A HISTORY OF THE
GILCHRISTS
by
ROBERT W. GILCHRIST - 1997
Posted here by Kind Permission of Bob and
Peggy's daughters, Erin Silvaroli and Lynley Barry,
and supplied to the
Kintyre Mag by Dean Gilchrist deanotow1@earthlink.net Ocala, Fl. 352-854-1440
GILBERT GILCHRIST TO ALEXANDER H. CURRIE
State of Alabama
Barbour County
Know all men by these presents that I Gilbert Gilchrist of the state and
county aforesaid for and in consideration of the sum of one thousand dollars to
me in hand paid by Alexander H. Currie of the state of North Carolina and
Robeson County the receipt whereof I do hereby acknowledge do hereby give grant
bargain sell in full and convey unto the said Alexander H. Currie all that track
or parcel of land situated being and lying In the state of North Carolina and
County of Robeson and the sum of my interest in all the lands known as the lands
originally belonging to John McPherson dec’d. and Collin McPherson dec’d laying
on the north east side of the Raft Swamp and a joing the lands of Alexander
McNeill dec’d and John Currie and Angus Currie and Malcolm Baxter containing one
thousand acres more or less to have and to hold the above premises to the said
Alexander H. Currie his heirs and asignees to their use and ‘behoof forever and
I do covenant with the said Alexander H. Currie his heirs and asignees that I
am’ lawffuly seisede in fee of that the afore granted premises that they are
free of incumbrance that I have a good ‘rite to sell and convey the same to the
said Alexander H. Currie his heirs and asignees and that I will warrant and
defend the said premises to the said Currie his heirs and asignees forever
against the lawful claims and demands of all persons whomsoever in witness
‘wereof I the said Gilbert Gilchrist have here unto set my hand and affixed by
seal 22th day of March in the year of our Lord one thousand
Eight hundred and forty two.
Witness
Daniel McP. B. Gilchrist
Probate
The State of Alabama
Barbour County
Personally appeared before me John Ledbetter Clerk of the County Court for said
County the above named Daniel McP. B. Gilchrist the subscribing witness to the
foregoing Deed who after being duly sworn deposeth and saith that he saw Gilbert
Gilchrist whose name Is subscrlbed to the foregoing Deed sign seal and deliver
the same to Alexander H. Currie and that he this deponent subscribed his name as
a witness thereto in the presence of the said Gilbert Gilchrist, all on the day
and year therein named Given under my hand and seal of Office at Office this
14th day of September 1842
J. Ledbetter C.C.C.B.C
Rec’d In Office for Record the 14th September 1842 and Recorded the 14th
September 1842
J. Ledbetter C.C.C.B.C.
Taken from: Barbour County, Ala. Deed Book D,
page 338.
(NOTE: Alexander H. Currie was Gilbert Scotland Gilchrist’s son-in-law, having
married Sallie Gilchrist, Gilbert and Nancy McPherson’s third child.)
----------------------
The following is a deed signed by Gilbert
Gilchrist on August 29, 1840, and on file in Deed Book C, Page 12, Barbour
County, Alabama. A trustee is designated for the care of his children
The State of Alabama
Barbour County
Know all men by these presents that I Gilbert Gilchrist have this day for
and in consideration of the natural love and effection which I have and bear for
my children Angus, Gilbert, John, Danel (Daniel), Mary, Margaret, Catherine,
Malcom (Malcolm), Isabela, Caroline, Nancy, Adoline, and Amanda, as well as in
consideration of ten dollars to me in hand paid, by Ferdinand Lee, of Said
County Granted Sold, and Conveyed, and delivered, and do by these presents,
Grant sell, convey and deliver unto him the Said Ferdinand Lee as trustee for my
said Children the following property to wit. negroes, George, Charles, Ben, Bob,
London, Isaak, Robert, Nancy, Army, Dina, Sampson, and Tan, and three Horses and
four Mules, and fifty head of Hogs, and about thirty head of cattle, also the
following tract or parcel of land lying and being in the County of Macon, and
State aforesaid, Known as the north half of section no. thirty five (35)
Township Seventeen (17), and Range Twenty Three (23), Containing three hundred
acres more or less, Also ane (a) waggon and ane Cart, to hold use and imploy
(employ) the Same by him the Said Ferdinand Lee, or such trustee for the benefit
of my Said Children, alone, And I do hereby Autherise (authorise) the Said
Trustee to take and keep said property for the said Children as a certain
support for them in case any misfortune might befall the undersigned not now
foreseen, and he is fully inponend to use, and imploy the Sane free from any
debts, or Contracts, and is hereby impowered (empowered) to ask Jus for and to
cover the Sane in law or Equity, and deliver all or any portion of Said property
for said Children whenever the sane may become necessary. Given under my hand
and seal this 29th day of August, 1840.
