Generation No. 1

1. (R.S.) SAMUEL² GORDON (ROBERT¹) was born Abt. 1730 in Scotland, and died Bef. 1808 in Giles Co., Tennessee. He married BARBARA CAMERON. She died Bef. 1790 in Bean Station, North Carolina.

Notes for (R.S.) SAMUEL GORDON:

It is said that he died on a visit from Kentucky. His body was interred in Giles County, Tennessee.

Location: Highway 31A, left side of the road before coming to 165, on Owen Bass Farm. "Buried here with no stone is Samuel Gordon, the giant, born circa 1730 in Scotland, died circa 1808." Samuel was said to have red hair, have been seven feet tall and weigh around 300 pounds.

ref: Cemetery records of Giles County, Tennessee 1986.

Samuel came to America from Scotland when he was just a lad about the year 1750. He first settled in Spottsylvania Co., Virginia. Then he moved to North Carolina and later to Woodford County, Kentucky, and finally to Giles County, Tennessee. Collins in his "Annuals of Kentucky" mentions Gordon's Station in Mercer Co. in 1779. Lincoln Co. records show a deed to Samuel Gordon, 400 acres, Book 1, p. 131, May 28, 1781; also a VA Land Grant, 400 acres, Book 2, p. 36, date survey August 6, 1782, Lincoln Co. In 1780 Samuel Gordon is listed as one of the 500 men who signed a petition to the Honorable Continental Congress. This was just five years after the first permanent settlement in Kentucky, and that list of petitioners has been called an honor role. In 1780 Samuel Gordon was a witness to the will of William X. Hicks, Will Book 1, p. 10, Lincoln Co. December 16, 1777 Samuel Gordon 36 days pay as a soldier in Kentucky service omitted in Pay Roll 2-8-0. He also signed the petition to divide Lincoln Co. Birth and marriage records of his children from old family Bibles and marriage records were recorded in Madison Co., Kentucky.

More About (R.S.) SAMUEL GORDON:

Burial: Giles County, Tennessee

Children of SAMUEL GORDON and BARBARA CAMERON are:

Generation No. 2

2. (R.S.) ROBERT D.³ GORDON (SAMUEL², ROBERT¹) was born February 14, 1763 in Virginia, and died June 06, 1847 in Giles County, Tennessee. He married MARY KENNEDY June 09, 1791 in Madison Co., Kentucky, daughter of JOHN KENNEDY and ELIZABETH. She was born December 06, 1771 in North Carolina, and died May 30, 1854 in Pulaski, Giles Co., Tennessee.

Notes for (R.S.) ROBERT D. GORDON:

Robert is buried in the Brick Church Cemetery in Giles Co., Tennessee.

Robert was a Revolutionary Soldier. He was in Capt. Martin's Company of Militia [VA State Library Pay roll]. He is mentioned in the "Genealogies of Pioneer Kentucky Families," 1981, p. 632, and in "Tennessee Cousins" by Worth S. Ray, 1950, p. 187: "Robert Gordon had been licensed to keep an Ordinary, p. 577 (the Websters Dictionary has a long definition of the word): In what was called the Brick Church Neighborhood, the Gordon family settled, headed by Robert Gordon and his sons, Thomas and John, p. 673. Gen. G.W. Gordon of Memphis, stated in 1900 that a family record in the possession of his brother, John Gordon, of Williamson Co., Texas gave the date of Robert's birth as 1764 and the place as Virginia. Robert Gordon of Helena, Arkansas stated in 1900 that he had in his possession the family Bible and the original walking cane of Robert.

He was granted 320 acres on the Red River for his services as a soldier in the Commissioners' Guard, and again in February of 1785 he received another warrant for 320 acres on Station Camp Creek adjoining Elmore Douglas' preemption.

