Restrictions to Access

No restrictions. Open for research.

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 Gillespie and Wright Family Papers #275, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Alternate Form of Material

All or part of this collection is available on microfilm from University Publications of America as part of the Records of ante-bellum southern plantations from the Revolution through the Civil War, Series J.

Acquisitions Information

Gift of Isaac W. and Lutie Murchison before 1940, and of Mae Clark Ambrose, April 1991.

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: Scott Philyaw, February 1992

Encoded by: ByteManagers Inc., 2008

Updated by: Kathryn Michaelis, December 2009

This collection was rehoused under the sponsorship of a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities, Office of Preservation, Washington, D.C., 1990-1992.

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.

• Acrostics--History--19th century.
• African American poets--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Duplin County (N.C.)--Social life and customs.
• Estates (Law)--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Families--North Carolina--Social life and customs.
• Gillespie family.
• Gillespie, Dorcas Mumford, 1750-1801.
• Gillespie, James, 1747?-1805.
• Horses in literature--History--19th century.
• Horton, George Moses, 1798?-ca. 1880.
• Moorhead, James, d. 1808?
• Plantations--North Carolina--Duplin County.
• Real property--North Carolina--History--19th century.
• Slave bills of sale--North Carolina.
• Slavery--North Carolina.
• Stuart, Jeb, 1833-1864.
• Wright family.
• Wright, Isaac, 1780-1865.
• Wright, Jane Gillespie, 1785-1858.

There is some uncertainty about the birthplace of James Gillespie (1747?-1805), planter, North Carolina state legislator, 1779-1786, and U.S. congressman, 1793-1799 and 1803-1805. The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography says that he was born in County Monaghan, Ireland, while the Biographical Dictionary of the United States Congress gives his birthplace as Duplin County, N.C. Gillespie was married to Dorcas Mumford Gillespie (1750-1801). Their daughter, Jane (1785-1858), married planter Isaac Wright (1780-1865).

The Gillespie and Wright families owned thousands of acres of land and significant numbers of slaves in the lower Cape Fear region of North Carolina, especially in Duplin County. Besides the political endeavors of James Gillespie, the men of the family tended to be active in local community affairs.

Chiefly legal and financial Papers, 1735-1845, of Gillespie and Wright family members, including land records, deeds, plats, and surveyor's notes; tax records; slave bills of sale and other items relating to slaves and slavery; accounts, bills, and receipts; papers relating to business dealings with various Duplin County tenants of Isaac Wright; wills and property inventories; and documents relating to the settlement of the estate of James Moorhead (d. 1808?), for which Isaac Wright and Hinton James (1776-1847) acted as executors. There are also some personal Papers, mostly 1790-1830, of family members. In addition, there are two acrostics by black poet George Moses Horton (circa 1797 circa 1883); a copy of Jeb Stuart's "Ode to his favorite War Horse 'Maryland'"; and a 1990 Gillespie family tree and short family history. The papers contain few references to political and national events; they are chiefly concerned with business and family matters.

Many of the early deeds and plats were apparently gathered by Isaac Wright as background information for an 1820s land dispute (see Subseries 1.1, folder 7). They may also have belonged to an unidentified Mr. Gillespie who worked as a surveyor around 1798.

• Extra Oversize Paper Folder (X-OPF-275/1)