Gilbert Gilchrist
Test. John Mc????
Archibald Mcintosh
The State of A1abama
Barbour County
personally appeared before me William Head a Justice of the Peace in & for said
County the above named Gilbert Gilchrist who acknowledged that he signed sealed
and delivered the foregoing Deed, on the day and year therein mentioned to the
aforesaid Ferdinand Lee.
Given under my hand & seal,this 30th
day of Novanber, 1840,
Gilbert Gilchrist
William Head J.P.
Registered the 30th day of November 1840
J. Ledbetter C.C.B.C
------------------------
8. AMANDA GILCHRIST (May 30. 1840 - 1843)
9. JEMIMA GILCHRIST (Sept.9. 1842 - 1843)
Following the death of John Gilchrist, Sr. in 1802 his substantial landholdings
were, according to the terms of his will (See: Chapter: III), divided among his
wife, Flora, and three of his sons - including Gilbert. The “upper plantation,”
referred to as “Lowry’s Place,” was provided his son Malcolm for a period of
four years, after which it was to pass to Gilbert. Gilbert maintained ownership
of the property for five years, then beginning in July of 1811 he sold ten
separate parcels, totaling an estimated 1,000 acres to Malcolm Peterson for 750
dollars.
The Gilchrist family, including: Daniel M., Margaret, Isabella, Catherine, John
M., Caroline I., and Nancy M., set out for Alabama in about 1833 following the
lure of abundant and available farm land. Traveling by wagon the family very
likely followed the Great Wagon Road — a pioneer trail that led to Augusta,
Georgia. From there they rode southwestward to Barbour County which had just
been created from Pike County the year before. As the family crossed Georgia,
Angus Jackson, the fifth child of his parents’ was born; the year of his birth
being 1833 gives indication of the year that the family moved. Gilbert Scotland,
II, born three years later in 1836 would be the first child born in Alabama.
In 1836-7, a small war erupted between the Creek Indians and the new settlers of
Barbour County and surrounding areas during which Gilbert served in Boyd’s
Company of General William Welborn’s Mounted Alabama Volunteers. This
confrontation became another cause for President Andrew Jackson’s decision to
move the Indians westward and open their lands in southeastern Alabama and
southwestern Georgia to settlement. This move now brought a flood of North
Carolina Scots south to Barbour County with most settling on a section of the
Pea River in the southwest part of the county. For many years thereafter this
area, located near the little town of Clio, was known as “Little Scotland.”
Gilbert with his family had settled in the northern part of the county, near the
small town of Batesville. Once again the Gilchrists’ unique ability to acquire
an abundance of excellent land would be evident. Gilbert with his sons: Daniel,
Malcolm, and John would in the course of a few years become among the largest
land owners in the upper part of the county. Malcolm, who did not move with his
father, joined him eight years later in 1841. By 1850 his holdings which lay
just north of present U.S. Highway 82, was valued at 1,200 dollars.
About 1840, Gilbert began to divest himself of most of his land holdings. In
that year he prepared a will that provided his children in Alabama with his
twelve slaves, three horses, four mules, fifty head of hogs, thirty head of
cattle, and three hundred acres of farmland that he had acquired in Macon County
near the present city of Tuskegee. To his son-in-law, Alexander H. Currie of
Robeson County, North Carolina. Gilbert, in 1842, sold his remaining North
Carolina land - 1,000 acres for 1,000 dollars. This was land that he had
acquired from the McPhersons. He now retired to a farm near Mount Andrew in the
western part of Barbour County where he lived until he died in 1857. Following
the death of her husband Mary Currie Gilchrist moved with her second son. John,
and his family to near Greenville in Butler County where she died in 1879.
