Gordons (My Paternal Side)
The name has been spelled Gordon and Gorden but for this document I will keep it Gordon and try not to flip flop back and forth between the different spellings.
I am a descendant of Hugh Gordon of Washington County, Kentucky. He was born around 1735 in Scotland and died on July 9th, 1836 in Washington County, Kentucky.
Hugh Gordon came from Scotland to King George County, Virginia where he married Sarah Owens in 1766. On April 4, 1782 in King George County, Virginia, Hugh Gordon received payment for 350 pounds of beef taken for public use. (this was actually feeding the troops).
In 1787 Hugh Gordon and wife Sarah deeded property to Benjamin Johnson. The property was located in Hanover, King George County, Virginia. By 1800 Hugh is living in Washington County, Kentucky on land he purchased from Simon Triplet in 1798. Hugh Gordon is listed in the federal census of 1810, 1820 and 1830 for Washington County, Kentucky.
Washington County, Kentucky
Gordon Property in Washington County, Kentucky in early to mid 1800's
Hugh (1735 - 1836) and Sarah (Owens) Gordon (1749 - 1831) my 6th great grandparents had the following children: Mary (1768 - 1844), John W* (1770 - 1848), Dorcas (1772 - 1834), Frances (1774 - 1853), William (1777 - 1756), Noah (1779 - 1865), Joel (1782 -1867), Anna (1783 - 1850), Elizabeth (1785 - 1850), Rhoda (1785 - 1850), Elijah (1788 - 1862), Sally (1788 - 1833) and Sarah (1793 - 1882). The remainder of the information in the following pages will be mainly focusing on Noah as I descend through him but there are some interesting stories to be told about some of the other children and I will have links to them throughtout the text.
Noah Gordon married Nancy Bartlett my 5th great grandparents on November 19th, 1799 in Green County, Kentucky and from that union they had 13 children: William Bartlett Gordon (1800 Ky - 1881 IL) my 4th great grandfather, Nancy B Gordon (1803 - 1857), Armstead Gordon (1806 - 1862), Alfred Gordon (1807 - 1902), Mary Polly Gordon (1810 KY - 1829 IL), Sarah Gordon (1812 - ?), Elizabeth Gordon (1815 - ?), Samuel Owens Gordon (1815 - 1899), Benjamin Franklin Gordon (1817 - 1900), John Gordon (1817 - 1863), Lydia Gordon (1819 - 1875), Melinda Gordon (1823 - 1896), Matilda Gordon (1826 - 1845).
Noah Gordon my 5th great grandfather moved a couple times after leaving Washington County, by 1810 he moved near Elizabethtown in Hardin County, Kentucky and was a neighbor of Thomas Lincoln.
Noah Gordon purchased the following piece from his Uncle Nathaniel Owens. Nathaniel sold this property after his first wife Nancy (nee Graham) died and is now married to Mary Ann Yates. Notice the Graham family cemetery in the northwest corner of the property near the Ohio River. This property is about 24 mile NW of Elizabethtown, Kentucky and is now part of Otter Creek Park. I don't know if Noah actually lived on this piece of property or not. But he did not sell it until the 1830's
Noah did move and this time Thomas Lincoln and family went with Noah to Spencer County, Indiana. Noah operated a Mill where Abraham Lincoln as a young child was kicked in the head by his horse. Noah's Mill property is now part of the Abraham Lincoln National Park in Spencer County, Indiana.
