Person:Thomas Gillham (1)

Thomas Gilham was one of the Early Settlers of Augusta County, Virginia

Contents 1 Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA 2 Advisory on Thomas Gilham 3 Records of Thomas Gilham in Augusta County, VA 4 Information on Thomas Gillham		Welcome to Old Augusta Early Settlers Beverley Manor Borden's Grant Register Data Maps Places Library History Index
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Early Land Acquisition in Augusta County, VA

Acquisition of Land from Orange County, Virginia Records

• Pg. 146-149. Indenture __ day ___, 1745 between James Patton and John Lewis, of Augusta County, and Thomas Gillam of same.. for five shillings.. sells 168 acres in Augusta County lying on both sides of the Great River of the Calf Pasture.. beginning.. William Jameson's land.... (signed) James Patton (Seal), John Lewis (Seal). Witnesses: Robt. (B) Bratton, Jas. Carter, Robt. Crockett. Paid £5.13.2. acknowledged. Recorded Orange County 25 July 1745. [Orange County Virginia Deed Book 10, Dorman, pg. 42].

Acquisition of Land in Augusta County, VA:

• Thomas Gilham acquired an additional 200 acre tract in the "Great Calfpasture" area of Augusta County, VA before 1752 and 1764, as listed in the transactions below:

Disposition of Land from Chalkley's:

• Page 480.—20th August, 1752. Thomas Gilham (Gilham) and Margaret to James Lockridge, 168 acres in Great Calf pasture; corner Wm. Jameson; Mill Creek. Teste: George Vance, Robt. Renick.

• Page 415 [Deed Book] 25th August, 1764. Thomas Gillham and Margaret to John Corolile, £45, 200 acres in Calfpasture bounded by lands now in possession of Robert Gay's orphants, and Samuel Campbell's lands and William Wills' lands.

Advisory on Thomas Gilham

This Thomas Gilham should not be confused with Thomas Gilliam, son of William Gilliam and Mary Jarrett from neighboring Culpeper County, Virginia. That family was probably not related, and generally spelled their name "Gilliam" and not "Gilham or Gillham" as did this family. (Source: Gilliam's of Orange County, Virginia, http://home.roadrunner.com/~gilliamsofva/Orange/Orange.html)

Records of Thomas Gilham in Augusta County, VA

• Page 6. [Will Book] 16 November, 1746, Thomas Gillham, witness to will of Robert Crockett

• Page 257 [Deed Book] 21st November 1746. Thomas Gillham, witness to deed of James Carter to Robert Gay.

• Page 297 [Deed Book] 27th August, 1751. Thomas Gillham, witness to deed of Jacob Clemence and Mary, to John Campbell.

• Page 392.--6th August, 1766. James Crocket and Martha ( ), of Augusta County, and Robert Crocket and Jennet, of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, to William Thompson, £60, 370 acres on Great River of Calfpasture, corner Thomas Gillam's land, crossing Mill Creek; corner John Harry's land. Teste: Benj. Lowry, Thos. Stevenson, John Coffey. Delivered: Wm. Thompson, 24th June, 1784.

• Page 531.--8th April, 1769. Samuel Campble and Ellenor to William Lockridge, £114, 208 acres on Great River of Calf pasture, part of 308 conveyed by James Patton and John Lewis to William Campble, 100 acres being conveyed to Thomas Gilham and since conveyed to Thomas Adams, John Campbell's land (John Carlile's now); also 50 acres, part of entry of 100 acres patented to John and Samuel Campbell, and John sold to John Carlyle, his 50 acres. Teste: Thomas Hugart, Andrew Lockridge, Wm. Kinkead.

Information on Thomas Gillham

From "Ancestors of John Patrick Kirkpatrick": http://www.jpkirkpatrick.com/jpkirkancs.htm

The Kirkpatrick family described in this book formed an early and close association with the Gillham family of South Carolina. The Gillham family was established in this country by Thomas Gillham, who was born probably in Ulster, Ireland about 1700. He emigrated to America in the 1730's with his wife, Mary Meade, and at least one child. By 1738 Thomas and his family were well established in the New World, as is evidenced by the grant by the governor of Virginia to Thomas Gillham, of "1000 acres of land in Brunswick County, Virginia, on both sides of the Meherrin River, joined the land of Henry Briggs, 19 December 1738."

Tradition, which can not probably be substantiated at this late date, tells of a tragedy which struck the Gillham family at about this time. According to the tradition, Mary Meade Gillham was murdered by a Negro slave who had been admitted to the house by a maid servant. While the incident cannot be verified, it is a fact that Thomas Gillham sold all his slaves a few years later before moving to South Carolina, and that his sons held few, if any slaves when they made the long move to Illinois in the first few years of the nineteenth century. Moreover, Gillhams and their relatives (including the Kirkpatrick's) were quite active in efforts to prevent the spread of slavery to the Illinois country, both before and after Illinois was admitted as a state.