Gilbert’s gravesite has never been found, being probably located on the old
family farm as was often done in this time.
On December 19, 1853, four years before his father’s death, Malcolm, sixth child
and second son of his father’s first marriage, sold his Barbour County
landholdings for 1,600 dollars and moved with his wife and young family westward
to Coffee County, Alabama. He was born in Robeson County, North Carolina on Jan.
8, 1815, and after moving to Alabama he married Eliza Jane Head on Dec. 31,
1846. Born Sept. 28, 1828, she was the daughter of Barbour County Justice of the
Peace, William Head, who had moved from Georgia; he died the same year (1857) as
did Gilbert.
Malcolm became the first of the family to depart from the Presbyterian church,
joining instead the Baptist church. The family continued to build on a
foundation of strong Christian principle as well as an appreciation for
education and love for the family that could now be traced back four
generations. There were ten children born to Malcolm and Eliza Jane Head
Gilchrist: :
------------------
THE CHILDREN OF MALCOLM AND ELIZA JANE HEAD GILCHRIST
1. WILLIAM GILBERT GILCHRIST (Oct. 12, 1847 - Nov. 11, 1923)
He married HARRIET ANNETTE WRIGHT (Nov. 20, 1848 - Dec. 26, 1930); there were
eight children, including twin sons who died at birth and are buried in Bullock,
Alabama. He was a planter and cotton warehouseman in Brantley, Alabama where are
both are buried.
2. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN GILCHRIST (Nov. 22, 1848 - Oct. 8, 1914)
He married MARGARET M. (MAGGIE) STRIPLING (Mar. 8, 1867 - Aug. 26, 1957); there
was nine children. He was a planter who lived near Brantley, later moving to
within two miles of Opp, Alabama. She lived for many years in Opp and is buried
there.
3. NEAL MOSES GILCHRIST (Mar. 8, 1850 - July 24, 1924)
He moved from Brantley, Ala., in the 1870’s to east-central Texas, settling near
the Brazos River between Navasota and Hearne. He lived there for nearly two
years during which time he married MATTIE MCALPHIN; he worked as a carpenter and
farmed. After spending about four years in San Saba County where their first
child died, the couple moved to San Gabriel community about five miles from
Thorndale in Milam County. In Sept. of 1882 Mattie died leaving Neal and a six
year old son named Malcolm. About 1889 Neal married ELIZABETH LEE (Nov. 17, 1861
- Dec. 12, 1957). From this marriage would come five children. Neal and his two
wives are buried in the Locklin Cemetery in San Gabriel. The cemetery is bounded
on three sides by the old Gilchrist farm, which remained for many years in the
family
More next issue
The Late Bob and Peg Gilchrist
Robert W. Gilchrist
(1939 - 1998 ) of Titusville, Florida and his wife Peggy, were killed in a tragic
automobile accident on April 8, 1998. Both were dedicated teachers and active
members of the Park Avenue Baptist Church for over 30 years. Bob specialised
in history. Shortly before the accident, he was a guest speaker at the dedication
of the restored Mill Prong House near Raeford, North Carolina which was built
by his 4th Great Grandfather, John Gilchrist, in 1802. Bob loved his family
history, and had planned his third trip to Scotland to renew friendships and
continue his research. He made many significant contributions to his heritage,
and was honored by the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh with a request
for a copy of his 1997 book. In his memory, portions of this 1997 book have
also been placed on the internet at http://homepages.rootsweb.com/~steve/robertwg/ in the hope that it will kindle the interests of others
to follow his footprints and continue his quest for knowledge of the Gilchrist
family.
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2: A History of the Gilchrists...............continued
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3: Kintyre Research - an
email from Greg MacThòmais
Page
4: The Feral Goats of the
Mull of Kintyre
Page 5: The Campbeltown Book
Page
6: Obituaries
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7:
By Hill and Shore - Angus Martin
Page 8:
'Arichonan - A Highland Clearance Recorded' - A new
book by Heather McFarlane