The Pigeon Baptist Church is said to have been organized in 1816, in Warrick County, in a short time it was moved to a spot about a mile south of Lincoln City, where a log-building was erected. This was 1819- (actually 1821); Noah Gordon and Samuel Howell gave the ground, Owen R. Griffith hewed the logs. All lumber was sawed with a whipsaw. Thomas Lincoln, father of President Lincoln, made the window and door casings, pulpit, ect. David Turham made the brick. Young Abe Lincoln, it is said, did some work on this building. Joseph C. Richardson, of Rockport, has in his possession a brick mold made by Thomas Lincoln, which was used in making the brick. There is no iron about it , all the pins being wooden. Here it was that Abe Lincoln often went to church. Among the earliest members of this organization were William Stark, William barker, Henry Gunterman, Reuben Grigsby, Noah Gordon, Samuel Howell, Robert Oskins, Jacob Oskins, James Gentry, Thomas Lincoln, O.R. Griffith , Jesse 0skin, Rev. John Richardson, Rev. Briscoe, and their wives and others. (forward to the Warrwick, Perry and Spencer Counties, Indiana 1885)
Note: Henry Gonterman mentioned above and Barbara Gonterman, my 5th great grandparents, were the parents of Mary Ann Gonterman, my 4th great grandmother.
Spencer County, Indiana
Noah Gordon Property in Spencer County Indiana in the early 1800's
Noah Gordon sold his land in Spencer County, Inidana in 1829 and moved along with most of his family to Sangamon County, Illinois. Noah's daughter, Mary "Polly" Gordon died, soon after reaching Sangamon County as the date of her death is October 15, 1829 and Noah purchased his first piece of property at Springfield Land Office on October 28th, 1829. Mary "Polly" Gordon was buried on this same piece of land. Noah purchased more land around this piece of property over the next couple years, at least 480 acres of land, in what was soon to become Menard County (See map). William Bartlett Gordon and Alfred Gordon both purchased property along with Noah in this same area. Note: there are two dates associated with Government Land Patents. The first date is the date the purchaser applied for or paid for the patent and the second date is the date the patent was issued. In my maps I always show the patent issued date because sometimes the patent is not issued because of non payment.
By 1834 Noah was feeling the itch to move on and head farther out west. He purchased some property in Missouri. He sold most of his property to his son William Bartlett Gordon and moved out west to Missouri. Alfred Gordon moved along with him but William Bartlett Gordon stayed. (More information on Noah Gordon will be added when time permits)
William Bartlett Gordon married (1) Lucinda Randall on March 10th, 1819 in Spencer County, Indiana but William's parents (Noah and Nancy) took it before the Little Pigeon Church and complained that Lucinda's parents had misrepresented her and had the marriage annulled. William Bartlet Gordon then married (2) Mary Ann Gonterman, my 4th great grandparents, in the year 1822 in Spencer County, Indiana and from that union they had nine children: Joel (1822 IN - 1865 GA), my 3rd great grandfather, Emaline (1824 - 1878), Barbara Ann (1827 - 1867), Noah Bartlett (1829 - 1843), Henry (1831 - 1906), Mayfield (1834 - 1913), William Hardin (1836 - 1913), Joshua B (1839 - 1923), Amanda Melvina (1841 - 1924).
Joel Gordon (1822 IN- 1865 GA) married Clarinda Pierce (1822 - 1870) on August 19th, 1844 in Salisbury, Illinois, my 3rd great grandparents, and from that union they had nine children: Sarah Ann (1847 - 1893), Henry H (1849 - ?), William Charles (1851 - 1937), Mary E (1853 - 1894), my 2nd great grandmother, Rachel (1854 - ?), Marion Calvin (1856 - 1911), Emmaline (1857 - 1877), Martha J (1859 - 1927), Clarinda (1861 - 1926).
Joel
Gordon joined the Civil War when he was in his 40's
and all of his relatives tried to talk him out of it but he would not
listen. He was captured by the rebel forces in a battle at
Guntown, Mississipi along with his daughter Mary's
future husband John Goodman
and held prisoner at Andersonville Prison in Georgia.
Joel Gordon
died in Andersonville Prison on April 25th, 1865.
(More information will be added on Joel and Clarinda when time
permits).
Mary E Gordon married John Goodman on October 13th, 1872 in Menard County, Illinois, my 2nd great grandparents, and from that union they had three children: Charles (1874 - ?), William Marion (1875 - 1914), my great grandfather, and Harden W (1881 - ?).
