Governor Patrick Gordon (Born 1664)

7th Great Grandfather – FFFMFFFMF¹

Pennsylvania Governor Patrick Gordon was my 7th great grandfather.² Elsewhere on this site I describe the life of Abraham Taylor, who was my 6th great grandfather and his marriage in 1733 to Philadelphia Gordon. Philadelphia was one of Governor Patrick Gordon’s daughters.

Patrick Gordon was born in Aberdeen in 1664, to John Gordon and Christian Smyth, being baptised on 1^st March at St. Nicholas, Aberdeen.^3,4 Among his godparents listed are Sir Patrick Leslie of Eden, his father’s uncle, and his own uncle Patrick Gordon.

Patrick was 1 of 9 children (6 boys and 3 girls). His father, John Gordon was an Aberdeen merchant and a descendant of a cadet line of Clan Gordon.⁵

Patrick was a military man. On 1^st October 1689 he was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the 2^nd Battalian of the Royal Regiment of Foot.⁶. On 3^rd August 1694, he was promoted to Captain, and his commission was renewed in 1702⁷.

During the War of the Spanish Succession the regiment served under the Duke of Marlborough in the battles of Schellenberg, Blenheim, Ramillies, Oudenarde and Malplaquet. Whether Patrick fought in all of these battles is unknown but Dalton’s list does mention that he served at Blenheim.⁸

Meanwhile on 3^rd April 1695, Patrick married Isabella Clerk, the daughter of William Clerk. Burke (1838) says Isabella was the brother of Father Clerk who was confessor to the King of Spain.

Patrick and Isabella had at least 7 children. The first to be baptised was Patrick in 1697 in Aberdeen⁹. Apparently officers were allowed to take their wives with them when campaigning in Europe as Elizabeth was baptised at s’Hertogenbosch in Holland on 13^th October 1703.¹⁰

By 1706 the family had returned to London. There were three baptisms and one burial at St Margaret’s Westminster. St Margaret’s, Westminster is the church in the middle of Parliament Square, and since 1614 has been the parish church of the Palace of Westminster (House of Commons) (see “St Margaret’s, Westminster” 2023).

On 6^th August 1706 a daughter, Philadelphia was baptised.¹¹ However, this daughter was not my ancestor as she was buried a year later in 1707.¹² On 5^th February 1707 a second daughter, Agatha Harriott was baptised¹³. A third daughter, Philadelphia, my 6^th great grandmother was baptised on the 14^th November 1709¹⁴. In all 3 of the baptisms the baptism entry gives the father as Major Gordon or Major Patrick Gordon and the mother as Isabella, so at some point between 1694 and 1706 Patrick was promoted to Major.

I have not found any reference to the baptisms of the other children, but all of the children except Patrick, who must have died by then are mentioned in Patrick’s (the elder) will.

By 1709 Patrick was out of the Army as mentioned in Dalton’s list¹⁵ and In 1714, Patrick was one of the officers placed on the half-pay list, when the British Army was down-sized after the Treaty of Utrecht, which concluded the War of Spanish Succession.¹⁶

In April 1726, Patrick was appointed by the Proprietors of Pennsylvania to be Deputy Governor of Pennsylvania, the appointment being confirmed by George I.¹⁷ He travelled to Philadelphia with his wife and six of his children in the Spring arriving on 22^nd June 1726.¹⁸

Apparently, Governor Gordon was a competant, if not inspiring Governor. At a council held at the Indian Town of Conestoga on 27^th May 1728, for the purpose of renewing treaties with the Native Indian tribes it was said by the Indians in reference to the Governor’s address.

“it greatly rejoyced their Hearts that they have had no such Speech made to them since the time that the Great William Penn was amongst them , all was good and nothing was amiss.”¹⁹

In addition to relations with the Native Indian tribes, there was an ongoing dispute with the Colony of Maryland over the borders of the two colonies. In 1732 a tentative agreement was reached between the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, and Lord Baltimore, Proprietor of Maryland²⁰. However, the text of the agreement was disputed by Lord Baltimore and it was not implemented. The dispute was finally settled much later when the Mason-Dixon line was established in 1767 (“Mason-Dixon Line” 2023).

Christ Church, Philadelphia, where the Governor’s daughter, Philadelphia, my 6^th great grandmother married Abraham Taylor in 1733, was considerably enlarged during Governor Gordon’s tenure as Governor, and the Governor layed the corner stone of the new addition, as noted in a Journal of that day

“April 28^th, 1727.
Yesterday the Hon P. Gordon, our Governor, with the Mayor, Recorder, and the Rev. Mr. Cummings, our minister, and sundry gentlemen, laid the first stone of the additional building designed to be made to the Church of this city.²¹”

Patrick’s wife Isabella died in September 1734 and the Govenor died two years later on the 5^th August 1736.²² Both the Governor and his wife were buried in Christ Church, Philadelphia.²³

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