Robert and his father were signers of a petition to divide Lincoln Co. into Lincoln, Mercer and Madison. In 1789 Robert and Samuel appear on tax list for Madison Co. Robert's name appears again in 1792. In 1800 census of Kentucky, Robert is listed from Garrand Co. and Samuel from Logan Co. in western Kentucky, adjoining Tennessee. Robert supposedly sold his land to his brother, Thomas Kennedy Gordon of Garrard Co., KY, when he left Kentucky. About 1806 he moved with his family to Tennessee settling first in Williamson Co., near Franklin. Two years later the family moved to the southern part of the county which later became Giles Co. Robert Gordon and sons, Thomas, age 16, and John, age 10, settled near Brick Church March 3, 1808.

The following was found in "A Brief Sketch of the Settlement and Early History of Giles County Tennessee" by James McCallum 1876, published by The Pulaski Citizen 1928. File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by and permission to use in this family report from: Janice Mauldin Castleman [email protected]

BRICK CHURCH and ROBERT GORDON NEIGHBORHOOD

Robert Gordon with his sons, Thomas K. and John, settled on Richland Creek near the Brick Church at what was long known as the Gordon place--the third of March 1808, and made a crop that year; cultivated 11 acres in corn; he moved from Kentucky ten miles from Crab Orchard to Williamson County, TN, and settled nine miles west of Franklin and two miles from Gideon where he lived two years and then removed to Giles. He was in the outside settlement when he lived in Williamson. In coming to this county he traveled the old McCutcheon trail. It passed east of Spring Hill, crossed Duck River at what was afterwards known as Holland's Ferry above Davis' Ford; passed by the widow McNutt's not far from where Mooresville is situated. The old trace passed a little west of where he settled; went by the old Brick Church thence south to Elk River at Shoemaker's Ferry near Latitude Hill. From McNutt's to where Gordon settled was twelve miles and McNutt's was the last house he passed; and there were but few settlers between McNutt's and where he moved from in Williamson County. Two or three families were in the neighborhood before Gordon came. A man named Vaughan was living at the spring on the widow Mary Gordon's place, half a mile north of where Robert Gordon, Sr., settled. The widow Clark and two or three of her sons had settled on the Marsh and Wood farms. There were no settlers for six miles in a northeast direction to Jno. Henderson and James S. Haynes; they came about the same time Gordon did, and settled the places long known by their names near Cornersville. Going west down Richland Creek there were not any settlers nearer than John or Sam Jones' and they were six miles off. In a southern direction, it was ten miles to Robert Alsup's who lived on the southwest side of Pisgah Hill. Soon after Gordon came, Joseph Jarmin and old John McCandless and his sons and their families came. A man named Nation, with several sons, settled the Robert H. Laird place south of the old Brick Church. For the first two years they packed the most of their meal on horses from Williamson County. The first year some of the settlers used hand mills. Martin Lane, Sr., and his son-in-law, Thomas Lane, Esquire, came about two years after Gordon. The Fraziers, Tungetts and Samuels came about the time Lane did. Gordon's oldest daughter, Elizabeth, was married the first of Feb. 1810 to Joseph McDonald, two weeks before the courts were organized in Giles and they went to Maury County for license and were married at the widow McNutt's by John Lindsay, Esquire. The father of William and David Maxwell owned the land on Pigeon Roost settled by them and sent out a man named Milroy with his stock to improve it. This was before Gordon came and a year or two afterwards William and David came out to live on the land. Richard McGehee lived one and a half miles west of Gordon; was an early settler and one of the first magistrates in that part of the county. John Dabney, Sr., settled about one mile north of Gordon at a very early day. James S. Haynes and his father, John Haynes, old William Henderson and his brother, John Henderson, and Jno. Andrews were among the first settlers in the neighborhood of Cornersville and came about the time Gordon did. At that time there was a trace from Cornersville that intersected the McCutcheon trail south of Gordon, near where the old Brick Church stood. The cane had been chopped so that people could ride along it. This trace and the old McCutcheon trace were the only roads opened when Gordon came.

Notes for MARY KENNEDY:

She is buried beside her husband.

Children of ROBERT GORDON and MARY KENNEDY are:

3. ELIZABETH³ GORDON (SAMUEL², ROBERT¹) was born March 30, 1765 in LANCASTER CO. VIRGINIA, and died December 13, 1841 in GARRARD CO. KENTUCKY. She married ISSAC AMBROSE ROSS April 03, 1786 in LINCOLN CO. KY (BY REV JOESPH BLEDSOE). He was born 1756 in VIRGINIA, and died December 21, 1821 in GARRARD CO. KENTUCKY.

