I decided to type this out because the newspaper itself has seen its better days.
The Hagerstown Exponent, April 9, 1980
by Jane Lacy (First of two articles)
In the 25 or 30 years preceding his death in 1864, George Gillespie's name most likely appears on more deeds and other legal papers of the Hagerstown area than that of any other early resident. Rarely, however, is Gillespie's name listed as the sole investor in a project.
Old records show George Gillespie was in business with Jacob Ulrich, at another time with Abraham Kinsey, and with others: Isaac Browning, Henry Harmon (or Herrman), William ? Davis and Robert and Franklin Newcom.
In 1838, Gillespie, among others donated two acres of land for the establishment of the Hagerstown Burying Grounds, today known as West Lawn Cemetery. Between 1838 and 1848, Gillespie, with various partners, platted four additions to Hagerstown. The 1932 Centennial History of Hagerstown notes that Gillespie operated a flour mill in the southwest area of town.
The Hagerstown Canal also bears Gillespie's imprint. The original survey for the storied whitewater Valley Canal planned its beginning at the mouth of Nettle Creek south of Hagerstown. According to the Act of 1836 passed by the state legislature, however, the canals northern terminus was set for the National Road in Cambridge City.
Thus it was that in 1846 the Hagerstown Canal Company was organized to extend the canal northward from Cambridge city to Hagerstown. Officers of the company included Jacob Ulrich, president; Wesley Williamson, secretary; George Gillespie, general manager of construction, and William Davis, assistant.
The Hagerstown Canal was completed in 1848. during the 14-year span the ill-fated water-way was in operation, Gillespie is said to have been a prominent shipper.
Gillespie's importance to the early development of Hagerstown is apparent, yet little is known of the man himself. He came to this area from Dayton, Ohio, perhaps as early as 1835, and immediately began investing heavily in land, businesses and construction work.
By 1860, Gillespie's finances were such that the began borrowing on his properties. Records of the ensuing years give evidence to his inability to satisfy creditors, which resulted in law suits and, eventually sheriff's sales.
One of the last known foreclosure sales of Gillespie's property invlved the farmland and three-story brick home now owned by Gerald and Eileen Adams. This property was mortgaged by Gillespie in January of 1861 to secure $5,000. In August of the same year, Gillespie was charged with default on a debt of slightly more than $10,000 and foreclosure proceedings were started. The legal process was slow, for it was not until August of 1863 that the house and 160-acre farm were sold at a sheriff's sale for $6,000.
Construction of the Adams' house, located on North Sycamore Street south of Jones Road, is one of three in the area generally attributed to Gillespie. A twin of this stately structure once stood on the half-block on South Washington Street where in the 1930s, Perfect Circle erected what became known as the Engineering Building. That structure presently is head-quarters for teh Material Supply division of Dana Corporation.
A thrid house of the same design, but somewhat smaller and frame construction, was built on the north side of State Road 38 just east of the rail-road tracks. The present farmhouse at this site, owned by Delores Crye, is said to have been built on the foundation of the earlier structure.
Following a study of the abstracts of these three properties, a construction date for the houses has been set arbitrarily between the years of 1835 and 1839.
Abraham Kinsey, a native of Botecourt County, Virginia, in 1835 bought 160 acres at the north edge of Hagerstown for $2,350. Four years later, he sold the same land to George Gillespie for $6,000. The increase inthe price of the property indicates a sizeable building was erected during those four years.
For 160 acres in the south end ofHagerstown, Jacob Ulrich paid his father, John Ulrich Sr., $1,100 in 1828. Eleven years later, Ulrich sold an undivided half interest in the 160 acres to Gillespie for $5,000. Again by 1839, a substantial building may be assumed to have been standing on the property.
The abstract for the land west of Hagerstown reveals John Ulrich, Jr., gave his father a token five dollars for 160 acres. In 1852, Ulrich, Jr., sold 158 acres of the tract to Gillespie for $6,000. Ulrich descendants report the family lived in the frame house for a number of years before leaving. The move, it is said, was made because Ulrich was concerned about sparks from various trains of the New Castle and Richmond Railroad. This roadbed had been laid late in the 840s and ran only a few yards from the house.
Based on stories told by her grandmother, Mrs. Mary Dutro Peters reports her great-grandfather, James Franklin, built the Adams house for George Gillespie. Gillespie apparently, then, built the Adams house for property owner Kinsey and presumably for Jacob Ulrich and John Ulrich, Jr., as well.
The style of the Adams house gives evidence the original owners of each of the three homes anticipated an elegant and gracious lifestyle. Butler windows, double parlors and upstairs veranda are more common to Kinsey's native Virginia than to the Pennsylvania Dutch area of the Ulrich background.
It's interesting to speculate that perhaps Kinsey brought the general plans for his Jefferson Township home from on he had known in Virginia. Gillespie then executed these plans not only for Kinsey but for the Ulrich brothers.
Gillespie owned the property west of town only a few months before selling it to Andress S. Wiggins, whose descendants held it for 34 years. From 1914 to 1946, C.N. and Leora Teetor owned the 66-acre farm and house. It was during Teetor ownership that the old home was razed and the present residence constructed.
Information on the original house has been provided by Russell and Blanche Fuson, who rented the farm from the Teetors some 40 years ago.
According to Mrs. Fuson, the home featured 11 rooms and 12 fireplaces. The downstairs room to the north of the front entrance was double size and was heated by two fireplaces. While it would seem the large room might once have been two rooms, the Fusons recalled no evidence that a wall had been removed.
The Fusons remember there were front and back stairways to the second floor. Because this house had no third story, a small stairway led directly to the attic and cupola.
In 1864, brothers Robert and Franklin Newcom, natives of Dayton, Ohio, bought both of Gillespie's town properties at sheriff sales. A terse report in the June 1879 term of Wayne Circuit Court reveals that the Newcoms, too, experienced financial difficulties. According to court records, "...court finds that it will be necessary to sell all the property (real and personal) of the firm of Robert and Franklin Newcom to pay the company's debts."
Once again the properties were sold at auction, with Edward Newcombe (sic) the successful bidder for the South Washington Street property and Thomas Williams bidding in the Sycamore Street house and land.
Some time after Lothair and Hilda Teetor purchased the Washington Street propety in 1925, but before the 1932 centennial celebration in Hagerstown, the houase was demolished.
In an issue of June of 1934, The Exponent reports there was to be a "dance on the portable dance floor in the vacant lot at S. Washington street near the factory." There are many people of the area who still recall those few summers when weekly concerts and dances were held on the site of the old house.
Thomas Williams' descendants owned the Sycamore Street property until 1964, when Russell and JoAnn Wampler became owners of the farmland and Frank and Frances Hanen purchased the house and 1.6 acres of ground.
Recent owners, including the Hanens, Loy and Helen Hudson and the Adamses, have contributed to the modernization and restoration of the old home. In its present state, it undoubtedly complements the dreams envisioned by the builder.
What of George Gillespie? Was he an opportunist or an promoter, or was his fault only that he dreamed dreams too big? it doesn't matter. His contributions to the growth and development of Hagerstown were numerous and lasting.
Gillespie died Jan. 17, 1864, less than four months following the last sheriff's sale of his properties. He is buried in West Lawn Cemetery in the two-acre area of the original Hagerstown Burying Grounds.
(Next week, Jane Lacy will continue the story, featuring the interior of the home of Gerald and Eileen Adams.)
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