Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 5.djvu/362

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VIRGINIA BIOGRAPHY

member the commonwealth for Augusta county, and the other member the common- wealth for Staunton. In January, 1891, Mr. Gordon formed a partnership with William Patrick, and the firm of Patrick & Gordon was dissolved by the death of Mr. Patrick in June, 1909, since which date Mr. Gordon has continued the practice of his profession alone.

Since residing in Staunton, Air. Gordon has filled the following positions of trust or prominence: Mayor of Staunton, 1884-86; city commissioner of accounts, 1883 ^'^ 1892; commissioner in chancery of the Hustings court of Staunton ; commissioner in chan- cery of the circuit court of Augusta ; com- missioner of accounts for Augusta county since 191 1 ; president of the Staunton Cham- ber of Commerce ; commonwealth's attor- ney of Staunton, 1890-92; city attorney of Staunton five terms of two years each ; sec- retary of the University of Virginia Alumni Society of Staunton and Augusta County; president of same ; charter member and first president of the Beverly Club of Staunton ; charter member and first president of the Staunton Savings Bank, now the Farmers' and Merchants' Bank of Staunton ; chair- man of the city Democratic committee of Staunton, 1892-93-94; director of the Bald- win District Fair Association ; chairman of the Democratic committee of Augusta county for many years ; member of the board of visitors of the University of Vir- ginia, 1894 to 1898; member of the state board of visitors to Mount Vernon ; mem- ber of the building committee, composed of three from the visitors and two from the faculty, for the restoration of the buildings of the University of Virginia, destroyed by fire in 1895 ; member of the royal charter hoard of the College of William and Mary in Virginia, 1897 to 1906; rector of the Uni- versity of Virginia, 1897-98; common- wealth's attorney of Augusta from May 23, 1898, to July, 1900, by appointment, to fill an unexpired term ; vice-president of the Virginia State Bar Association ; charter member, and member from 1902 to 1904 of the executive committee, of the General Society of Alumni of the University of Vir- ginia ; commissioner to the board of super- visors of Augusta county, and member and first chairman of the state library board of Virginia, from July i, 1903, to July i, 1908. In the opening of 1906 he was again ap- pointed a member of the board of visitors

of the University of Virginia, for a term of four years, commencing February 28, 1906, and was thereupon reelected rector of the university by the unanimous vote of his col- leagues on the board, which office he still holds.

Pursuant to resolutions of the council of Staunton, Mr. Gordon, in 1885, made the first codification of the city ordinances ; and in 1897 revised and recodified the city ordi- nances. He has been a contributor at irregular intervals, of fiction, essays and verse to the "Century," "Scribner's" and "Atlantic Monthly," and other periodicals, and has published: "Befo' de War; Echoes in Negro Dialect," in conjunction with Thomas Nelson Page, 1888; "Congressional Currency ; An Outline of the Federal Money System;" "For Truth and Freedom; Poems of Commemoration;" "Envion and Other Tales of Old and New \'irginia ;" "The Gay Gordons ; Ballads of an Ancient Scottish Clan ;" and three novels : "The Gift of the Morning Star ;" "Robin Aroon ;" and "Maje : A Love Story." During the years 1914 and 191 5 he contributed a number of short stories to "Scribner's Magazine." He has also written the lives of several eminent men, in "Great Judges and Lawyers," edited by Dr. William Lewis Draper, dean of the law faculty of the University of Pennsyl- vania.

Mr. Gordon is a member of the Chi Phi fraternity, a Greek letter college secret society, and has been poet before its annual convention ; he is an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias, though no longer in active affiliation with these orders; and is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks ; he is a member of the .'\lpha Chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at \\'illiam and Mary College, and in 1896 de- livered an address before this society on "The Valley Ulsterman : A Chapter of Vir- ginia History." He is a member of the Scotch-Irish Society of .\merica, and de- livered an address before its seventh con- gress, in June, 1895, on "General Daniel Slorgan." He is a member of the Virginia State Bar Association ; Virginia Historical Society, and of its executive committee ; the New Spalding Club of .\berdeen, Scotland, to whose publication, "The House of Gor- don," under the editorship of J. M. Bulloch, of London, he contributed material concern- ing the history of Gordons in Ireland and America. He also collaborated with Mr.