NORTHERN NEW YORK
Genealogical and family history of northern New York: a record of the achievements of her people and the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation.
New York: Lewis Historical Pub. Co. 1910.
GORDON
Thomas Gordon, immigrant ancestor, was born in Scotland, of the ancient and distinguished family of this surname. The Gordons were prominent in Aberdeenshire, Kirkcudbrightshire, Banffshire, Berwickshire and Sutherlandshire, before 1150, and possess dukedoms, marquisates, earldoms, viscountcies and various lordhips. In 1684 Thomas Gordon was induced to leave his home in Scotland by the representations of Governor Barclay and other Scottish proprietors and seek in the wilds of America liberty of conscience and civil liberty. Have these webpages helped you?
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He came from Pitloche, Scotland, in October of that year with wife Helen, four children and seven servants. The voyage was tempestuous, the bowsprit and three masts of their vessel were carried away, and they finally made port by the aid of jury masts, landing in Virginia, whence he made his way after a toilsome journey of nine weeks to Aberdeen, New Jersey. His two brothers, Charles and George Gordon, came by sea on two sloops and "partly by land and partly by water" reached Elizabethtown, New Jersey. Another brother, Robert Gordon, cam about the same time. George died in 1698; Robert's later history is unknown; Dr. John, another brother, was living at Colliston, England in October, 1691.
Thomas and his brothers are presumed to be the sons of Sir George Gordon, knight, advocate, whose name appears in some of the earliest records of persons in Connecticut. The Gordons were known as "brothers to the Laird of Strabock." It is said that Thomas was personally known to King James II and received various honors and advantages, notwithstanding political opposition. He engaged in the insurrection of 1680 and that was the direct cause of his leaving Scotland.
His plantation on Cedar Brook, two miles west of Amboy, was in the vicinity of the present Scotch Plains. He wrote to a relative in Edinburgh, Feb. 16, 1685-86: "Upon the 18th day of November I and my servants came here to the woods, and eight days thereafter my wife and children came also. I put up in a wigwam twenty-four hours, which served us till we put up a better house, which I made 24 feet long and 15 feet wide containing Hall and Kitchen both in one and a chamber and a study which we put up pretty well with pallisadoes on the sides and shingles on the roof against Youll (Christmas) on which day we entered home to it; and have been ever since and still are clearing ground and making fencing. So that I have hope to have as much ground cleared, fenced, ploughed and planated with Indian corn in the beginning of May (which is the best time for planting it) as will maintain my family the next year if it please God to prosper it. Robert Fullerton and I are joyned for a plough the spirng, consisting of four oxen and two horses, but if the ground were broken up, two oxen and two horses or four oxen alone will serve, so that the next spring I intend (God willing) to have a plough of my own alone. I intend to build a better house and larger and to make a kitchen of this I am in - which I will hardly get done this summer because I resolve to build here a very pleasant place upon the side of a brave plain (almost free of woods) near the water side so that I might yoke a plough where I please were it not for want of hay to maintain the cattle I hope to get helped the next year, for I have several pieces of meadow near me. * * there are eight of us settled here within half a mile or mile of another and about 10 miles from the town of New Perth or Amboy Point, so that I can go and come in a day, either on foot or horseback. Blessed be God, myself and wife and children and servants have been and are still in good health which God continue."
But in less than two years he lost his wife and children. She died Dec. 12, 1687, aged twenty-seven, and there is a large flagstone monument marking her grave and elaborately inscribed. She was of the family of Stralogh in Scotland.
Thomas Gordon was a proprietor of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, before leaving Scotland, buying a twentieth of Governor Barclay's right, and he bought more land afterward. In 1692 he was deputy secretary and register of probate appointed by William Dorkura, the chief secretary in London, and in the same year was clerk of the court of common rights, register of the court of chancery and one of the committee with David Mudie and James Dundas for trial of small causes. In 1693 he was judge of probate, and in 1694 officer of customs. He was sent to England to represent the proprietors there in 1693 and remained three years. He returned and was attorney general, elected Jan. 22, 1698; became chief secretary and register in 1702; represented Amboy and county Middlesex in the provincial assembly, 1703-09, and was speaker part of the time. He was appointed on the governor's council in 1709 under Hunter, and was also under Governor Burnet. He was treasurer and receiver-general, 1710-19.
