The Reverend John Gillaspie married Nancy Anna Brown, daughter of Neill Brown and Ann Smith.  After being licensed by the Presbyterian Church in the early 1800's, Rev. Gillaspie and his family migrated to West Tennessee about 1810 or 1811, and eventually settled in McNairy County, Tennessee.

From 1811 to 1836 Rev. Gillaspie and his wife Nancy Anna, wrote letters faithfully to her parents in Robeson County, North Carolina.  Each letter is rich with descriptions of family circumstances, trials, hardships and state of the Gospel Mission to which they were called.

Notice that the spelling of Gillaspie is with an "a" instead of an "e" (Gillespie).  Other than the letters that document their children, little is known about the descendants of this family.  Perhaps this site will stimulate some interest in this family with the hope that the descendants will be brought up to date.