My Family Owned Slaves
My family owned slaves.
Clearly there are many Americans for whom this is a reality. What I know is that, in his will, Thomas Gillespie
BORN: ca. 1719
MARR: ca. 1745 Augusta Co Virginia
DIED: 15 Dec 1796 Rowan Co North Carolina
owned and bequeathed five slaves to his children. To his wife, he gave the women, Liza and Fan. To his son, Alexander Gillespie, he gave a boy, Peter and a woman, Violet. To his son, Robert Gillespie, he gave the man, Dick and the woman, Phoebe.
You can see the will here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~dmorgan/thomasg.txt
My father's mother's mother was Lula Gillespie (1883-1969) and the lines goes:
Lula
-> Francis Marion Gillespie (1843-1900) -> John Morgan Gillespie
(1811-1881) -> George Gillespie (1811-1881)->George Gillespie
(1751-1818)->Thomas Gillespie (1719-1797).
I just found this document on the web today.
The Gillespie family can also claim the Gillespie Rifle which was said to be the rifle that "won the west" which may be accurately translated as the rifle that committed genocide of native Americans. Additionally, a more distant relative, Major Archibald H. Gillespie, was an officer in the Mexican American war sent by President Polk, also a relative (twice removed), to California in 1845 to explore the potential of annexing California.
So, all of this is me...
I'm not sure how to deal with it...
If I have learned anything in the last few months it's to take heart in the progress that has been achieved and to focus on keeping it moving in the right direction. As these generations of our family have continued through the years, the migrations and marriages have, over time, produced descendants who are living lives antithetical to the values that allowed slavery to exist. Look at what you do for a career, do you think that was an accident? And look at your kids and the amazing things they are going to accomplish. Look at the community you were drawn to, where you make your home.
Don't know if you have heard the stories yet about Barak Obama's family. They believe that on his mother's caucasian side, there was a history of slave ownership.
There's also a new documentary out called Meeting David Wilson" where a young african american man sought out the descendants of the family that owned his. Their conversations, and their realizations are really interesting. MSNBC hosed their dialogue on April 11.
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23780855/
Maybe there is a way to learn more about Liza, Fan, Peter and their descendants. The MSNBC site gives some African American geneaology links.
http://boomers.msn.com/article.aspx?cp-documentid=384624
Posted by: Martha | April 12, 2008 at 05:13 PM
Martha,
Thanks for the comments and for the links. The idea of trying to find out more about these people is a good one.
Posted by: Conches | April 20, 2008 at 06:59 PM