Thomas Gillespie, Sr. | |
|---|---|
| Born | c. 1719 Cecil County, Maryland or Chester County, Pennsylvania |
| Died | December 15, 1796 (aged 76–77) plantation on Sills Creek, Rowan County, North Carolina |
| Place of burial | 35°39′02″N 80°38′14″W / 35.6506310°N 80.6371002°W |
| Allegiance | United States |
| Service/ | North Carolina militia |
| Rank | Quartermaster |
| Unit | Rowan County Regiment, Salisbury District Brigade |
| Spouse(s) | Naomi Thompson, m. 1745 |
| Relations | President James K. Polk (great grandson) |
| Signature | &sq=Facebook&lang=en&file=File:Thomas_Gillespie_Signature.jpg){kind=small} |
Thomas Gillespie (c. 1719 – December 13, 1786) was a large plantation owner in mid-to-late 18th-century North Carolina and served as commissary of the Rowan County Regiment in the North Carolina militia during the American Revolution. He spent his early life in Augusta County, Virginia before migrating to Anson County, North Carolina in about 1750, where he lived most of his life on Sills Creek in the area that became Rowan County, North Carolina in 1753. He and his wife and son were the first white settlers west of the Yadkin River. He owned a plantation of over 1,000 acres on Sills Creek in Rowan County, as well as 6,000 acres in the area of western North Carolina that became part of the state of Tennessee in 1796. He was an early elder in the Thyatira Presbyterian Church in Rowan County, which had been established by 1750. Thomas was the great-grandfather of U.S. President James K. Polk through the lineage of his daughter Lydia, who married Captain James Knox and gave birth to Jane Gracey Knox, mother of the President.[1]