William Marion Goodman married Anna Maude Miller, my great grandparents, and they had five children: Mary Mae Marie Goodman, (b 1897 IL, d 1976 IL) my grandmother, Jesse Marion Goodman (b 1899 IL, d. 1968 IL), Homer Tice Goodman (b 1904 IL, d 1904 IL), Mabel Maude Goodman (1901 IL - 1943 IL), Hermit William Goodman (b 1905 IL, d 1923 IL), Wilma Dell Goodman (b 1913 IL, d 1917 IL), John Gordon Goodman (b 1914 IL, d 1917 IL).
Mary Mae Marie Goodman (1897 - 1976) married John Wesley Garrison Sr (1893 - 1963), my grandparents, on August 18th, 1914 and from that union they had five children: Edythe Lorraine (1916 - 2002), William Edward (1919 - 1993), Mary Catherine (1921 - 1921), Lois Bernice (1922 - 2005), John Welsley Jr (1933 - 2007) my father.
(Information on the rumor of the Gordon's Fortune will be added
when time permits).
Menard County, Illinois
Map of Land owned by the Gordons in Rock Creek Precinct of Menard County in the year 1874.
For those interested in this line of Gordons, I have created a Desktop Gordon Family Web Application called Gordon Family Genealogy. I also created an application you can use on a mobile device so you can see where you are in relation to the properties if you are driving in any of these areas and it is called Gordons "Rabitts Row" which will work great on a desktop as well. It will start out focused on Menard County, Illinois property but includes all property I know about at this time.
*John W Gordon, Son of Hugh Gordon? - in the Book "A History
of Kentucky Baptists 1769-1865" there was a passage about
Benjamin
Keeling on page 339 of said book " About this time he was married to
Rebecca, daughter of John Gorden and niece of the eminently godly
minister of Christ, Joel Gorden. She was a Baptist, and a devoted
Christian woman, and made him a good wife." That author said it
right there that John was a brother of Joel.
But this source quality is indeterminate since we
don't know the author's relationship for knowing the facts.
The book was published in 1886 so the
facts could have come through one of his grandchildren.
*John W Gordon, Son of
Hugh Gordon?
- in "Sumner County, Kansas Biographies".
In the biographical sketch the passage:
"At the home of the bride in Mercer County, Ohio, July 12,
1849, Mr. Davis was united in marriage with Miss
Mary H. Gordon, a native of Hardin County, Ky. Her grandfather,
John Gordon, was born either in Scotland or
Ireland, and came with his father,
Hugh Gordon, to
America, locating in Virginia. In 1801 they went to Kentucky,
settling in Washington County, where he cleared a tract of land, and
where both the grandfather and great-grandfather remained until
their death, the latter being one hundred and three years at the
time of his decease. The wife of John Gordon bore
the maiden name of Mary Latham, and after the death
of her husband she went to Illinois, and spent her last years with
her children there".
Note: I
had that John W Gorden was also married to
Ann Armstrong.
And I
know that they did in fact move on to McDonough County, Illinois.
So, there is a possible other wife of John W Gorden and
apparently Henry is a son of John W Gorden.
It could be that the 1st wife died after Henry and the
reference to Mary Latham going with them to McDonough is just in
error.
DNA - The Hugh Gordon Haplotype has been determined using the YDNA from the descendants of three of Hughe's son's lines (Noah, John W*, & Elijah) . Even if John W* is a nephew instead of a son of Hugh, His YDNA would still be a useful addition for the creation of the Hugh Gordon Modal Haplotype. It should be noted that Gordon males that descend from Hugh would fall under the R1b1a2 portion of the YDNA Tree and would translate to R-M269 and going down the Tree to the more recent R-M222 (or Nial of the Nine) Haplogroup. Hugh Gordon descendants would all test positive for the R-M222 Nial of the Nine SNP.