Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/355

 GORDON

GORDON

for debt. His constant and restless efforts to find capital gained for him ridicule and he became known as the "India-rubber maniac." Finding no encouragement in New York he re- moved to Roxbury, Mass., where he was fur- nished by E. M. (Jhaffee with facilities for manu- facturing. His process worked satisfactorily on thin goods, but was useless where the gum was spread liberally on the cloth. This discovery brought him again into bankruptcy and his friends urged him to give up the straggle, but he would not. In 1839 he found that by using super-heated sulphur instead of nitric acid he hardened the entire substance and still preserved its pliancy. Aided by his brother -in-law, Wil- liam De Forrest, after experiments that cov- ered five years and exhausted the resources of his entire family, he patented vulcanized rubber in 1844 in America, but lost bis pat- ents for France and England. He renewed liis American patents in 18.58, but was refused a further extension in 1867. The great council medal of the World's Fair, London, 18.51, was conferred on him, as was the grand medal of the Paris exposition, 18.55, and the cross of the Legion of Honor was presented by Napoleon III. He was in debt at the time of his death. See Trials of an Inventor by Bradford K. Peirce (1866). and Parton's Famous Amcricitii!' of Recent Times (1867). He died in New York city, July 1. 1860.

GORDON, Adoniram Judson, clergyman, was born in New Ham|)toii, N.H., April 19. 1S36; son of John Calvin and .Sallie (Robinson) Gordon; grandson of Benoni Gordon and of Josiali Robin- son; and a supposed descendant of John Robinson of Leyden. He was graduated from Brown in ] 860, from the Newton theological institution in 1863, and was ordained pastor of the Baptist church at Jamaica Plain, Mass., June 29, 1863. He was pas- tor at Jamaica Plain, 1863-69, and pastor of the Clarendon Street Baptist church, Boston. Mass., 1869-9.5. He was a trustee of Brown university, 1874-88, and a fellow, 1888-9.5; trustee of the Newton theologii^al institution; cliairman of the e.xecutive commitee of the American Bapti.st missionary union, and the founder of the Boston missionary training school in 1889. He received the honorary degree of D.D. from Brown in 1878. His published works include: Grace and Glory (18S1); The Ministry of llealinrj (1882); The Tioo- Fohl Life (1884); Ecce Venit (1890); The Holy Spirit in Missions (1892); TTie Ministry of the tipirit (1894); How Christ came to Church (1895) See a ■ Biography, by his son E. B. Gordon (1896). He died in Boston, Mass., Feb. 2. 189.5.

GORDON, Armistead Churchill, lawyer, was born in Allipniarli- ccinnty. Va.. Dec. 20. 18.5.5; son of George Loyall and JIary Long (Daniel) Gordon; grandson of Gen. William Fitzhii.Lxh

Gordon and of Judge Joseph J. Daniel of the supreme court of North Carolina; and a descend- ant of John Goi'don of Middlesex county, Va., a Scotch-Irish emigrant to Virginia from Ulster, Ireland, about 1728; and through his mother a descendant of William Randolph of Turkey Island, Va., and of John Stith, the immigrant, who was the father of William Stith, historian, and president of William and Mary college. Armistead attended the University of Virginia, 1873-75, and was admitted to the bar in 1879. He was mayor of Staunton, Va., 1884^86; com- monwealth's attorney, 1890-92, and city attorney, 1894-99. He was on the board of visitors of the University of Virginia, 1894-98; became a mem- ber of the charter board of William and Mary college in 1897, and was rector of the Univer- sity of Virginia, 1897-98. He is the. author of Befo' de ]Var: Echoes in Negro Dialect (with Thomas Nelson Page, 1888); Congressional Cur- rency (1895); For Truth and Freedom: Poems of Commemoration (1898); Envion, and Other Tales of Old and Xew Virginia (1899) and contributions to periodicals.

GORDON, Clarence, sociologist, was born in New York city, April 28, 1835; son of George and Maria Regina. (Stackhouse) Gordon; and grand.son of John and Lucy (Robbins) Gordon and of Hastings and Margaret (Robins) Stack- house. His first ancestors in America were John Robbins, who died in Wethersfield, Conn., in 1660; Robert Latimer, who immigi'ated about 1600; Thomas Stackhouse, who immigrated about 1685 and settled in Bucks county. Pa.; and Gov. Thomas Welles of Connecticut. Clarence attended the schools of Savannah, Ga., and the eiiarles F. Maurice military academy, Sing Sing, N.Y.; and was graduated from the Lawrence scientific school, Harvard, S.B., in 1855. He engaged in the cotton business in Savannah, Ga., with his father, 1855-60. He was married. May 1. 1861, to Frances Gore Fessenden of Boston, Mass. He engaged in literary pursuits, 1861-69; lived in retirement at liis home, "Vine Lea," Newburgh, NY., 1869-80; was special agent in charge of the census investigation of the live- stock industries west of the Mississippi, 1880-84; was in the real estate business in New York city, 1884-89; and was made secretary and resident manager of the East Side House college settle- ment. New York city, in 1894. He is the author of Christmas at Under-Tor (1863); Ovr Fresh and Salt Tutors (\SC)i): Boarding-School Days (1865); Two Lires in One (1860), and many contributions to periodicals.

GORDON, Edward Clifford, educator, was born in Rirhmonil. Vn,. Sept. 1, 1842; son of Jolin Newton nnd Louisiana CColeman) Gordon; and grandson of Niitli:uiiel Gordon, He was a