He suffered some persecution in his last years, and for a time was unjustly suspended as an attorney-at-law, but after a short ime was reinstated. He died in 1722 and was buried in the Episcopal church. His tombstone has an eleaborate Latin inscription, from which some of his life history give here is taken.
He married (second), in 1695, Janet, daughter of David Mudie, a merchant of Amboy.
Children:
1. Andrew, resided at Freetown, N.J.; left no Gordon descendants.
2. Thomas, mentioned below.
3. John, of Amboy, 1735, had half the plantation on Raritan river.
4. Mary.
5. Euphemia.
6. Margaret, married Louis Caire, a Huguenot; (second) ____ Steele.
(II) Thomas (2) son of Thomas (1) Gordon, settled in Monmouth county, New Jersey, afterward Hunterdon. He was living in 1738. His descendants have been numerous.
(III) Timothy, son of grandson of Thomas (2) Gordon, was born in New Jersey, in October, 1756. He was a soldier in the revolution, and in old age received a government pension on account of his service in the war. He married Althea Vandevear. Among their children was David T., mentioned below.
(IV) David T., son of Timothy Gordon, was born April 11, 1785, in New Jersey, died in 1840. He was a millwright and farmer and a citizen of some priminence in his day. He married Emily, born in Lewis county, New York, Oct. 21, 1821, daughter of Zaboan Cartier. She married (second) Oliver Bingham, July, 1854, and she died Oct. 28, 1876.
Children:
Solon, Cyrus D., Milton C., Cartier Z., Francis W., Jane and Elvira M.
(V) Solon, son of David T. Gordon, was born Sept. 30, 1822, at Martinsburg, New York, where his parents had settled. He was educated in the common schools of Lowville, N.Y., and at the age of sixteen years began to learn the trade of carpenter and joiner. He followed his trade until 1865, when he bought a farm, and during the remainder of his life followed farming.
He married, Jan. 1, 1855, Hetta Crane, born at Marcy, Oneida county, N.Y., April 13, 1834.
Children:
1. Anna H., born Aug. 18, 1857, died June 21, 1880.
2. Webster S., Feb. 9, 1860.
3. Cora E., Sept. 21, 1862.
4. Charley C., mentioned below.
5. Fay C. (twin of Charlie C.), Nov. 20, 1873.
(VI) Charley C., son of Solon Gordon, was born at Martinsburg, New York, Nov. 20, 1873. He was educated in the common schools and Lowville Academy. After leaving school he and his twin brother, Fay C., leased the homstead of their fatierh and managed it successfully several years. In 1903 he purchased a valuable farm in Lowville, known as the Searl Homestead, favorably located near the village. He is bringing his land to a high state of cultivation, improving his dairy by adding Ayrshire and Durham blood to his herd. He has remodeled his barns and made them modern in appliances and convenient for their purposes. His farm is equipped with the latest machinery and appliances. Mr. Gordon is one of the most progressive and successful farmers of this section.
In politics he is a very earnest Prohibitionist. He is a member of the Lowville Grange, Patrons of Husbandry. He and his family attended the Lowville Methodist Church. He is a member of Lowville Lodge, Free and Accepted Masons, and of the Maccabees. He deserves and commands the respect and confidence of his townsmen. He was elected superinetendent of highways of the town in 1907 and held the office two years.
He married, March 21, 1900, Sadie A., born Aug. 27, 1879, daugheter of Frank and Amanda (Boshart) Hall.
Children:
1. Floyd J., born March 3, 1906.
2. Winifred H., Sept. 9, 1907.
3. Charles F., April 18, 1910.
[transcriber's note: this material was published in 1910, ergo there may have been more children born to this couple.]
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