James "Smoking Jimmy" Gillespy (1772-1861)

View of Wigton, Scotland, looking north east toward Wigton Bay

Genealogical Keynotes

Vita

• Born: 10 September 1772 (see tombstone photo)
• Married:
• Died: 06 January 1861 (see tombstone photo)
• Burial: Oak Spring Cemetery, Canonsburg, Washington Co., PA
  
  

Ancestry

James "Smoking Jimmy" Gillespy is the son of James Gillespy “Sr.” and Elizabeth Finley.

(Elizabeth (Finley) Gillespy’s parents were John Finley and Elizabeth Thankful Doak.)

Spouse(s)

• Eleanor "Ellen" COWAN, daughter of William COWAN‎ and Jane Walker
  
  

Child List

1. John Finley GILLESPY
   
2. William Cowan GILLESPY, MD b: 24 Mar 1797 in Blount Co., TN; d: 28 Mar 1860
   m. Narcissa ______ "Nancy" SHARP b: 21 Jul 1802 in Maryville, Blount Co., TN; d: 21 Jan 1884
3. James Houston GILLESPY, MD b: 04 Feb 1799 in Blount Co., TN; d: 18 Oct 1881 in Miller's Cove/Walland, Blount Co., TN
   m. Elizabeth Baldridge TUCKER b. 1791: d: 19 Dec 1844
4. Jane Walker GILLESPY 03 Nov 1800 in TN; d: 26 Jun 1882 in Canonsburg, PA
   m. David ______ CARSON b: 25 Oct 1799 in Fayette Co., PA; d: 25 Sep 1834 in Canonsburg, PA
5. Campbell _____ GILLESPY b: 09 Sep 1802; d: 20 Nov 1886 in TN
   m.#1 Hannah C_____ WALLACE b. 1811; d: 1853
   m.#2 Ann ______ HOLIDAY b: 04 May 1833; d: 03 Mar 1890 in Little River, Blount Co., TN

Surname Variations

The GillespY surname has several spelling variations -- e.g., GillespIE, Gillespy, Gillaspy, Gillsapie, Gilaspy, Gilaspie, Gillispy/Gillispie, etc. -- found in various documents and, sometimes, multiple spellings within the same document.

It seems likely that in the 18th century settlement the differences in spelling represented individual idiosyncracies in how different record takers chose to spell the name, and not necessarily the spelling chosen by a specific individual. Thus, as has been discovered by this research, the surname for a single individual may differ between census, may appear one way on a marriage license, may appear differently on a will, land record, tax record, pension record, military record, etc. ... or have multiple spellings even within the same document. How the surname was spelled may have been due to whether the person involved in the transaction knew how to read/write or the document was being written for him/her, whether the person giving the census info was the family member/neighbor, etc. To further muddy the waters, are indexes and transcriptions where the person had trouble reading the old handwriting.

For example, the Cowan Bible records has Rosanna Gillaspie, her Blount Co. marriage license has Gillaspy and Gillespy on the inside and Gillespie on the front, and her pension application for her husband's Indian Wars service has Gillespie. To disregard these spelling variations would cause a researcher to overlook and/or disregard important documents and clues about relevant family data without investigation and analysis of their applicability to a specific family member.

Thus, one cannot reject the GillespIE spelling for individuals (particularly in 18th and early 19th century documents) as not being related to James GillespY and Eleanor Cowan. In following the descendants of "Smoking Jimmie" and Eleanor Cowan through to the present day, the bulk of the GillespY descendants at some point elected to use the GillespIE spelling – even though this may not be their original ancestor's spelling.

In recent years some family lines may have permanently adopted a specific spelling, which may or may not have been the spelling of their ancestor. Some researchers, however, are of the opinion that the differences in spelling reflect real differences in heritage. This seems to be a minority opinion, but one strongly held by some researchers. Perhaps, the choice of spelling reflected political separation, strongly differing viewpoints on other matters, a family feud/rift, or just personal choice, etc. -- for example, a story about two branches of the Wellborn family is that they held differing Revolutionary War loyalties which resulted in one branch spelling the name WELLBORN and the other deliberately changing the vowels and electing a spelling of WILLBURN.

Records

Oral tradition (legend) has it that James Gillespy died while visiting daughter, Jane Walker (Gillespy) Carson; however, from census information, it appears he moved to PA sometime prior to the 1850 census as he is enumerated there in both the 1850 and 1860 census.)

• 1850 census, PA, Washington Co., Canonsburg, shows James Gillaspie (78, VA) in his daughter’s household.

• 1860 census, PA, Beaver Co., Racoon Township, M653_1071, 07/25/1860, p. 662 shows James Gillespie (87, VA) in daughter’s grandson’s household … daughter, Ellen (Gillespy) Carson, is also in David Carson’s household. (David has not married as of this census.)
  
  

Research Needs

Date & place of marriage between "Smoking Jimmie" and Eleanor Cowan. (The marriage is not found in the Blount Co. or Knox Co., TN marriage records.)

Links

• Wigton Walkers
• Walker Home
• Virgina County Boundary Changes
• Smoky Mountain Photos
• Finley & Gillespie Research
• Cowan Clan United
• Gillespie DNA project
  
  

Definitions

Common Acronyms and Definitions Genealogical Definitions

Contributors

Cowantex -- Descendants of Eleanor "Ellen" COWAN

Return to William Cowan (1750 - 1809)‎