More About ELIZABETH GORDON:

Burial: Carpenter Cementery, Paint Lick, Kentucky

Children of ELIZABETH GORDON and ISSAC ROSS are:

4. SAMUEL GORDON³ JR. (SAMUEL² GORDON, ROBERT¹) was born October 10, 1769 in North Carolina, and died July 16, 1853 in St. Clair Co., Alabama, buried in Trout Creek (now Ragland). He married RACHEL HERRON November 11, 1790 in Madison Co., Kentucky, daughter of FRANCIS HERRON and MARY. She was born January 10, 1770 in North Carolina, and died September 09, 1856 in St. Clair Co., Alabama.

Notes for SAMUEL GORDON JR.:

Dr. Samuel Annanias Gordon, great grandson of Samuel and Rachel Gordon, states that he went to Ragland, St Clair Co., Alabama October 24, 1941 and had the graves of Samuel Gordon and his wife Rachel Herron repaired with brick and cement. Samuel and his family moved from Kentucky to Williamson Co., Tennessee 12 miles west of Franklin, Tennessee in 1806, where he and his brother Robert Gordon both farmed in 1807. Later they moved to Maury Co., Tennessee. In 1822 Samuel moved to St. Clair Co., Alabama on Trout Creek where they entered land in 1822. The Gordon place at Ragland was inherited by Eliza Gordon, their daughter, who married Samuel Reed, early settlers of Trout Creek. She in turn left it to their son, James F. Reed, who sold it to Mr. Green. The Reed family settled early in St. Clair Co. and owned much land there. The town of Ragland is on the property owned by the Reed and Gordon families.

Samuel and Rachel are both buried in the corner of the garden at the old homestead near Ragland (formally Trout Creek) in St. Clair County. It is said that they have nice tombstones. (ref: James Reed (approx. 1919), son of Eliza Gordon Reed, and grandson of Samuel and Rachel Gordon.)

On my visit to Ragland, Alabama (August of 1994) with my wife, Bonnie, we found that indeed there were no tombstones on what is believed to be their graves. There is a large (6 ft. x 3 ft) marble slab up near the house on the hill (the original site of Samuel and Rachel's home) but nothing can be read on it. It has been used as a work bench for the past several years, but is placed on piers and appears to be upside down.

We are in touch with a lady by the name of Rubye Sission (of Ragland) who wants to place a memorial at their graves in honor of the first people to buy land and settle in the area. the grant, certificate #2748, was made by Samuel Gordon, Sr., dated May 4, 1824 and signed by James Monroe, President of the United States.

Their graves are located on Highway 144 going East just outside of Ragland next to the Ragland Medical Clinic. It is a raised area about a foot high and about 12 feet square.

Five of Sam and Rachel's sons moved from Tennessee to St. Clair County, Alabama and then on to Lowndes County, Alabama. There they settled in the Ash Creek Community, naming their settlement...."Gordonville." They were Samuel III, Major Francis, David, James H., and Andrew Gordon.

At the start of the "American Revolution" (April 19, 1775) Samuel was five years old. When the war was officially over (September 3, 1783) he was thirteen years old. This makes it highly unlikely that he fought in this war, but either him or his son Samuel III (or both) fought in the War of 1812.

More About SAMUEL GORDON JR.:

Burial: St. Clair Co., Alabama, near Ragland

Marriage Notes for SAMUEL JR. and RACHEL HERRON:

Recorded in Richmond, Madison Co., Kentucky Courthouse Marriage Book "A", p. 52. Exerpt from the record: "Samuel Gordon and Andrew Herron are held and firmly bound in the sum of 50 pounds current money November 9, 1790....... " The condition of the above obligation is such that there is a marriage shortly intended betwixt Samuel Gordon and Rachel Herron.

Children of SAMUEL JR. and RACHEL HERRON are: