Daniel Gordon

GORDON, DANIEL teacher, merchant, ship owner, shipbuilder, and officeholder; b. 2 June 1821 in Brudenell, son of Henry Gordon of Brudenell and Margaret McDonald of East Point; m. first 27 June 1854 Bridget E. Kearney, and they had three children, Ada, Fanny, and Henry; ni. secondly 1893, Matilda Smith (nee McGougan) of Prince Tow'n, and there were no children; Presbyterian; d. 26 September 1907 in Georgetown. Gordon, a Conservative, was first elected to the House of Assembly in 1876 for Georgetown Royalty. He was re-elected in the general elections of 1879, 1882, 1886, and 1890. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly in the general election of 1893 for 5,h Kings. He was re-elected in the general elections of 1897 and 1900. Gordon was elected to the Legislative Council in 1866 and 1870 for 2nd Kings. He resigned his seat in Legislative Council in 1873. Gordon was a member of Executive Council from 1876 to 1878 in the L. H. Davies* Administration. Gordon joined the Free School Coalition organized by Davies for the 1876 election. Following the passing of the Public Schools Act, Gordon returned to the Conservative Party in the fall of 1878, after he and three other Conservative Free Schoolers resigned because they felt the coalition could not last. The resignations left the remaining Free-Schoolers in a minority. In early 1879, the Davies government tell on a vote of non-confidence. After the defeat of the William W. Sullivan"' government in 1889, Gordon served as Leader of the Opposition until the election of John Mathieson* as Leader of the Conservatives. Gordon was a learned person, and many of his public addresses contained quotations from great writers and thinkers, often taken from the works in his large library. Gordon, who had been educated in the local grammar school in Georgetown, taught from 1839 to 1840, before starting a business career in 1841. In Georgetown he operated a general retail business. Gordon was an importer-exporter, as well as a shipbuilder and ship owner. He was the sole owner of at least 15 vessels, most of which were built in Georgetown. Herbert Acorn* worked for him for some time starting in 1884. At his death on 26 September 1907, he was the oldest merchant in business in the province. Gordon was appointed a Justice of the Peace in 1851, served as the Commissioner under the Insolvent Debtors' Act, and was the Sheriff of Kings County beginning in 1863. He also served as chair of the Kings County Board of Agricultural and Exhibition Commissioners, as well as chair of the Georgetown Board of School Trustees. Bridget Gordon was the daughter of John Kearney of Georgetown. She died 19 June 1884 at the age of 55. Matilda Gordon of Prince Town was born 8 October 1855. Gordon's father came originally from Perthshire, Scotland.