JOHN GILLHESPY, a prosperous general agriculturist, a member of the Township
Board of Equalization and one of the oldest living English settlers of Chester Township, Ottawa County, Mich., was born in Westmoreland, England, November 18, 1828. He was the fifth
of the eight children born unto the union of Thomas and Mary (Cass) Gillhespy, natives of England and descendants of a
long line of British ancestry. The father was a steward for a Mr. Wilson, and held the position until his death. A part of
the Cass family early made their home in America, some of them settling here before the War for Independence. The maternal grandfather of our subject, John
Cass, removed to Canada, where he died, but two of his brothers had preceded him to America long before his arrival
in Canada. The father of Mr. Gillhespy died when our subject was but ten years of age. Of the children in the
parental family, Thomas, deceased, was the eldest; Ann, deceased, was the wife of John Boynton; Mary is the widow of Joseph
Fitchett; Thomas (second) is deceased; John is our subject; James was killed in 1862, at the battle of Murfreesboro; Barbara
is the widow of John Boozer, who was killed at the battle of Bentonville, N.C.; and Thomas (third) is a citizen of this township.
After the death of her husband, the mother, in 1845, emigrated to Canada, and in 1850, removing to the States, located
on the same section of land where our subject now resides, and where she improved a farm. She died on the place in 1857.
John Gillhespy, a little
lad when his father died, attended school until eleven years of age, when he went on a farm in England and worked for three
and a-half years. His employer, Mr. Manzer, paid him about $35 per year. When nearly fifteen years of age our subject accompanied
his mother and family to Canada, and there assisted in the care of the home farm for two and a-half years. Upon the 19th
of March, 1848, Mr. Gillhespy came to Michigan, but soon after journeyed to northern Wisconsin, where he engaged in lumbering,
running rafts and doing similar work for one and a-half years. In the fall of 1849, again arriving in Michigan, our subject lumbered on Mill
Creek for a while, and in the spring of 1850 ran logs from Port
Huron to Detroit. He then went to Canada for his mother and family, and after returning with them for the succeeding three years was employed
in lumbering. He also jobbed for some time for Mr. Cole, and during the winter and summer was engaged in taking the minutes
of pine land for various firms. In 1855, resigning from the timber business, Mr. Gillhespy removed to his present farm, which
then consisted of eighty acres of wild land, to which he has since added forty acres. A log house, hewn smooth in the inside,
was his first improvement, and in this primitive building he resided for some time after his marriage.
August 15, 1855, were united
in marriage John Gillhespy and Miss Lovina Field, a native of St. Lawrence County, N.Y., and daughter of Edward and Eliza
(Fuller) Field, who emigrated from the East to Michigan in 1850, and settled in Ottawa County. Mr. Field and his family were numbered among the
prominent settlers, and both the father and mother of Mr. Gillhespy passed away in this county, deeply mourned by all who
knew them. Mrs. Field died in 1854, but Mr. Field survived until 1890, reaching the advanced age of eighty-three. He and his
excellent wife were the parents of five children. Lovina was the eldest; Harriet, deceased, was the wife of H. Hilliard; John
H., deceased, died in the army during the late war; the fourth child died in infancy; and Albert is also deceased. In 1859
our subject and a Mr. Patterson erected on the farm a sawmill, which had water power and carried an upright saw. This mill
Mr. Gillhespy conducted until 1887. In 1875 he built his present attractive and commodious residence.
Mr. and Mrs. Gillhespy began
life on the farm with but very little capital save their hope, courage and stout wills, and could sum up their possessions
in the land, a log house and yoke of oxen. At first the wife assisted her husband in the out-door work, and aided him in clearing
until the country became more thickly settled and they could afford to hire hands. Of their home farm of one hundred and twenty
acres, one hundred and five are in a high state of cultivation, and, aside from this property, Mr. Gillhespy has one hundred
and forty acres of land in Chester Township, eighty of which are under profitable cultivation. Eleven children have with their bright presence
blessed the home. The sons and daughters are: Ann, wife of William Pierce; Franklin; Ellen, wife of Thomas Morley; Eleanor,
wife of Adam River; Ethlenia, the wife of Jacob Host; John; James; Amelia, wife of Edward Kelly; Lovina, wife of George Joblonski;
William and George. Ellen and Eleanor are twins. Our subject and his good wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church,
and are prominent in the social and benevolent work of the denomination. They are also both worthy members of the Patrons
of Industry. Fraternally, Mr. Gillhespy is associated with Ravenna Lodge No. 355, I. O. O. F.; he has filled all the chairs
of the order, and is now Representative of the lodge to the Grand Lodge at Lansing. Mrs. Gillhespy is a Rebecca degree member. Aside
from his present public work as a member of the Board of Equalization, our subject has efficiently discharged the duties of
Highway Commissioner, and fully commands the high regard of all his fellow-townsmen.
Portrait & Biographical
Record of Muskegon & Ottawa Counties, Michigan 1893, Chicago: Biographical Publishing Company, 1893, Pgs 167-168
