S. H. Gillespie, Concordia Parish, Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller



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S. H. Gillespie, planter and merchant, Vidalia, La., whose name is a~
synonym of activity and enterprise, was born in Concordia Parish, La., in
1859, and is a son of John H. and Sarah A. (Nelson) Gillespie, the former
born in Tennessee in 1837 and the latter in Concordia Parish, in 1840. The
father was reared on a farm in his native state and when a young man came
to Concordia Parish, La., where he married and spent the remainder of his
days. He died in 1863 after serving from the beginning up to that time in
the late war. He was a planter, also owned a woodyard and was mail
contractor for some time. He was the only one of his family residing in
this section. His widow is still living and makes her home with her son,
S. H., in Concordia Parish. She is a member of the Methodist church. Her
father, William Nelson, who was probably a native of the Keystone state,
was an early settler of Concordia Parish, La., where he died of yellow
fever in 1853. He was a well-to-do planter and came here when a young man,
afterward marrying a Miss Hoover who belonged to one of the earliest
pioneer families of the parish. She died when her daughter, Mrs.
Gillespie, was but a little girl, the latter having been reared by an
uncle, Jacob Hoover, and educated in Natchez. S. H. Gillespie, the second
in order of birth of three sons, was reared in Natchez and Vidalia and
received his education in the former place. At the early age of thirteen
years he started out as a clerk, continued this until twenty years of age,
and then embarked in merchandising for himself at Vidalia. He also engaged
in planting and was married in 1881 to Miss Esther Sheeley, a native of
Concordia Parish and the daughter of Jacob and Anna Sheeley, natives of
Germany but who came to Concordia Parish before the war. There they passed
the closing scenes of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Gillespie became the
parents of two interesting children. Mr. Gillespie is a member of the
Knights of Pythias of Natchez and has been mayor, city councilman and
treasurer of Vidalia. Mrs. Gillespie is a member of the Episcopal church.

Biographical and Historical Memoires of Louisiana, (vol. 1), p. 445.
Published by the Goodspeed Publishing Company, Chicago, 1892.