Jewell Francis Gillespie, a member of one of the Beaver Island Irish families, is also the father of Danny Gillespie, longtime musical partner with Danny Johnston.

Jewell was a Michigan Heritage Award winner and his bio can be read at the internet archive site here: http://web.archive.org/web/20150919194753/http://museum.msu.edu/s-program/MH_Awards/awards/1993JG.html