Gillespie Family Genealogy

Gillespie Family Genealogy

We’ve been actively researching our family’s genealogy for some time now and have found it extremely interesting and exciting. Though our family’s had done some preliminary genealogy research in the past, what we have found is that with the internet access and computer programs we have today, the process is substantially easier and much less time consuming than it was 10 - 20 years ago. What we can do in a day with our Family Tree Maker software and Ancestry.com access would literally take months 20 years ago. Most importantly, it’s been a wonderful project the entire family can participate in.

There are quite a number of surprises in which we ran across right from the beginning and most likely we are just scratching the surface. For instance, our father, Kevin Gillespie, grew up in the town of Madison Connecticut. We recently have discovered we had a number of Grandfathers and Grandmothers who lived, actually settled, that part of the country. Ironically, some of the Inns and Taverns that our father and his friends would visit as young adults were established by his

Grandfather’s 350 years earlier. In fact, Connecticut was full of our direct ancestors in the first few hundred years that it was settled.

Another great experience has been in learning of the lives of our great, great, great grandparents as they emigrated to the west from points east. Either via the Oregon Trail or around Cape Horn via a Californian Clipper ship, it has truly been amazing, almost as if we were there with them.

We also have found that we have a lineage to William Bradford of the Mayflower, which has been very exciting for our oldest daughter Brittany, as she loves the story of the Pilgrims and is what her 2nd grade class got to study this year. This is somewhat ironic due to the fact we also know that the founder of Rhode Island, Roger Williams, is a great grandfather from the Price side of the family and he too arrived by ship, (The Lyon), shortly after the Pilgrims.

We’ve also found that our 12th great grandfather, Lieutenant Thomas Tracy, traveled from England on the ship, “The Supply,” the companion ship to the Mayflower. (This ship landed in Virginia 20 days later) And, our 10th great grandfather, George Allen b. 1571, arrived on the “Speedwell,” the sister ship to the Mayflower that had to turn back due to leakage but eventually made the voyage to America.

Griswold Inn, Essex Connecticut 1776

Nathan and Orson Tracy Civil War 1865

Californian Clipper Ship

Mayflower

Our very first grandparents to the new world, however, were Governor William and Mary Tracy. William was the Governor of the Virginia Colony in 1620, (Jamestown, Pocahontas). Jamestown was the first English settlement in the new world. His wife, Mary and their daughter Anne, were killed by in Indians very near what is today Norfolk Virginia. William and Mary are our 13th great grandparents.

Virginia Colony 1620

Three of our of our more notable ancestors up to this point have been King Charlemagne, the first Holy (Christian) Roman Emperor (born 742), England’s King William (born 1027) and King Henry (born 1068). King Charlemagne is Brittany and Alicia’s 42nd Great Grandfather. King William, known as England’s first king, (also by William the conqueror), is Brittany and Alicia’s 32nd Great Grandfather and King Henry their 31st.

Without doubt, our Family Heritage has been, and will continue to be, an enjoyable work in progress for many years to come and will serve as a great learning experience for all of us.

King Charlemagne

The navigation links below will take you to some of our research thus far. This is an on-going family project and we will be adding to our library of Gillespie genealogy on a continuing basis. If you’re interested in discovering your own family’s ancestors and learning of their lives click on the link below.

Gillespie Family Tree Surname List

The Gillespie Family Tree contains over 2400 individuals beginning with our 2nd youngest member of the tree, Brittany Morgan Gillespie, age 8, and following her ancestry through 99 generations. spanning over 2000 years. Duplications of ancestors have been removed. (the first 1000 years contain duplicated lineages through 4 different ancestral lines and only 1 line is depicted to reduce file size)

This tree is generated with Family Tree Maker software and is displayed in an Adobe PDF file requiring magnification to view

The Surname List contains over 2900 individuals and calculates the relationship with our youngest family member, Alicia Lauren Gillespie, age 6. This report spans 155 generations, beginning with Adam and Eve. The individuals listed in this report are not all included in the family tree due to a software restriction of 99 generations.

This Surname list is generated with Family Tree Maker software

The following links will take you through a brief explanation and history of the lives of just a few of our ancestors that are included in the Family Tree and Surname list above. We will be expanding these Ancestral summaries as our research continues so please continue to check back frequently.

Interested in family genealogy?