Over the years, I've seen any number of Gillespie family trees that point to the couple, James Gillespie and Elizabeth Riddle, as the progenitors of their family line. I eventually found one source which is probably responsible for this claim: American Ancestry (AA), which is itself an unsourced work of many volumes claiming to register the pedigrees of early American males. Volume 11 has an entry for Gillespie which runs for several pages, starting with brothers David, John, and James who descended from the Campbell clan in the highlands of Scotland and later crossed into Ireland to first settle in county Antrim. After fighting for the Prince of Orange in 1690, the Gillespie brothers moved to county Monaghan where James Gillespie married Elizabeth Riddle around 1700 and from there, the story of all their descendants flows. How I would love to know who was the author of this account.
As we know, the problem with these sorts of publications is their tale usually cannot be corroborated and yet they often contain some nugget of truth. Some of the details almost fit what many of us know about our Gillespies, but not quite, no matter how much we want them to. And for each unsubstantiated claim used as the precursor for the next unsubstantiated claim, the value of such sources shrinks into a sad curse befalling many family historians — to innocently believe in our own blindness.
The good news is this: even though some things get lost with the passage of time, other things, remarkably, get found. Given that we're talking here about Ireland where so much family history was consumed by flames, any evidence "found" these days comes as a surprise. And so, such a moment recently presented itself to me:
According to a marriage contract recorded on 19 Nov 1725, Andrew Rutherford of Caddagh and William Riddle of Annaghmacneal, both of Tullycorbet parish, co Monaghan acknowledged themselves to be indebted to James Gillespie of Derryvalley for 50 pounds on condition that he marry Elizabeth Riddle, daughter of John Riddle, deceased, of Tynascamphy (?); Rutherford and Riddle to turn over lease from Michael Fleming of 990 years for 40 acres in Mullacrock, Tullycorbet, several witnesses including David Gillespie of Drummuck, linen draper.
This contract was recorded as memorial 151382 in volume 228, page 405, part of memorial books going back to 1709 which are stored in the Registry of Deeds in Dublin. We can thank the Genealogical Society of Utah for creating 2686 microfilms of the memorial books in 1951, and the Family History Library for since digitizing those films so they are viewable online today. We can also thank countless volunteers who contribute to the efforts to index and transcribe these memorials, and in the case of this particular memorial, my personal thanks go to researcher Sharon Oddie Brown.
There might well be other memorials pertaining to James and Elizabeth, which might see the light of day if another hard-working soul locates, indexes, transcribes, and publishes them. Meanwhile, there a number of other memorials pertaining to Gillespies in Tullycorbet parish of county Monaghan. In particular, we learn from them about one Bothwick Gillespie, who was mentioned at the end of the AA account as a son of Joseph Gillespie and who sailed for America after the Rebellion of 1798. But now the memorials tell us that David Gillespie of Drummuck had a son named Bothwick, and even more astonishingly, on 9 Sep 1795, Bothwick Gillespie of North Carolina in the United States of America conveyed his lands back in Drummuck to John Coulter. See how the memorials shed new light on the details from the AA account? And see how one particular memorial now clearly associates Gillespies in North Carolina with Gillespies in Drummuck, Monaghan. Happily, that which has been blurred becomes focused through the lens of real evidence.
Maybe it's coincidence that I decided to start the new year by digging into Gillespies in County Monaghan (click here to see my research notes). And now surprise, we have stumbled into some clearly identifiable Gillespie family groups in Tullycorbet parish, Monaghan. The question of whether they are related to my Gillespie family is open, although it seems very likely that all Gillespies in that region of Eastern Monaghan-Western Armagh probably knew of each other, related or not.
For the moment, it's just good to feel that my own Research Going Nowhere can still be revitalized. All us family history researchers can use the reminder that new discoveries leading to new understandings are still and always completely possible.
