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No restrictions. Open for research.

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Copyright Notice

Copyright is retained by the authors of items in these papers, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.

Preferred Citation

[Identification of item], in the David Gillespie Papers #5483-z, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Acquisitions Information

Received from Catherine Palmer in November 2008 (Acc. 101027).

Sensitive Materials Statement

Manuscript collections and archival records may contain materials with sensitive or confidential information that is protected under federal or state right to privacy laws and regulations, the North Carolina Public Records Act (N.C.G.S. § 132 1 et seq.), and Article 7 of the North Carolina State Personnel Act (Privacy of State Employee Personnel Records, N.C.G.S. § 126-22 et seq.). Researchers are advised that the disclosure of certain information pertaining to identifiable living individuals represented in this collection without the consent of those individuals may have legal ramifications (e.g., a cause of action under common law for invasion of privacy may arise if facts concerning an individual's private life are published that would be deemed highly offensive to a reasonable person) for which the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill assumes no responsibility.

Processed by: Armando Suarez, December 2010

Encoded by: Armando Suarez, December 2010

The following terms from Library of Congress Subject Headings suggest topics, persons, geography, etc. interspersed through the entire collection; the terms do not usually represent discrete and easily identifiable portions of the collection--such as folders or items.

Clicking on a subject heading below will take you into the University Library's online catalog.

• Ellicott, Andrew, 1754-1820.
• Enslaved persons--North Carolina.
• Estates (Law)--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Gillespie, David, 1774-1829.
• Hutchins, Anthony, ca. 1720-1804.
• Natchez (Miss. : District)--History--18th century.
• Natchez (Miss.)--History.
• New Orleans (La.)--History.
• Pollock, Oliver, 1737-1823.
• Slaveholders--North Carolina.
• Slavery--North Carolina.
• Surveying--Mississippi--History--18th century.
• Surveyors--North Carolina--History--18th century.
• United States--Boundaries--History--18th century.
• United States--History--Revolution, 1775-1783.
• Willing, James, fl. 1797.

David Gillespie was born in Duplin County, N.C., on 5 April 1774. He graduated from the University of North Carolina in 1795, after which he accepted the position of assistant surveyor with Andrew Ellicott, secretary of the commission to mark the western boundary of the United States. This work was done primarily in the Natchez, Miss., region. Gillespie was a major during the War of 1812 and also served in the North Carolina legislature. Gillespie died in 1829 in Bladen County, N.C.

The collection includes four letters sent by David Gillespie to his parents, one in 1797 to his father and the rest addressed to his mother, 1797-1799. Topics include Gillespie's dissatisfaction with Andrew Ellicott, family matters, his expected return home. The letter to Gillespie's father describes political events occurring during the transfer of sovereignty of the Natchez region from Spain to the United States in which Andrew Ellicott, Colonel Anthony Hutchins, and a British general stationed in Natchez were involved. Also included is a 1797 legal document headed "Government of Natchez, Villa Gayoso District." The document is missing its bottom half, but seems to relate to events in New Orleans, La., and Natchez, possibly during the American Revolutionary War, involving Captain James Willing and wealthy merchant, trader, and financier Oliver Pollock. There is also an 1825 evaluation of David Gillespie's slaves apparently done by his son, Joseph Mumford Gillespie.