Norma Gillespie is researching her Gillespie ancestors, who originally came from Screeby, Co. Tyrone (but very near the border with Co. Fermanagh; and in the McCabe List, William Gillespie gave his townland and county of origin as Screeby, Fermanagh).
William Gillespie was in Upper Canada, in the Bytown [Ottawa] area, by 1829, at which point he signed the above-mentioned McCabe List. He married an Eliza Atkinson, with whom he had four known children, including a John Gillespie (married Elizabeth Mulligan), who lived near Billings Bridge in Gloucester township, Carleton County, Ontario.
William Gillespie died tragically, “knifed in a fight 5 days before Christmas in 1841” (as per the family history research of Norma Gillespie), leaving Eliza Atkinson a widow with four young children.
Much more information on the Gillespie family can be found here, at the Gillespie Family History & Library Archives.
