Our Gillaspy forefathers came from Scotland several years before the American Revolution, for it is recorded in the colonial records that several of them served in the colonial army. This information was obtained from the Archives and Historical Department of the Virginia State Library at Richmond, Virginia. The following names of those who served from Virginia are: George Gillaspy, Robert Gillaspy, Thomas Gillaspy, James Gillaspy, William Gillaspy, and Alexander Gillespie. Note: See enclosed folder in the back of this book for more information on the Revolutionary members of the Gillaspy family. This Robert mentioned here and the others were of the generation before that of our great grandfather, the Robert who married Nancy Montgomery. So our family (the Gillaspy-Montgomerys) starts with the second generation of American pioneers. During the early years of the nineteenth century in about the years 1817-1818, three brothers of the Virginia Gillaspys decided to migrate to the western territory of the United States beyond the Appalachians. These brothers were Robert, James and William. They were probably sons of those we find in the list we have named above. They came up through the Cumberland Gap and up the Daniel Boone Trail through Kentucky and stopped in what is now Clark County, Indiana. We do not know how long they remained in Clark County, but there is a record of the marriage of Robert Gillaspy to Nancy Montgomery in the County Clerk's office, dated October 12, 1812. The two other brothers, James and William went on still farther north and settled in Johnson County, near the present town of Nineveh. James was the ancestor of Mrs. Dale Lamaster of Scottsburg, Indiana, in Scott County. He was her great grandfather. Robert Gillaspy was the second person to file a claim in what is now Vernon Township in Jackson County and James Hughes Hall was the first. He was also destined to become a great grandfather in our family since his daughter, Rachel Hall, married Robert Sr.'s son, Robert Gillaspy, Jr., who was my grandfather. Robert Gillaspy, Sr. and James H. Hall were neighbors, for the claims that they had taken lay very close together along the Muscatatuck River and east of the site of the present town of Crothersville, which of course, was not located yet. This was in the year of 1818. Robert Gillaspy, Sr. married Nancy Montgomery in Clark County, Indiana in the year of 1812. It is recorded in the county clerk's office in Book A by John Reese, the county clerk. Robert was 19 and Nancy was 17. She was the 7th in the family of William and Mary Montgomery who had a few years before that come to Indiana from the town of Washington, the county seat of Washington County, PA. As the parents of 13 children, one can understand how William and Mary became the forbearers and founders of so many families in southern Indiana, especially in Jennings, Clark, Scott and Jackson Counties. The ones of most interest to us of the Gillaspy-Gorrell-Montgomery families would be Nancy, Alexander and Matthew. Nancy was to be my great grandmother on my father's side by her marriage to Robert Gillaspy, Sr. and Alexander Montgomery was my great grandfather on my mother's side, the Gorrell family. Matthew, a brother to Nancy and Alexander, married Catherine Bridges. They were the parents of Sarah Montgomery, who married Joseph Gorrell, a brother to my grandfather, John F. Gorrell. Sarah and Joseph Gorrell were the parents of the Wilmer Gorrell, the Joseph Blair and Walter Houghland families. William and Mary Montgomery had settled in Clark County near what is now the town of New Washington. It seems very probable that it was named by them for their old home town in Pennsylvania. The old Montgomery home still stands on the farm near new Washington. The census records for 1820 give a Robert Gillaspy--age 26-44, his wife 16-25, a son under ten years and two daughters under ten years. This would have been soon after they had filed their claim in Jackson County in 1818. The children would have been William, Elizabeth and Sarah, since James and Robert Jr. were born after 1820. This land on which they settled was about 1 1/2 miles northeast of what is now the town of Crothersville and it is still in the Gillaspy family. On this farm they raised a family of seven children: William, Elizabeth, Sarah, James, Robert Jr., Nancy and Thomas. Two of these were my grandfather, Robert Jr., and my great uncle James Gillaspy. James married my great aunt Elizabeth Gorrell on my mother's side. William, the oldest son, married Rachel Tobias. He was one of the first ordained Baptist ministers in Jackson County. My grandfather was also a Baptist minister but I do not think that he was ordained. William owned and operated the farm on which he lived. This is the farm that lays just east of Uniontown. The land on which the Uniontown Church stands and the older part of the cemetery was a part of this farm at one time. The first Baptist Church was on Grassy Creek between Crothersville and Uniontown. (Note: Uniontown was formerly called Marling). A new church was built at Uniontown and the members of the Grassy Creek Church were united with the ones in the community of the