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country, Mr. Gillespie supported the
Union cause with ardour, and but for a
slight physical injury received in boyhood
he would have gone to the front as
a member of a Connecticut regiment.
During these years, and owing quite
largely to his ability and efforts, the
business with which he was identified
grew apace, and in 1866 recognition of
his worth came in the form of an interest
in the business, the firm name of Campbell
& Gillespie being adopted. Mr.
Campbell died the following year, and
after a short time the Rev. J. J. Woolsey
became a partner, the firm name being
changed to Gillespie & Woolsey. The
new partner remained in the firm but a
short time, and the firm name was again
changed, this time to W. W. Gillespie &
Company. The next change was made in
1883, when Mr. Gillespie withdrew from
the company, and the business was taken
over by his younger brothers, E. T. W.
and R. H. Gillespie. In June, 1906, the
business was incorporated under the
name of Gillespie Brothers, under which
it is still conducted.
When William W. Gillespie withdrew
from the publishing business, he became
a member of the firm of White, Gillespie
& Thayer, formed at that time, and which
for some years conducted a large lumber
business. In 1889 Messrs. White and
Thayer retired from the business and a
corporation was organized under the
name of The Gillespie Lumber Company.
This continued until 1897, when the
stockholders (who were the Gillespie
brothers) closed up the business. From
that time until his death, William Wright
Gillespie was associated with his brother
who owned and operated the Water-
side Mills.
Mr. Gillespie was always a student of
affairs, and from the days of Abraham
Lincoln a staunch supporter of the Re-
ENCYCLOPEDIA OF BIOGRAPHY
349
publican party. With voice and pen he
labored zealously for the good of the community.
The only elective office he ever
held was that of representative in the
General Assembly of 1882. At that session
there was much talk of lobbying and
bribery. He used to say that no one ever
approached him with a proposition of that
sort, but perhaps he did not guess the
reason. His refusal to serve a second
term was readily accepted by the managing
politicians of the time. He was not
the sort of man they preferred. About a
year before his death he was appointed as
collector of the port of Stamford.
Mr. Gillespie was a man of deeply re-
ligious and broadly fraternal instincts.
He loved his fellowman without distinc-
tion of race or creed. It was therefore
natural that he should be attracted to
those orders whose fundamental teach-
ings are based on the truth expressed in
a favorite phrase of his, "the brotherhood
of man." He was an active member of
Union Lodge, No. 5, Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, of Rippowam Lodge,
No. 24, Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
and the Royal Arcanum. He was
elected to honorary membership by Minor
Post. Grand Army of the Republic, upon
whose records an eloquent tribute was
placed upon his decease. Early in boyhood
he became identified with the church
and Sunday school. In 1888, owing to
certain action in connection with the
business policy of the Stamford Baptist
Church, with which he had been identified
since he came to Stamford, and of whose
Sunday school he had for years been su-
perintendent, and which change in business
policy he did not approve, Mr.
Gillespie transferred his membership to
the Presbyterian church.
On March 3, 1861, Mr. Gillespie was
married, in New York City, to Elizabeth
J. Reilly, of New York. This union was