David Gillespie (surveyor)

Sarah Street

​

(m. 1802)​

David Gillespie
Member of the North Carolina House of Commons from Bladen County
In office November 16, 1812 –December 25, 1813
Children	12
Parents	James Gillespie (father) Dorcas Mumford (mother)
Alma mater	University of North Carolina
Occupation	Planter engineer surveyor military officer politician
Military service
Branch/service	U.S. Army North Carolina militia
Rank	Major
Unit	First Brigade, 4th Regiment
Battles/wars	War of 1812

David B. Gillespie was an American land surveyor and politician. He was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons as a representative from Bladen County and was the first person granted a document in the nature of a diploma from what is today the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received the document prior to leaving the university to assist Andrew Ellicott with determining the Southern boundary of the United States. Gillespie served in the North Carolina militia as a Major in the War of 1812.

Early life and education

David Gillespie was born April 5, 1774, on his fathers plantation, known as Golden Grove, in Duplin County, Province of North Carolina. He attended the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He was a founding member of the Philanthropic Society ^[1] and the Concord Society at the university, along with his younger brother Joseph, and was its first president. The Concord Society's first meeting was held on August 10, 1795. The Concord Society split from the older Dialectic and Philanthropic Societies, likely due to a disagreement about having an officer position known as the Censor Morum . ^[2] The Censor Morum had grand powers and duties and was intended "to inspect the conduct and morals of the members and report to the society those who preserve inattention to the studies of the University, in neglect of their duties as members, or in acting in such a manner as to reflect disgrace on their fellow-members." ^[3] Gillespie motioned for the Concord Society to be renamed the Greek Philanthropic Society on August 29, 1796. He became the first person to receive a certificate in his name "in the nature of a diploma" by the university before he left to be the assistant to the secretary, Andrew Ellicott, on the commission to determine the Southern ^[4] and Western boundary of the United States with Spanish Florida and Louisiana. ^[5]

We, the undersigned Professors of the University of North Carolina, have had under our particular care Mr. David Gillespie of this State. He has studied Greek and Latin and the elementary Mathematics in their application to Surveying, Navigation, etc. He has also read under our care Natural Philosophy and Astronomy. His behavior, while at this place, has met with our warmest approbation. Mr. Gillespie, being about to leave the University to attend Mr. Ellicott in determining the Southern boundary of the United States, we have thought proper to give him this certificate.

Chas. W. Harris
Prof. of Math. and N.Phil.
Sam'l Holmes
Prof. of Lang.
W. L. Richards
Teacher of French and English
University, N. C., September 22, 1796.

Career

George Washington appointed Ellicott as commissioner to determine the thirty-first parallel in cooperation with a Spanish commission first led by William Dunbar and after Dunbar was replaced, by Stephen Minor. ^[6] David Gillespie accepted the position of assistant surveyor for Ellicott, ^[5] later becoming surveyor pro tempore for the United States boundary commission and afterwards the chief surveyor, replacing Thomas Freeman. The survey encountered some difficulties with the Native Americans, namely the Eufala, the Seminole, and the Upper Creek, and Ellicott at times feared for Gillespie's safety in some of his writings. ^[6] Gillespie wrote to his father about the political events that surrounded the transfer of the Natchez region, near present-day Natchez, Mississippi, to the United States in 1795. Some of his letters indicate his dissatisfaction with Ellicott. ^{[5] [7]} After his United States Survey of the Coast Service, he was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons and represented Bladen County ^[8] in 1807 ^[9] and during the War of 1812, from 1812 to 1813. ^{[10] [11]}

In the War of 1812, Gillespie served as a Major of the 4th Regiment of the First Brigade of the North Carolina militia. He served under lieutenant colonel Alfred Rowland, the grandfather of U.S. congressman Alfred Rowland. ^[12]

Personal life

David Gillespie was the son of James Gillespie, a U.S. congressman, and Dorcas Mumford Gillespie. He married Sarah Street, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Clopton Street. ^[13] Gillespie owned a number of slaves and a plantation. ^[7]

One of his daughters, Elizabeth (also known as Eliza), ^[14] at the age of 14 married John A. Robeson, a descendant of William Bartram. Robeson inherited Bartram's plantation, known as Ashwood. ^[15] Elizabeth, along with a slave known as Dorcas, purported to have seen ghosts at the plantation and it was consequently pulled down in 1856 or 1857. ^[16]

Legacy

Twenty-three papers of Ellicott and Gillespie's manuscripts from their survey can be accessed at the Library of Congress's division of manuscripts. ^[17] Some of his papers have been digitized by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill libraries as part of the Southern Historical Collection at the Wilson Special Collections Library. ^[5] A letter, fragments of legal documents, and a list of accounts written by Gillespie can be found at the Dolph Briscoe Center for American History on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. ^[18]

References

1. Weeks 1887, p. 5.
2. Battle 1907, p. 75–7.
3. Battle 1907, p. 73.
4. Battle 1907, p. 77.
5. "David Gillespie Papers, 1797-1799, 1825 #5483-z". Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries.
6. Holmes, Jack D. L. (April 1966). "The Southern Boundary Commission, the Chattahoochee River, and the Florida Seminoles, 1799". The Florida Historical Quarterly. 44 (4): 312–337. JSTOR   30147229.
7. "David Gillespie Papers, 1797-1799, 1825". African American Documentary Resources. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries.
8. Battle 1907, p. 162.
9. "North Carolina State House of Commons 1807". Carolana.
10. "North Carolina State House of Commons 1812". Carolana.
11. "North Carolina State House of Commons 1813". Carolana.
12. "The First Brigade of NC Militia". Carolana.
13. Allen 1935, pp. 484–5.
14. "Death at Red Springs". The Weekly Star. Vol. XXIX. Wilmington, North Carolina: North Carolina Newspapers, Digital North Carolina. June 10, 1898. p. 1.
15. Parramore, Thomas C. (1979). "Bartram, William". NCpedia. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
16. Bartram, John; Harper, Francis (December 1942). "Diary of a Journey through the Carolinas, Georgia, And Florida from July 1, 1765, to April 10, 1766". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. 33 (1): 81. doi:10.2307/1005551. JSTOR   1005551.
17. "Historical News and Comments". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 23 (2): 324. September 1936. JSTOR   1893315.
18. "David B. Gillespie papers". Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Bibliography

• Weeks, Stephen Beauregard, ed. (1887). Register of Members of the Philanthropic Society, Instituted in the University of North Carolina, August 1st, 1795. Fourth Edition, Revised and Enlarged. "Virtue, Liberty and Science.". Raleigh, North Carolina: Edwards, Broughton & Co., Power Printers and Binders – via University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries.
• Battle, Kemp P. (1907). History of the University of North Carolina: From its Beginning to the Death of President Swain, 1789–1868. Vol. I. Raleigh, North Carolina: Edwards & Broughton Printing Company – via Internet Archive. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
• Allen, Sarah Cantey Whitaker (1935). Our Children's Ancestry. Milledgeville, Georgia, U.S.: Sarah Cantey Whitaker Allen – via the Internet Archive.