GILLESPIE, (Col.) John C., Montgomery Cty., VA., then St. Landry Parish,
Louisiana
Submitted by Mike Miller


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COL. JOHN CRAWFORD GILLESPIE, OPELOUSAS.--Col. Gillespie is one of St. Landry
parish's most progressive and successful planters.  The Colonel is a native of
Montgomery county, Virginia, born January 8, 1816.  He is the son of Samuel P.
V. and Polly (Crawford) Gillespie, both of whom are natives of Virginia.
Samuel P. V. Gillespie was a Methodist minister of ability.  He at times
presided over churches in Virginia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Alabama and
Mississippi.  He was a man of remarkably robust constitution, weighing two
hundred and forty pounds, and being six feet and four inches in height.  In
1842 he removed to Trinity, Louisiana, where he was engaged in his ministerial
labors up to the time of his death in 1850.  His wife survived him until 1860.

Both our subject's maternal and paternal grandparents were natives of
Virginia, and both his grandfathers were soldiers of the Revolutionary War.
Col. Gillespie was educated in Tennessee and Kentucky.  He received his first
tutorage under ex-Senator William Gwin, of California. At the age of eighteen
years, he removed with his parents to Livingston, Alabama.  Here he served at
different times as Coroner, Justice of the Peace, Deputy Sheriff, Clerk of
Probate Court, and Deputy United States Marshal.

In 1873 he emigrated to Bryan, Texas, where he served as clerk of the district
four years.  He married, in 1842, Miss Evalina N. Foard, the daughter of Major
Francis Foard, who was a native of North Carolina, but long a resident of
Alabama.  He was a man of considerable promise, and was an officer in the war
of 1812.  Mr. Gillespie is the only surviving member of a family of twelve
children, and Col. Gillespie is the only surviving member of a family of two
children.  He is the father of two daughters, viz:  Ella and  Bettie.  The
former married F. M. Hale.  Bettie married Johnson C. Williams, and they
became parents of two children.  Both Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Williams are now
deceased. Col. Gillespie came to Opelousas in 1880 to take charge of his
wife's estate, since which he has devoted his time to the operation of the
same.  He is a devout member of the M. E. Church, South.  He is an affable,
hospitable gentleman, and his life is a reflection of usefulness.

Southwest Louisiana Biographical and Historical, Biographical Section, pp.
44-45.  Edited by William Henry Perrin.  Published in 1891, by The Gulf
Publishing Company.