Jane (Gillespie) McWhorter (1690 - 1757)

Born 1690 in County Armaugh, Ulster Province, Ireland

Ancestors

Wife of Hugh McWhorter — married 1710 in County Armagh, Ireland

Descendants

Died 1757 at about age 67 in Rowan County, North Carolina

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Biography

Jane (Gillespie) McWhorter was a North Carolina colonist.

Jane was born in 1690 in Ireland and died in 1757 in Rowan County, North Carolina.

Jane Gillispie was born 1690 in County Armagh, Ireland the daughter of Andrew G and Mary Fears Gillispie of Clackmannan, Ayrshire, Scotland. She married in County Armagh, Ireland Hugh McWhorter the son of Rev. Alexander and Phoebe Bruen McWhorter. She arrived with her husband and family at New Castle, Delaware in 1729. When her husband died in 1750 she moved and joined their son John and other family members now living across the State line at the Marsh Creek Settlement located near Gettysburg then in York County.

On her arrival at the Marsh Creek Settlement she found her son John and several others getting ready to move. She joined him with this group which included at least two of her daughters, Agnes and Jane as well as other family members and those of his wife. Their destination was the Davidson Creek Settlement in Rowan County, North Carolina. They arrived there before 1755 as John is shown the early Census of North Carolina which was taken in 1755.

Children:

1. Hugh McWhorter (1707-1784) Md Unknown Born in County Armagh, Ireland - Died in Delaware
2. William McWhorter 1709-1802 Md Elizabeth Ferrier Died in Tennessee
3. Rev. Alexander McWhorter 1710-1734 died in Scotland
4. Agnes McWhorter 1713-1776 Md Alexander Osborne Died in North Carolina
5. Lt. John McWhorter 1714-1769 Md Mary Ann Hamilton Died in North Carolina
6. Thomas McWhorter 1715- Md Mary Died in New York
7. Jacob McWhorter 1717- Md Eliza Gray
8. Jane McWhorter 1726-1800 Md John Brevard Died in North Carolina
9. George Barnett McWhorter
10. Rev. Alexander McWhorter (II) 1734-1807 Md Mary Cumming Died in New Jersey

Jane died in 1757 at the age of 67 and is buried in 1757 at the Centre Presbyterian Church Cemetery in Mooresville, Iredell, North Carolina along with her daughters Jane, Agnes and son John, their spouses and children and other family members, friends and neighbors.

Our ancestress, Jean McWhorter, lost her maternal grandparents with nine of their ten children in this bloody massacre. Her mother, an infant, was saved by her nurse, who ran to the hills with her and hid her so successfully the butchers could not find her. Her parents were hung to a tree in front of their home, and the children were killed in various ways all over the place.

Hugh and Jean McWhorter lived in County Armagh where he was for many years a successful linen merchant. Their eldest son, Alexander, who was a student at the University of Edinburgh preparing for the ministry, decided that he wanted to come to America and finish his course at Princeton, New Jersey. His father and his father's brother (given name uncertain, but have some evidence that it was "James") decided they would remove with their families to America, "the lan of the bree" at the same time Alexander came in 1735. Hugh and Jean had ten children--do not know how many, if any, his brother had when they left Ulster. They landed at new castle Delaware.

Sources

• U.S. and International Marriage Records, 1560-1900
• Jane Gillespie McWhorter on Find A Grave: Memorial #158611985

REFERENCES FOR HUGH MCWHORTER OF NEW CASTLE, DELEWARE

• 1 Historical Discourses Relating to the First Presbyterian Church in Newark, by Jonathon F. Stearns, D.D., printed at the Daily Advertiser Office, Newark, NJ 1853, p.216 etc.
• 2 The Abridged Compendium of American Genealogy, Vol. 7, p. 512
• 3 Dictionary of American Biography, published 1933, p. 175
• 4 The Border Settlers of Northwestern Virginia, by L.V. McWhorter, orig. published Hamilton, Ohio 1915, reprinted for the Clearfield Co. by The Genealogical Publishing Co. Inc., Baltimore, MD 1991, p.274, 275.
• 5 Dependents of Moses McWhorter and Related Families, compiled by Anna Harmann Bowman, All Printing Co., Oklahoma City, OK 1987 p. 155-160
• 6 Hines and Allied Families, by Benjamin McFarland Hines, Dorrance & Co., Ardmore, PA 1981,p. 129-132
• 7 Those Members of the Brevard Family Who Descended from John/Jean Brevard of France, Ireland and Maryland, by Robert Stephens Hand, 1990, p. 9
• 8 Historical Sketches of North Carolina, by John H. Wheeler, Vol. I, Lippencott, Grambo & Co., Philadelphia, PA 1851, p.216, 237-241
• 9A History of Rowan County, North Carolina, by Rev. Jethro Rumble 1881
• 10 Dependents of Helena Ligon and Hugh McWhorter, prepared by Virginia McWhorter Freeman, Decatur, Georgia, 1991, p. ii, iii.
• 11 New Jersey Historical Society Proceedings, series 1, Vol.X, 1865, p. 52-54.