Page:Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography (1900, volume 2).djvu/721

Rh of the Laws of the United States " (Philadelphia, 1837); "History of Pennsylvania from its Discov- ery to 1776 " (1823) ; " History of New Jersey from its Discovery to 1789" (Trenton, 1831: 2d ed., 1834) ; " History of America " (Philadelphia, 1831) ; "Cabinet of American History"; "History of Ancient Mexico " (1832); "Gazetteer of New Jer- sey " (Trenton. 1834) ; " Gazetteer of New York " (1836 and 1847) : and " Gazetteer of Pennsylvania " (Philadelphia, 1839).

GORDON, William, clergyman, b. in Hitchin, England, in 1728 ; d. in Ipswich, England, 19 Oct., 1807. He was settled over a large independent society at Ipswich, and afterward at Old Gravel Lane, Wapping; and came to Massachusetts in 1770. After preaching a year to the Third church in Roxbury, he became its pastor, 6 July, 1772. During the Revolution he took an active part in public measures, and while chaplain to the Pro- vincial congress of Massachusetts preached a fast- day sermon, strongly expressing his political sen- timents. He was dismissed from his post, as the legislature regarded his prayers as intended rather to dictate their measures than to implore the •divine direction on them. He returned to Eng- land in 1786, and published his "History of the Rise, Progress, and Establishment of the Inde- pendence of the United States," a minute and gen- erally faithful narrative (4 vols., London, 1788). The value of this work was somewhat impaired by the expurgation of such passages as might incur prosecution. He subsequently settled at St. Neot's, Huntingdonshire. Besides his history, he pub- lished " A Plan of a Society for making Provision for Widows by Life Annuities" (1772); "First Anniversary Sermon after the Declaration of In- dependence. 4 July, 1777 " ; and an " Abridgment of Edwards's Work on ' The Affections.' "

GORDON, William Robert, clergyman, b. in New York city, 19 March, 1811. He was gradu- ated at the University of the city of New York in 1834, studied theology in the New Brunswick seminary, and was graduated and licensed to preach in 1837. He lield Dutch Reformed pas- torates in North Hempstead in 1838-'43. in Flush- ing in 1843-'9, in Houston street. New York city, in 1849-'58, and in Schraalenburgh. N. J., till 1880, when he resigned on account of failing health, but •continues to preach occasionally and edits the "Sower and Mission Monthly." The degree of S. T. D. was conferred on him by Columbia in 1859. He has been a constant contril)utor to various the- ological journals, and published, besides sermons and essays, " Supreme Godhead of Christ " (New York, 1844) ; " Particular Providence, proved by the History of Joseph" (1855): "Threefold Test of Modern Spiritualism " (1856) ; " Christocracy " (1867) ; " The Church and her Sacraments " (1870) ; " Life of Henry Ostrander, D. D." (1875) ; and " Revealed Truth Impregnable " (1878).

GORE, Christopher, senator, b. in Boston, Mass., 21 Sept.. 1758 ; d. in Waltham, Mass., 1 March, 1827. His father, John (1719-'96), was prosecuted and banished as a loyalist in 1778, but was restored to citizenship in 1787 by act of legis- lature. The son was graduated at Harvard in 1776, studied law with Judge Lowell, and soon ac- quired a lucrative practice in Boston. In 1789 he was appointed by Washington the first district at- torney for Massachusetts, which oifice he held un- til 1796. In that year he was appointed, with William Pinckney, commissioner to England under John Jay's treaty to settle the American spoliation claims, and succeeded in obtaining the restitution •of a large amount of property. He remained in London for eight years, during the last of which he was charge d'affaires. He returned to Boston in 1804, and was appointed governor of Massachu- setts in 1809, but served only one year. He was a member of both branches of the legislature, and in 1813 was elected U. S. senator in place of James Lloyd, which oifice he held till 1816. After serv- ing as a presidential elector in 1817 he retired to private life. He was for a time Daniel Webster's tutor in law. He left valuable bequests to the American academy of sciences and to the Massa- chusetts historical society, of which associations he was a member, and bequeathed nearly $100,000 to Harvard, of which he had been a fellow. The Harvard library building, Gore hall, which was completed in 1841, is named in his honor. Har- vard gave him the degree of LL. D.

GORGAS, Josiah, soldier, b. in Dauphin coun- ty. Pa., 1 July, 1818 ; d. in Tuscaloosa, Ala., 15 May, 1883. He was graduated at the U. S. military academy in 1841 and assigned to the oi'dnance corps. He served with credit in the Mexican war, rising to the rank of captain in 1855. After act- ing in various arsenals as assistant he resigned at the beginning of the civil war, and was placed at the head of the Confederate ordnance department with the rank of brigadier - general. After the close of the war he devoted himself to business. He was elected vice-chancellor of the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., in 1872, and was made president of the University of Alabama in 1878, where he remained until he was compelled to resign owing to failing health.

GORGES, Sir Ferdinando, proprietor of Maine, b. in Ashton Phillips, Somerset, England, about 1565 : d. in England in 1647. He was en- gaged in the conspiracy of Essex, and testified against the latter at his trial for treason in 1601. During the war with Spain he served in the royal navy with distinction, and in 1604 was appointed governor of Plymouth. Being a friend of Sir Wal- ter Raleigh, he became interested in the latter's plans for colonization in the New World ; and when Weymouth returned from New England in 1605, bringing five Indians, Gorges took three of them, Manida, Sketwarroes, and Tafquantum. into his home, and after instructing them in the Eng- lish language gained much information relative to their country, and determined to become a proprie- tor of land beyond the Atlantic. His efforts re- sulted in the formation of the Plymouth, which with the London company was incorporated in 1606. Between these was divided the territory extending fifty miles inland trom the 34th to the 45th parallel of north latitude. Plymouth com- pany had the northern portion, which was styled North Virginia. The patentees were authorized to maintain the government for twenty-one years, with permission to impose taxes, to coin money, and to exercise all the power of a well-organized society. After several unsuccessful expeditions, two ships were despatched from Plymouth in 1607, bearing a party who erected a fortified storehouse, near the mouth of the Kennebec, in Maine, which they called Fort George. Owing to the severity of the climate and many hardships, this colony was aban- doned in the following spring. In 1614 Gorges en- gaged Capt. John Smith, who had visited New Eng- land in the service of the Plymouth company. He set sail in March, 1615, with two ships. His own becoming dismasted, he returned to port, and the other made the voyage alone, but soon returned. After other unsuccessful attempts. Gorges sent out a party under Richard Vines, in 1616, which en- camped on the Saco during the winter. In 1619