History of Delaware County Indiana 1881 T.B. Helm Surnames in this biography are: Gordon, Broderick, Hackley,Gilbert, Coyner, ROBERT GORDON                   was born in the year 1814, in Miami County, -Ohio. His father died when Robert was very young, leaving the mother with eight children. Robert found a home in the family of Andrew Broderick, with whom he came to Delaware County, Ind, in 1819.Mr. Broderick was employed by Mr. Hackley, the French trader, who had married an Indian woman, and received from the chief of the tribe a large tract of land, near the present site of Muncie. Mr. Broderick was engaged to plow the land and assist the Indians in tilling it. Hackley afterward shot himself, and the land was purchased by Goldsmith C. Gilbert. Broderick left soon after, but Robert remained with Mr. Gilbert. In 1833, Mr. Gordon was married and launched out for himself. He has always been a strong, energetic, hard-working and upright citizen. He has been a carpenter, a railroad builder, a house mover, etc.He and Martin Coyner took the contract for laying the railroad track from Newcastle to Richmond, and from Muncie to Union City, nearly thirty years ago.Mr. Coyner laid the track from Newcastle to Richmond, and Mr. Gordon from Muncie to Union City. He also built many of the edifices in Muncie, a number of large barns throughout the county, railroad bridges, etc. For the past twenty-five years, he has been engaged in moving houses and other buildings,and has accomplished some very difficult things in this line at Muncie,Middletown, Anderson, Farmland and other places. He has moved barns that were 70x100 feet, and moved a four-story mill 40x60 feet, for a distance of 150 yards. He also moved the old County Seminary, in three sections, a distance of one mile, completing the work and setting up the building in three days. In his younger days, he was a very strong man, and many incidents are related of his astonishing muscular feats.He is said to have lifted a cast-iron wheel weighing 2,400 pounds, and to have carried three railroad bars on his shoulder at once. He has always been a reliable and esteemed citizen, and is the oldest survivor of the pioneers of this county—his period of citizenship here covering sixty-two years.