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.