Gordon family.

The progenitor of the family in Georgia was Ambrose Gordon (1751-1804) who came to this state from Monmouth County, New Jersey, some time after the Revolutionary War. He settled in Augusta where he married Elizabeth Mead(e), by whom he had several children; he later moved to Savannah. One son, William Washington Gordon (1796-1842), referred to hereinafter as W.W. Gordon I, was named for Lt. Col William Washington under whom Ambrose Gordon served in the Revolution. There is only one Ambrose Gordon letter in this collection, dated June 18, 1802. W.W. Gordon I married Sarah Anderson Stites (1806-1882), daughter of Richard Montgomery Stites and Mary (Wayne) Stites. W.W. Gordon I was the first graduate of the United States Military Academy from Georgia (1815), a member of the Georgia House of Representatives and of the Georgia Senate, Mayor of Savannah, and founder and first president of the Central Rail Road Banking Company (now the Central of Georgia Railroad Company). He and his wife had George Anderson Gordon (1830-1872), William Washington Gordon (1843-1912) referred to hereinafter as W.W. Gordon II, Eliza Clifford Gordon who married William Henry Stiles, and Gulielma C. Gordon who married George Evelyn Harrison of Virginia. George Anderson Gordon married (1) Caroline Steenbergen, by whom he had one son. He married (2) Ellen Beirne of Huntsville, Alabama, and his son by this marriage, Beirne Gordon, became associated with his uncle, W.W. Gordon, in business. W.W. Gordon II was a graduate of Yale University, a cotton factor, and commission merchant in Savannah. He was a member of the Georgia Hussars, a Savannah cavalry troop, and at the outbreak of the Civil War he entered into service as a Lieutenant in that company in General J.E.B. Stuart's Cavalry. After the War he served with the Georgia State Cavalry. He served in the Georgia House of Representatives, 1884-1890. He entered the Spanish-American Was as Brigadier General of the U.S. Volunteers, at the end of which he was a member of the Commission of the United States for Puerto Rico. He was a member and leader in several civic and benevolent associations in Savannah. In 1857 he married Eleanor (Nelly) Lytle Kinzie (1835-1917) of Chicago, daughter of John Harris Kinzie and Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie. There were several children of this marriage: Eleanor Kinzie Gordon (1858-1933) who married Richard Wayne Parker, son of Cortlandt Parker; Juliette Magill Kinzie Gordon (1860-1927), nicknamed "Daisy," who married William Mackay Low of England, and is hereinafter referred to as Juliette (Gordon) Low; (Sara) Alice Gordon (1863-1880); William Washington Gordon, Jr. (1866-1932), hereinafter referred to as W.W. Gordon III; Mabel McLane Gordon, who married the Honorable Rowland Charles Frederick Leigh, son of Baron Leigh; and George Arthur Gordon (1872-1941). Juliette (Gordon) Low is internationally known for founding the Girl Scouts of the United States of America in 1912. W.W. Gordon III, a lawyer, was a graduate of Yale University, a member of the Georgia Hussars, and a Major in the Georgia Militia. He married Ellen Buchanan Screven, by whom he had several children. Among them were William Washington Gordon IV, known as "B," and Margaret Eleanor Gordon, known as "Daisy Doots," who married Samuel C. Lawrence. Mabel (Gordon) Leigh had Rowland Henry Gordon Leigh and Margaret Ethel Leigh. Eleanor (Gordon) Parker had Alice Gordon Parker, Eleanor Wayne Parker, Elizabeth Wolcott Parker, Wayne Parker (died age 7), and Cortlandt Parker. George Arthur Gordon, also a graduate of Yale University, was president of the Savannah Cotton Exchange in 1896. In the Spanish-American War he served as a volunteer aide on his father's staff. He was a member of the National Guard and Became Colonel of the 1st Regiment of Infantry, Georgia State Troops. He was a city alderman, 1907-1911, member of the Board of Education, 1920-1923, and of the Trustees of Chatham Academy. In 1918 he was a volunteer with the American Red Cross in France. He belonged to several civic, benevolent, and social organizations. He married Margaret McGuire of Richmond, Virginia, by whom he had Mary Stuart Gordon, George Arthur Gordon, Jr., (well-known author and editor), Edward McGuire Gordon (killed in action in World War II), and Margaret Eleanor Gordon. George Arthur Gordon was associated with his father in the cotton factorage business, and operated as Gordon & Company after his father's death. Juliette Augusta Magill Kinzie (1806-1870), mother of Eleanor (Nelly) Kinzie Gordon was the author of The Chicago Massacre, first published in 1844 and later embodied in her Wau-Bun, 1856. Both books came out in later editions. Wau-Bun was re-edited by Eleanor Kinzie Gordon and published in 1901 and 1912. Mrs. Gordon also re-edited The Chicago Massacre and published it in 1912 as The Fort Dearborn Massacre. Juliette A. Magill Kinzie also wrote Mark Logan, published in 1869 and republished by Mrs. Gordon in 1887. Mrs. Gordon edited and published, in 1907, Rosemary and Rue, in memory of her daughter, (Sara) Alice Gordon, and John Kinzie, the "Father of Chicago:" A Sketch, in 1910. William Washington Gordon II, cotton factor and commission merchant, was first associated with William Hayes Tison, whose first business in Savannah was established ca.1853 as Reed & Tison (Elias Reed). Upon Mr. Reed's death, Tison became associates with William Mackay, as Tison & Mackay. This partnership was dissolved in July 1856, and Mr. Gordon became a partner under the firm name of Tison & Gordon. Mr. Tison died in November 1877, and in 1883 Mr. Gordon established his own firm, W.W. Gordon & Company, with Francis D. Bloodworth and Beirne Gordon, nephew of W.W. Gordon, as partners. Mr. Bloodworth resigned his partnership in September 1893. G. Arthur Gordon, son of W.W. Gordon, started work with the company ca.1893 and in the early 1900s he became a partner. W.W. Gordon died in 1912, and the firm was reincorporated as Gordon & Company, cotton factors, in June 1913. In January 1914, Beirne Gordon withdrew from the firm, and it was thereafter operated by Arthur Gordon. In 1930, the firm was changed to Gordon Cotton Company. Gordon Cotton Company was closed ca.1934. In 1924, G. Arthur Gordon became associated with the Savannah Warehouse and Compress Company as its president, and was its president when he died in 1941.