Stewart State Forest

According to Explore-Hudson-Valley.com, the 6700 acres of Stewart State Forest was set aside as a buffer zone for an expanded Stewart International Airport just west of downtown Newburgh, NY. The idea was to insulate the noise coming from what was then expected to become NYC's fourth major airport.

Aside from the interesting history of the airport, the Stewart State Forest is now a vast preserve for naturalists and outdoor recreation that is somewhat unique in the northeast. Besides the abundance of flora and fauna, there are also the old farmlands and wide gravel roads of yesteryear. These lands were once occupied by our ancestors, including Gillespys.

• Matthew Gillespy, 1740-1797, had married Jane Neely in 1766, and they had made an agreement with Jane's father, James Neely Sr., to help care for the elderly parents and the Neely farm in New Windsor. The farm of James Neely was located on the north side of Little Britain Rd. (today Route 207) probably between Ridge Rd. and Giles Rd. Matthew lived there probably as early as 1781 (he was an Assessor in New Windsor), and he continued to live there after his wife's death in 1788. The 1790 census shows that Matthew was living near to Henry McNeely, thought to have been a brother of James Neely Sr. Matthew remarried around 1791 and moved to NYC where he became a grocer. Matthew died in 1797 and a subsequent legal dispute involving the Neely farm was eventually decided by the NY Supreme Court in 1814. 
• James Gillespy, (dates uncertain, but I'm speculating ~1739-1810), sold his lands near Gillespie Street south of Pine Bush in 1788 and together with his wife, Mary, subsequently bought 50 acres in Little Britain. The land of James was part of the Andrew Johnson patent, and from the property description, it was also north of Little Britain Road, probably between Ridge Rd. and Maple Ave. -- maybe along a dirt road today called Scofield Lane Trail Orange. I calculate that James and Matthew lived just over 2 miles apart. We can see from the 1790 census that James' neighbors included the names of many officers in New York's Revolutionary military command: Belknap, Moffat, Dubois, Burnet, Scott, Humphrey, Alexander Denniston, General James Clinton, and the widow of Col. James McClaughry. There is, in fact, a historical marker at the corner of the Route 207 and Beattie Rd. to mark the one-time residence of James Clinton. But even though surrounded by NY's military elite, James Gillespy had to mortgage his Little Britain property in 1791, which was later paid in 1794 by John McMickle. We must assume that James Gillespy had moved on by that time.

Still in all, I think we're looking at the heart of some important connections. According to New York Colonial Muster Rolls 1664-1775, Volume 2, pp 736-737, in 1763, Capt. James Clinton's company was enlisted to guard the western frontiers of Ulster and Orange counties; Lieutenants included William Stewart, Alexander Denniston, Matthew Smedes, and James McNeal (likely Neely). Among those enlisted were James Gillespy, age 24 (b abt 1739), born in Ireland, came from Capt. Neely's militia. In the same company was Samuel Gillespy, age 19 (b 1744), born in Ulster, came from Capt. Graham's militia.

What is all this telling us about our Gillespys? We know that Samuel Gillespy and Matthew Gillespy were brothers (by Samuel's will), and I'm building the case that this James Gillespy was also a brother. I would love to wander the woods and meadows of Stewart State Forest to see if the winds of history have some long forgotten tales to tell about this Gillespy family.

Gillespie Street in Pine Bush

In my recent quest to map Gillespie locations in New York, I finally came to the hamlet of Pine Bush, found in the town of Crawford. I personally visited Pine Bush in 2012, and even stopped in at the town library, just to say that I did. But what I really needed then was a tour guide because I couldn't fully appreciate where I was at the time. Now after mapping the homestead of Samuel Gillespy on the eastern outskirts of Pine Bush, I realize this locale was the home for several generations of Samuel's descendants.

But were Samuel's descendants the only ones to live in and around Pine Bush? We know now that Capt. John Gillespy and his grist mill were only 5 miles outside of town on the Dwaar Kill. But John sold his properties outside the Pine Bush area in 1785 and moved his family to New Windsor, and it doesn't appear that any from his family remained in Pine Bush. Did any other Gillespies spend time in Pine Bush? I contend there was at least one other, James Gillespy. Upon mapping the location of James' property as described in 1788, it was interesting to see from a modern satellite map that a corner of the property is bordered today by Route 48 on the south and Gillespie St. on the east, and 2.5 miles east of Burlingham in Mamakating Precinct where I recently discovered other Gillespy properties. I'm obviously still catching up to what other Gillespie researchers already know about these locales, but learning is half the fun.  You can read more about finding Gillespie Street here.

