vii3
Generation VII - 3 Gordon - Duke

"John Gordon, aka 'the Patriarch' born c. 1739 in  Scotland, d. 1816 in Greene Co.lived and married near Baltimore, the location is disputed by family members, but about forty-five miles from Baltimore along the Monocacy Creek by some accounts.

"While living in Maryland the family made a living by farming, but were very poor.  This may have been due to ineptitude: they preferred to blame it on the soil.

"John and Mary, as early as July 3, 1777 were living in Fredrick County, Maryland near the Monocacy River.  Their children: Elizabeth, John Adam I, Mary, Eleanor, Philip Duke, Bazil, William, George and John were all born there.

"Elizabeth, their eldest daughter, married (1)Christofer Gussman on July 3, 1777 (2) Lewis Snell.  Their third daughter, Eleanor, married Ludwig Kern about 1783.

"Sometime before 1789 Mary died and was buried on the farm of Simon Grossman.
(Gussman).

"The family conceived the idea that they could improve their economic situation by moving west.  Philip Duke and Bazil went ahead to 'to spy out the land'; sometime after 1784, and not later than 1789 the entire family had moved across the Alleghenies and settled at Morgantown, Virginia" (now West Virginia).

The route is detailed in The Illustrated Handbook, A New Guide for Travellers Through the United States of America, published in New York (1848) p.128.

                                            Route from Fredrick, Maryland, to Morgantown, Virginia

To Hagarstown                         26 miles
To Hancock                              26   "
To.Old Town                            35    "
To Cumberland                         14     "
To Fork of Braddock's Road    40    "
To Morgantown                        43   "
                                                                              _____________________________
                                                                                  Total                184 miles

This handbook uses a map by La Rouchefoucault - Liancourt's Travels, London (1799).

There are no details of their journey, but most likely their experience was similar to that of many others at the time.

Their journey across the Alleghenies was probably by the Cumberland Road.which followed Braddock's route.  To cross such terrain was a challenge in itself as the legislation that authorized the road's construction directed that the road be laid out so that there was no grade in excess of 5 degrees--now considered a remarkabble standard for the time in so mountainous a country (a standard that highway engineers use today.) 

A brief description of what lay ahead for them is taken from the Cumberland Road Commissioner's report of 1806 to President Jefferson; "As for the section of the Alleghenies the road would cross, a profile is possible using the commissioner's own calculations of elevation based on Cumberland (actually 688 feet above sea level) as ground zero.  The road would begin at Cumberland (0), then have a rise to 2,022 at Savage Mountain, fall to 1,741 at the Savage River, rise to 2,026 at Meadow Mountain, fall to 1,322 at the Casselman River, rise to 2,328 at Negro Mountain, fall to 645 at the Youghiogheny River, rise to 1550 at Laurel Hill, and fall to 274 at Uniontown--all within a span of 50 miles".

Morgantown was a primitive place.  From The History of Monongalia County: "up to 1791 it consisted of but four log houses.  The final Indian massacre occurred there in June  The post office didn't open here until 1794  The settlers usually came bringing all their worldly store--consisting of the bare necessities of life on pack horses.  After arriving the first thing was the selection of a cabin site, near a spring or creek,trees were felled and cut into logs, the neighbors were notified for a 'raising' and the walls and roof went up.  The custom was to construct a single room cabin that was shared by the whole family.  In the case of the Gordons, several cabins would have been needed."  The Gordons didn't leave any record, but this most likely was their experience judging by the letters left by other pioneers who preceded them.

The original family was of the strenuous type.  Opportunities for education were slight only Philip Duke Gordon could write his own name.  Described as,"stout, active and healthy. . . . a little rough, above average size, some of them were of the Catholic faith.  Backwoods fighting was a chief accomplishment of the family.  George Gordon was "notorious as a fighter, actually frankly brutal toward his horse in one instance."

While living in Monongalia Co. John Adam Gordon I married Cassandra Holland about September 1789.  She was the daughter of a well-to-do land owner.  He acquired land while living in Monongalia Co. and two children were born to them.  The Gordons were described as "up 'til the infusion of Holland blood "as a black-eyed, dark-complected people.  The Hollands were fair and had blue eyes and flaxen hair.

Once again the Gordons decided to improve their situation and travelled  north  about thirty five miles into Pennsylvania settling near Waynesburg, Greene Co..  The continuation of the Gordons' migration must have taken place between January 22, 1794 and July 1, 1796 judging by the birth place/dates of two children born to John Adam and Cassandra while living at Morgantown.  Not all of the Family continued on.to Greene Co.  Mary and Jacob Holland remained in Monongalia Co.  Philip Duke went west to Cincinnati.  Based on birth dates in the Gordon book, the Gordons that continued on to Greene Co., were ten adults and 8-12 children.

The Family arrived in Greene County about 1795.  John Adam Gordon and William Gordon bought out the patent to a considerable tract of land.  They all got farms side by side on the richest land in the county, settled in and began to prosper on what has since been known as the "Gordon Homestead".

In his old age, the Patriarch married "Sibbly" Main, a widow with four daughters.  Neither she or her daughters were accepted by the Family.

Three generations were stricken.by the "Cold Plague".*  John Adam Gordon I died January 29th, the Patriarch died March 29,1816 and Judge Mark Gordon survived.

*  possibly  typhoid fever

                All buried in the burying ground on the "Gordon Homestead" the original grave marker no longer exists it has been replaced by a granite shaft with this inscription:

  JOHN GORDON
     Ancestor of the
GORDON FAMILY
  Of  Greene County
Born
In Scotland A.D. 1739
Removed to Germany
&
  Thence Emigrated
  to America,
Died March 29, 1816
             Aged 77 year
 

 


For a more detailed history of this John Gordon, courtesy of Ruth Gordon Hastie, click John
 
* * * * * * *

The Dukes

Mary (Polly) Duke , sister of a Dr. Duke "The Dukes of Kentucky are relatives of ours, for before the War they visited back and forth, and I heard my Father often talk about them."   The relationship is apparently to Dr. Basil Duke of Baltimore, who was born in Calvert County, Maryland, June 21,1767, practised medicine for some time in Baltimore, and about 1791 emigrated to Lexington, Kentucky, where he married Charlotte Marshall, a sister  of Chief Justice John Marshall. He died in 1828. In spite of some efforts, this claim of relationship has not been substantiated.
                     From The Gordon's of Greene County Pennsylvania
_____________________________________________________________________________________________

For a more thorough account of the Duke Family, courtesy of  Ruth G. Hastie, click  Duke