Jefferson County, Alabama Biographies

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Jefferson County, Alabama
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JOHN S. GILLESPY was born near Jonesboro, November 17, 1859, in Jefferson County, Alabama. His father, John S. Gillespy, was originally from Tennessee, and settled in Bibb County in 1850, near Montevallo, Alabama. His mother was Martha S. McAdory, a daughter of Col. James McAdory, of Jonesboro. Himself and brother, James M., were the only children in the family. He received his first school training at Pleasant Hill under Prof. I. W. McAdory, and in October, 1876, entered the State University of Tuscaloosa. On leaving this institution he studied medicine at the Miamia Medical College at Cincinnati, Ohio, and in the spring of 1883 began the practice in Birmingham, and in 1885 went to Scotsboro and practiced until October, 1886, when he returned to Birmingham and resumed the practice. Dr. Gillespy is recognized as among the worthy and rising young members of his profession. As a man of business he has been successful; no more could be expected as a reward of any one's best efforts.

Dr. Gillespy was married in October, 1883, to Miss M. E. Owens, of Jonesboro, in this county. He has two children--Thomas O. and Mary Martha. Dr. Gillespy belongs to the Jefferson County Medical Society, and to the Alabama Surgical and Gynecological Association. Himself and wife are members of the M. E. Church, South.

DAVID BORDEN GRACE, in ante-bellum days the canebrake region ofAlabama was the garden of God’s creation. Each planter was a king, and his children assumed the airs of royalty itself. Their habit of commanding slaves bred within them a feeling of superiority. The people of the hill country of Alabama looked with longing upon this paradise. Now the conditions are reversed. It was natural that Francis M. Grace should turn his eyes in that direction when he returned from the Tennessee University to his father's home in Jefferson County, near the present site of Birmingham. He began manhood as the pastor of the Methodist Church, in Newberne, Greene County, Alabama. While there he wedded Mary Borden, who united in mind and person the culture and beauty of Southern womanhood. Their first-born was a son, David Borden Grace, the subject of this sketch, who was born February 9, 1855. Here he lived until after the close of the war, when his father concluded that, under the condition of affairs then existing in the South, his children would imbibe false ideas of life, and grow up in idleness and ignorance, decided to accept a professor's chair in the Tennessee University, and removed with his family to Knoxville. After receiving a collegiate education at the Tennessee University, Mr. Grace was sent to look after his father's farm in Jefferson County. Becoming tired of farm life, in the year 1875 he sought a more congenial field, by engaging in the newspaper business in Birmingham, then a town of 2,500 inhabitants, and became connected with the Iron Age. He afterward removed to Montevallo, and published the Guide for three years. On the 1st of January, 1880, Mr. Grace visited his father, in Tennessee, and purchased the Sweetwater Democrat, which he successfully published for four years. During his residence in Tennessee, the State debt excitement shook the old volunteer State from the mountains on the east to the Mississippi on the west. Mr. Mr. Grace took a bold stand in favor of the State credit, and opposed repudiation with all the zeal in his nature. He had the honor of being placed upon the committee on platform in the State convention of 1882, which virtually settled the vexatious question, with credit to the State and justice to the bondholders.

The fame of Birmingham, and its rapid strides began to be noised about in Tennessee, and Mr. Grace was possessed with a desire to return to the home of his fathers, where his grandfather and father had edited papers, and where he himself first entered the profession to which he has devoted his life. In January, 1884, he sold out his interests in Tennessee, removed to Birmingham, and aided in founding the Evening Chronicle, of which he is now the successful manager. His subsequent success has demonstrated the wisdom of his choice. His energy and devotion to duty places him in line with the enterprising young men, for which Birmingham is noted. He has never engaged in any other but the newspaper business, and has made a success of every paper he has been connected with. He has won distinction as a graceful writer, and when weightier matters do not press he often enlivens the columns of his paper. In a new community like Birmingham, the question is asked after every introduction: "Where are you from?" Mr. Grace can say, in the memorable language of Ben Hill on the floor of the Senate, when Southern statesmen again graced the halls of Congress after a long absence: "I am in the house of my fathers; my companions are my brethren; I am at home, to stay forever, thank God!"

JOHN F. GRADY is a native of Ireland, and was born in the County Clare, April 29,1853. He came to America when quite young with his father and mother, who settled in Ypsilanti, Michigan. He lived there until he was thirteen years old, and then went to New York City with his parents. He attended the public schools in both places until he was fourteen years old, and then bound himself as an apprentice to learn the iron molder's trade, and served seven years' apprenticeship. Since then he has worked in all the principal cities in this country at his trade-.. He came to Birmingham in October, 1886, and was one of the organizers of the Avondale Iron Works, in which he has an interest. He is a molder of much skill, and will here, in this progressive city, find the best field for his labors.