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David Gillespie (surveyor)

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David Gillespie
Member of the
North Carolina House of Commons
from Bladen County
In office
November 16, 1812 – December 25, 1813
Preceded byJames Owen
Succeeded byJohn Sellers
In office
November 16, 1807 – December 18, 1807
Preceded byAmos Richardson
Succeeded byJames Owen
Personal details
Born(1774-04-05)April 5, 1774
Golden Grove, Duplin County, Province of North Carolina
(near present-day Kenansville, North Carolina)
DiedSeptember 28, 1829(1829-09-28) (aged 55)
Bladen County, North Carolina, U.S.
Burial placeCarvers, North Carolina, U.S.
Political partyDemocratic-Republican
Spouse
Sarah Street
​
(m. 1802)​
Parents
Alma materUniversity of North Carolina
Occupation
  • Planter
  • engineer
  • surveyor
  • military officer
  • politician
Military service
Branch/serviceU.S. Army
North Carolina militia
RankMajor
UnitFirst Brigade, 4th Regiment
Battles/wars

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 in 1796 to assist the astronomer Andrew Ellicott with determining the Southern boundary of the United States after the 1795 Treaty of San Lorenzo with Spain. Gillespie served in the North Carolina militia as a Major in the War of 1812.

Early life and education

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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.[4]

Career

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George Washington appointed Ellicott as commissioner and Thomas Freeman as surveyor to determine the thirty-first parallel[6] in cooperation with a Spanish commission first led by the astronomer William Dunbar and after Dunbar returned to his home in September 1798, by the Spanish's surveyor, Stephen Minor.[7][8] David Gillespie accepted the position of assistant surveyor for Ellicott,[5] and was one of two assistants of Ellicott, the other being his son Andrew Ellicott Jr.[a][9] The original surveyor of the commission was Thomas Freeman, who likely attained the position through political means.[11] Freeman quarreled with,[12][13] was thought to have acted "improper"[9] and to be insufferably arrogant by Ellicott, who had him removed. A letter written by the Secretary of State, Timothy Pickering, to Ellicott about Freeman's conduct mentions his actions were considered "wholly unwarrantable".[14] Gillespie was appointed surveyor pro tempore for the United States boundary commission by Ellicott in Freeman's stead and afterwards was made the chief surveyor[7] after the work began.[12]

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.[7] In one letter to Ellicott, Gillespie mentioned that Miccosukee warriors under their king, "a man of violent passions," had set out on July 4, 1799, to stop the surveyors. The Miccosukee leader calmed after hearing from Spain and the United States.[15] Gillespie also wrote to his father James 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][16] After his United States Survey of the Coast Service, he was a member of the North Carolina House of Commons and represented Bladen County[17] in 1807[18] and during the War of 1812, from 1812 to 1813.[19][20]

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.[21]

Personal life

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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.[22] Gillespie owned a number of slaves and a plantation.[16]

One of his daughters, Elizabeth (also known as Eliza),[23] at the age of 14 married John A. Robeson, a descendant of William Bartram. Robeson inherited Bartram's plantation, known as Ashwood.[24] 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.[25]

Legacy

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In 1936, twenty-three papers of Ellicott and Gillespie's manuscripts from their survey were accessible at the Library of Congress's division of manuscripts.[26] Today additional papers have been donated to the Library of Congress. The documents in the collection are dated from the late 1770s to 1801.[27] Some of Gillespie's 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.[28]

References

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Notes

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  1. ^ One source mentions an assistant to Ellicott with the last name Walker, however, Juan Pedro Walker was a trilingual assistant surveyor on the Spanish commission born in New Orleans in 1781 to a French mother and English father.[9] He accompanied Ellicott Jr. and Gillespie on the measurements southward to the 31st parallel in early 1798.[10]

Citations

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  1. ^ Weeks 1887, p. 5.
  2. ^ Battle 1907, p. 75–7.
  3. ^ Battle 1907, p. 73.
  4. ^ a b Battle 1907, p. 77.
  5. ^ a b c d "David Gillespie Papers, 1797-1799, 1825 #5483-z". Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Special Collections Library. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries.
  6. ^ McReynolds 1957, p. 33.
  7. ^ a b c 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.
  8. ^ Rowland 1907, p. 277–8.
  9. ^ a b c Pinnen & Weeks 2021.
  10. ^ Rowland 1907, p. 277.
  11. ^ McReynolds 1957, p. 35.
  12. ^ a b Fortier 1914, p. 363.
  13. ^ Rowland 1907, p. 278.
  14. ^ McReynolds 1957, pp. 35–6.
  15. ^ McReynolds 1957, pp. 36.
  16. ^ a b "David Gillespie Papers, 1797-1799, 1825". African American Documentary Resources. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Libraries.
  17. ^ Battle 1907, p. 162.
  18. ^ "North Carolina State House of Commons 1807". Carolana.
  19. ^ "North Carolina State House of Commons 1812". Carolana.
  20. ^ "North Carolina State House of Commons 1813". Carolana.
  21. ^ "The First Brigade of NC Militia". Carolana.
  22. ^ Allen 1935, pp. 484–5.
  23. ^ "Death at Red Springs". The Weekly Star. Vol. XXIX. Wilmington, North Carolina: North Carolina Newspapers, Digital North Carolina. June 10, 1898. p. 1.
  24. ^ Parramore, Thomas C. (1979). "Bartram, William". NCpedia. Retrieved July 5, 2024.
  25. ^ 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.
  26. ^ "Historical News and Comments". The Mississippi Valley Historical Review. 23 (2): 324. September 1936. JSTOR 1893315.
  27. ^ Nolen, Anita. Kerwin, Patrick (ed.). "Andrew Ellicott Papers [finding aid], Manuscript Division, Library of Congress" (PDF). Library of Congress.
  28. ^ "David B. Gillespie papers". Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.

Bibliography

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