George W. C. Gillespie

GILLESPIE, TURNER, ELLIS

Posted By: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs (email)
Date: 4/2/2009 at 10:24:05

GEORGE W. C. GILLESPIE, an active and enterprising farmer of Viola Township, was born in Alabama, near Mobile, February 22, 1851, and is a son of George W. C. and Virtue (Turner) Gillespie. The mother was born in Lincolnshire, England, and the father was a native of Tennessee. He followed flatboating on the Tennessee and Mississippi rivers until he was twenty six years of age. Quitting the river, he ran a plantation, engaging in cattle raising. He lost heavily in this business, and in 1848 he came to Burlington, Iowa, and purchased a sawmill, which he continued to operate for three years. In 1853 Mr. Gillespie removed to Marion County, Iowa, and located at Knoxville, where he engaged in contracting and building for six years. In 1863 he removed to Grinnell, Iowa, and resides there at the present. His children live in Iowa, excepting three. George W. C. Gillespie, Jr., passed his youth in Knoxville and Grinnell. He attended school until he was thirteen years old, when he took charge of the farm, his father being from home most of the time. At the age of twenty one years he was married to Catherine Ellis, of Grinnell, Iowa, a daughter of Solon and Phoebe Ellis. In 1874 he removed to Audubon County and settled on his present farm, when his nearest neighbor was two miles distant. He broke the first furrow on his farm, which is now under good cultivation, and has made many valuable improvements. The farm contains 160 acres, which is well stocked with high grade animals. Mr. and Mrs. Gillespie are the parents of seven children Ross E., Gertrude M., Mary E., Nellie B., James G., Jessie L. and Celia V. Mr. Gillespie has represented his township as trustee and as road supervisor. In politics he votes the Republican ticket. He is a member of the A. O. U. W. He is also a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Coon Rapids, of which he has been steward for eight years. The Gillespie family are of Scotch descent, the first emigrants coming to America about the time of the Revolutionary war.

1889 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF
SHELBY AND AUDUBON COUNTIES, IOWA
W. S. DUNBAR & CO., PUBLISHERS
113 ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO

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