Sometime before 1743, Thomas moved his family to the Virginia frontier in Augusta County, where it is recorded that Thomas was made a "Captain of Foot" in the Augusta County Militia in that year. In 1744 he is recorded as an "original settler" of the Calfpasture area in Augusta County. About this time or a little later he married his second wife, Margaret Campbell, daughter of his neighbors in Calfpasture, William and Sarah (Gay) Campbell. Thomas' oldest daughter, Mary, married Alexander Campbell in 1744. Alexander was the brother of Margaret Campbell, Thomas' second wife, and it is said that he met her at his daughter's wedding.

In 1765 Thomas received a land grant near Bullock's Creek in what is now South Carolina, but was then considered to be in North Carolina. It is probable that it was about this time that the Gillhams moved to York County, and became neighbors of the Kirkpatrick's. Thomas had four children by his first wife, Charles, Ezekiel, Mary, and Nancy; and had seven more children by his second wife, Thomas, James C., William, John, Isaac, Sarah, and Susannah. Susannah, the youngest daughter of Thomas Gillham, married James Kirkpatrick, the son of the Kirkpatrick Immigrant. It was he who was assassinated in front of his wife by Tories during the Revolution. James and Susannah's son Francis also married a Gillham, Mary, daughter of Susannah's brother William Gillham. Isaac Gillham, another of Susannah's brothers, married Jane Kirkpatrick, daughter of James' brother Thomas Kirkpatrick. Jane Kirkpatrick's niece, Elizabeth (Eliza), daughter of her brother James, married in Bond County, Illinois, Thomas Cunningham Gillham. With the number of intermarriages between the two families, it is not surprising that many Kirkpatrick's bore the middle name of Gillham.

Many Gillhams and Gillham relatives moved to Illinois in the first years of the nineteenth century, the first arriving in 1797. Some accounts state that as many as 140 Gillhams and other relatives took part in the migration before it finally ended. The first Gillham to visit the Illinois country was James, the son of Immigrant Thomas. He had settled in Kentucky with his family and had developed a farm there. One day in 1794, while he was working in a field far from his cabin with his son Isaac, the cabin was visited by Kickapoo Indians who kidnapped James' wife and other children, carrying them back across the Ohio to the Indian's home territory. Some accounts state that they were kept prisoner for five years, but is more likely that it was only a few months. At any rate, while searching for his family, James visited the Illinois country and was highly impressed by it. After he recovered his family from the Indians, he moved to Illinois in 1797, and eventually settled in American Bottom, across the Mississippi from St. Louis.

James' letters to his brothers and other members of the family back in South Carolina, Georgia, and Kentucky, were instrumental in persuading so many of them to migrate to Illinois during the opening years of the nineteenth century. Among these immigrants were Thomas Newton, James Gillham, and John Kirkpatrick, brothers, and sons of Susannah (Gillham) Kirkpatrick, as well as Jane (Kirkpatrick) Gillham and her husband Isaac, and Janes' two brothers, James and John Kirkpatrick.

Most of the Gillhams and Kirkpatricks settled initially what is now Madison County, Illinois, in or near the American Bottom, rich bottom land along the Mississippi river, across and a little north of St. Louis. The Gillhams, Kirkpatricks, and others of this very large clan played an important role in the early history of the area and Illinois in general.

Information from "Family Bible Records, Wayne County, Tennessee" By Wayne Co. Historical Society, Wayne, pg. 72-74From Genforum.com post:

Re: James Lockridge, 1723-1790 SC, REV. WAR SOLDIER? Posted by: Donna Crosby (ID *****1813) Date: September 23, 2006 at 12:30:33 In Reply to: Re: James Lockridge, 1723-1790 SC, REV. WAR SOLDIER? by Joan Cole of 178

Thank you so much Joan! What is the name of that book, and is it still inprint? I descend from so many of these early Calfpasture folks that are brick walls. Thomas Gillham (original settler) appears to be the link. He married (2nd) Margaret Campbell (daughter of original settler William Campbell and Sarah Gay, as listed in your response, who was the daughter of the Gay's and Lockridges who were also part of this early group. Now I see that Kincaid is also an ancestral name. I did NOT know this; thank you so much!

Does this book mention anything about Thomas Gillham? As it appears that these folks knew one another before coming to America, where did the folks Gay, Lockridge, Campbell, and Kincaid come from? It is said that my Thomas Gillham was born in Ulster IR in abt 1720..maybe I can find my Gillham ancestors through his other family members mentioned here. I have never found parents or siblings for Thomas Gillham in America.

Thank you so very MUCH for your wonderful help! Donna