Now that I am getting my bearings, I think of a line from a Seamus Heaney poem:

If self is a location, so is love: 
Bearings taken, markings, cardinal points, Options, obstinacies, dug heels and distance, 
Here and there and now and then, a stance.

Deed Mapping

This past week, I've been following the Gillespy trail using two of my favorite sources, historical maps and old deeds. These sources often contain genealogy surprises, but they also teach us alot about compass bearings and distances measured by chain lengths. (See Life of a 1700's Surveyor for some great details.) Translating those old property descriptions onto Google Earth satellite maps could and does occupy me happily for days. Given that I am "sheltered in place" during the COVID-19 pandemic, it's a good use of my time.

This time around, my deed-digging lead me to recognize property that was near to James Gillespy who, in 1770, sold his Shawangunk property on the west side of the Walkill River. That lead to learning more about the Gerarrd Beekman Patent of 3000 acres where the Gillespy land was located. That lead to reviewing the property descriptions of the Gillespys in that patent, where I soon realized a mistake made in my earlier reading of them. I love finding my own mistakes and correcting them because that almost always explains something I couldn't quite understand before. See my latest article about Gillespy and Hunter homesteads in Shawangunk.

Oh, but once on a roll with maps and deeds, why not go on? My next task was to study more closely the deeds of Capt. John Gillespy. That lead to learning about the 10,000-acre Schuyler Patent to the west and south of the Shawangunk precinct, land located in the precinct of Walkill-then Hanover-then Montgomery. In the end, we discover that Capt. John resided on the Walkill/Hanover/Montgomery side, but his grist mill was just across the precinct line in Shawangunk on the farm of James Hunter. See my other latest article about Capt. John Gillespy living on the line.

So all in all, it's been a good week for understanding precisely where some Gillespy characters lived. I think the key to understanding relationships is to understand individuals. One by one, we are getting to know the Gillespy characters of early Ulster/Orange, NY. Eventually, I believe their relationships to each other, and to us, will reveal themselves.

And so ends my genealogy report on Easter Sunday 2020 when a spring snowstorm is blanketing Colorado as I write. It seems fitting that my world should be under a snowy hush given that, because of COVID-19, there was no sunrise service up on Flagstaff mountain this morning, there are no easter lillies being delivered, no easter egg hunts around the neighborhood, no gatherings of scattered family and friends except via Zoom. But then I realize that our Gillespy ancestors were also likely in their homes on their Easter Sunday. It seems most of the early colonists did not celebrate holidays, especially this one, in the way we do today. They were in their homes, resting and reflecting on a Sunday. Just as we are doing now.

Case Sensitive

Last fall, I ran across reference to a complicated legal case involving two Gillespy brothers which was heard by the NY Supreme Court in 1814. The case report stated specific Gillespy family relationships, i.e., who married whom, and names of children, which is information most often received by a genealogist as a dream come true. But as I have continued piecing together the Gillespy family groups of early Ulster/Orange, NY, the genealogical details from that NY Supreme Court case just don't fit with other evidence, which is not to say that I haven't really been trying to MAKE them fit. For Pete's Sake, the source is a case report from the NY Supreme Court, so it must be right! But alas, it would seem that every source, every single one, must be critically examined and corroborated. I think this particular case report was probably mistaken in some of the key details pertaining to Gillespy relationships. You can read about my analysis here.

Meanwhile, the best way to really corroborate any of the details in the NY Supreme Court case report is to find the minutes pertaining to the Gillespy case from the lower courts. This Gillespy case was apparently heard several times before reaching the NY Supreme Court - in the Ulster County Court of Common Pleas as well as the Orange County Circuit Court, and maybe others. But locating those records is easier said than done, especially knowing that other interested researchers have tried with determination and failed to locate these records. But are the negative search results because the records no longer exist, or because the records are simply not indexed (which effectively hinders any search), and/or they have been mislabeled or misfiled and/or they have been restrictively stored some place that is physically and/or financially inaccessible to the public? I'd love to hear from anybody who has experience or advise about successfully locating early (pre-1800) court records in Ulster or Orange counties, NY.

At this point, I'm going to give a plug to support any genealogical or historical society whose volunteers are attempting to index records and make those indices available online. Even better, support Reclaim The Records. This organization has made phenomenal progress, especially in New York, using the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to see that public records are released to the public domain. The job of discovering and untangling our family history should not be hampered by government restrictions. My two cents.