 1783-1863. He married Mahitable Haines and they lived in Montgomery, Orange, NY until the time his mother, Eliza Lily, died in 1828. Then James and his family moved. He moved west. Let's say 600+ miles west, possibly by land or possibly by way of the Erie Canal and then across Lake Erie. Destination? Bloomfield, Oakland, Michigan! Anybody who has followed this blog might remember that all my beginning posts pertained to Bloomfield and the discovery of Gillespie-Greer relations who tie directly into my family tree!

James I. Hunter purchased two 80-acre land patents in Bloomfield in 1831. The 1840 census shows us that his neighbors were Hiram H, William G, and Charles Hunter (James' sons), William Kidd, William Greer, and Henry Sloat. In the same census of the same place, we find the list of my family: Joseph, John, James, Thomas, and Robert Greer, George Slater, Charles Lemon, Elizabeth Gordon (Gillespie), and Thomas Gillespie. I estimate the distance between the Greer and Hunter farms to have been under three miles. It could be coincidence. Or not.

For fun, I checked my DNA matches for Hunter. And lo. Again, something small, 8cM across 1 segment for a 5th-8th cousin match, a direct descendant of James I. Hunter, and thus also, presumably, Elizabeth Gillespie 1715-1756.

So here we have yet another small link between our Michigan Gillespie-Greer families and the Gillespy families of early New York. But we're still fishing for the connection. When I lay it out with index cards on the table, I can speculate that James I. Hunter, Nancy Greer, Jane Greer, and Elizabeth Gillespie were all second cousins. Going up the line, I think that means that Elizabeth Gillespie Hunter (1715-1756) left behind a brother in Northern Ireland, one who was the father of our progenitor John Gillspie (b abt 1758), who in turn had children by his first marriage, Nancy, Jane, and Elizabeth, all who emigrated to NY before the War of 1812.

Clearly this post is about evidence that is highly speculative, so this is not a "dicovery," per se. But wherever we have found the name of Elizabeth Gillespie, we have learned more about our family history than we could have dreamed about.