Guide to the Photographs of the Gillespie Family, 1860-1961
- Repository
- Heinz History Center
- Title
- Photographs of the Gillespie Family
- Creator
- Gillespie family
- Collection Number
- MSP#193
- Extent
- 1.0 cubic feet (2 boxes)
- Date
- 1860-1961
- Abstract
- The Gillespie Family was a prominent western Pennsylvania family whose members intermarried with other prominent families, including the Magee, Wray, and Darr families. The photographs are of family members and consist mostly of portraits with a few candids.
- Language
- The material in this collection is in English.
- Sponsor
- This finding aid has been encoded as a part of the Historic Pittsburgh project a joint effort of the University of Pittsburgh and the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Funding for this portion of the project has been donated by the Hillman Foundation.
- Publisher
- Heinz History Center
- Address
- 1212 Smallman St.
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222
library@heinzhistorycenter.org
URL: https://www.heinzhistorycenter.org
Biography
The Gillespie Family was a prominent western Pennsylvania family whose members intermarried with other prominent families, including the Magee, Wray, and Darr families. In 1832, at the age of seventeen, J. J. Gillespie (1815-1886) came to Pittsburgh from Milton, Pennsylvania. He worked as a clerk at the Vorhees and Barche's Looking-Glass and Notion Store on Wood Street, quickly becoming a partner and then owner. The J. J. Gillespie Company opened on Wood Street selling imported mirrors and other expensive household ornaments. By 1842, Gillespie was one of the most prominent men in Pittsburgh. The Company was destroyed by fire in 1845 and rebuilt in another location on Wood Street. After the fire, Gillespie started to sell prints and lithographs, becoming the first gallery west of the Alleghenies to feature international artists. Gillespie Galleries became the center of art in Pittsburgh and was the headquarters for both Pittsburgh and traveling artists.
In 1834, J. J. Gillespie married Eleanor Moore, and together they raised six children, including Eleanor Gillespie Magee, Hannah Gillespie Magee Neale, Jessie Gillespie Warwick Flinn, and Asa Shinn Gillespie. The Gillespies moved to Evergreen Hamlet, a planned community in Ross Township (Allegheny County, Pa.). Two of Gillespie's daughters married into the Magee family. Eleanor Gillespie married Christopher Lyman Magee (1848-1901), a state senator, whose will provided for the conversion of his home to a hospital for women (Magee Women's Hospital). The nurses' home of the hospital was named in honor of Eleanor Gillespie Magee. Hannah Gillespie married Frederick Magee (1846-1894) and they had two daughters, Margaret Louise and another daughter who married James V. Scaife. After Frederick's death, Hannah married James Neale. Margaret Louise married Baron Riedl de Ridenau, who worked for the Austrian Embassy. Louisa died in Switzerland in 1941 while waiting for a visa to enter the United States during World War II. Jessie Gillespie married Warrington Warrick, and later, Ralph Flinn, son of politician and contractor William Flinn.
Another one of J. J.'s children, Asa S. Gillespie, attended Kenwood College in New Brighton and fought in the Civil War. Asa served in the 38th Regiment of the Pennsylvania Volunteers Company A (also known as the Ninth Pittsburg Rifles Volunteer Corp), recruited in Pittsburgh. He was discharged in 1863 by a surgeon's certificate. He married Emma Palmer and they had two daughters, Eleanor Gillespie Darr and Sara Gillespie Wray (1878-1961). Eleanor Gillespie was engaged to marry Hays King, a cousin of Mrs. R. B. Mellon, but King died shortly before the wedding was to have taken place. Eleanor subsequently married George Darr, a pioneer in the Western Pennsylvania oil industry who started in the oil brokerage business in 1874. Darr later became a stock and bond broker, president of Sharon Steel Company, and owner of coal lands.
Sara Gillespie married Robert Wray (1876-), a descendant of the Wray family settled in Western Pennsylvania prior to 1830. Little else is known about Robert Wray, other than that he served as an army officer of World War I, stationed in France, and was a member of the Sewickley Valley Post #4, American Legion. Sarah and Robert resided in Sewickley, Pennsylvania. They had a daughter, Elizabeth Gillespie Wray (1903-c1989), who attended the Dana Hall School in Wellesley, Massachusetts. In 1938, Elizabeth married Charles Stuart Wunder who was a Lieutenant Colonel Battalion Commander in the army. He served in India and China during World War II. Charles was the executive officer of the 2nd Battalion of the 107th Field Artillery. She apparently later married someone named Firuski.
Scope and Content Notes
The Gillespie Family Photographs are housed in two archival boxes and are arranged alphabetically by folder title. One box encompasses regular sized photographs and the other contains oversized photographs. The photographs are of family members and consist mostly of portraits with a few that are candid. The unidentified photographs are located at the end of each box with separations made between candid and portraits. Of special note are the photographs taken in Havana and the photographs taken in France during World War I.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
These materials were received in one accession in 1989.
Acc. 1989.9 Gift of the Estate of Elizabeth Wray Wunder.
Preferred Citation
Photographs of the Gillespie Family, 1860-1961, MSP# 193, Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania
Processing Information
This collection was processed by Sabrina Sakolsky on August 2, 1995.
Revision and rearrangement for the encoded version of the finding aid provided by Doug MacGregor on February 21, 2002.
Conditions Governing Use
Property rights reside with the Historical Society of Western Pennsylvania. Literary rights are retained by the creators of the records and their heirs. For permissions to reproduce or publish, please contact the curator of the Archives.
Subjects
- Gillespie Family
- Darr, Eleanor
- Firuski, Elizabeth Wray Wunder, 1903-1989
- Gillespie, Asa Shinn
- Wray, Sarah Gillespie, 1878-1961
- Wray, Robert
- Wunder, Charles
- Flinn, Jessie
- Flinn, Ralph
- Gillespie, Eleanor
- Gillespie, Emma
- King, Hays
- Moore, Eva
- Neale, Hannah Mary Gillespie Magee
- Palmer, Orrin, Mrs.
- Palmer, Orrin, Mrs.
- Pease, Anne Gillespie
- Stable, Marjory Harbinson
- Watson, Sam
- Wray, Charles Rowan
- Wray, Jennie Johnston
- Magee family
- Havana (Cuba)
- World War, 1914-1918--France