new church and that is why it is now called Uniontown. Uncle William was the minister there. My grandfather had also preached some in the Grassy Creek church. He was 15 years younger than William. This church was located just to the east of the cemetery there. Most of the older members of our family are buried there. Rev. William Gillaspy was the moderator of the Brownstown Baptist Association and helped to reorganize the Brownstown church. He was the first minister in the Association to proclaim the missionary sentiments. His advocacy of this doctrine brought upon him strong opposition but he was ever zealous in what he believed to be right and never ceased to advocate the doctrine until he had won out. He converted hundreds after years of continuous effort to the cause of Christ. He died December 25, 1878. Uncle William's daughter, Cynthia, married Samuel Houghland. he was born in 1832 in Clark County. I remember them very well when I, as a small boy with my parents, visited them. They lived on the old homestead farm of Cynthia's father, Uncle William, just east of Uniontown. That was their home most of their life. He built the present house that still stands on the farm and it is still one of the most beautiful homes in that neighborhood. Cynthia died in 1906. He lived until 1923 and was 91 when he died. James E., a son of Uncle William, married Melvina Ammons. They were the parents of Dr. Charles Gillespie, who practiced medicine in both Crothersville and Seymour; in the latter town as an eye, ear, nose and throat specialist. James E. lived in Crothersville. He died there in 1917. Dr. Charles married Ruth Davis. They had two children, Janet and Joe. Besides Dr. Charles, James E. had six other children; they were Nora, Gertrude, Mary, John, Bertha and Harry. Gertrude married Dr. Guy Bard, D.V.M. of Crothersville. James E. is the one who changed the spelling of the family surname from "aspy" to "espie". Elizabeth was the oldest daughter of Robert Gillaspy, Sr. She married John Tobias for her first husband. He was a brother to Rachel who had married Uncle William Gillaspy. The children of John and Elizabeth (Gillaspy) Tobias were America, Nancy and Harrison. Harrison was killed in the Civil War. America married Uncle John Hall, a brother to my grandmother, Rachel Gillaspy Hall. America and John Hall had two children, Albert and Sarah. The next oldest son of Robert Sr. was James Gillaspy. He married Elizabeth Gorrell. She was an aunt to my mother, Minnie Gorrell Gillaspy. Uncle James was the oldest son of Robert Sr. and when my great grandfather died, Uncle James (or as we always called him, Uncle "Jimmy") took over the management of the farm. He and Aunt Elizabeth lived there and raised a family of three daughters and one son. Two of the daughters were to become Almira Stewart and Mary Jane Cravens by marriage to Milford Stewart and John Cravens. Their descendants are now some of our good neighbors and our double cousins by the marriage of Uncle Jimmy Gillaspy and Aunt Elizabeth Gorrell. This original farm of my great grandfather Gillaspy and later of Uncle Jimmy has remained in the Gillaspy family all those years since 1818. After Uncle Jimmy retired, his son Ira, owned and operated it for 25 or 30 years. He then sold it to his nephew, Clyde Cravens, a grandson of Uncle Jimmy Gillaspy. Then about 1935 it was purchased by my uncle Leonard Gillaspy and his son, Dr. G.R. Gillaspy. In 1949 my son, John E. and his wife Marjorie, purchased it and it is now operated by them. They have raised their family there and have recently built a new home not far from the site of the original home of Robert and Nancy. They have made many improvements on the old Gillaspy Homestead and practice the very latest methods in grain and livestock farming. Another daughter of Robert Sr., Nancy, married James H. Hall, Jr. He also was a brother to my grandmother Gillaspy (Rachel), which made a double cousin relationship between the James H. Hall family and Robert Gillaspy, Jr. family. The two families did always seem to be very close to each other. Uncle Jim Hall was a farmer and he also owned and operated all kinds of machinery used on a farm in those days such as it was. Grain binders and threshing machines had just then been recently improved and put into general use. Also he operated hay balers, fodder shredders, clover hullers and sawmills. He loved to tinker with machinery. He was also a Justice of the Peace for 12 years in Vernon Township and he was a staunch Democrat. The children of Uncle Jim and Aunt Nancy were John Sebiske or "Bick" as he was called, and Lafayette and Sarah. John Sebiske married Sarah Jane Bedel. They had three(?) children: William Amos, Avery and Laura. Amos, know as "A", married Florence Blunt. Their children were: Clara, Raymond and Halsey. Clara married Roy Peacock. Laura married Kaspar Foster and they had two children: Loren and Mary Fern. When Laura's mother died, she came and lived with Uncle Jimmy Gillespie. He was also her uncle. She attended school here and my sister, Alta, and she were very good friends. __________________________ History of Jackson County, Indiana, Chicago: Brant & Fuller, 1886, p. 456