Ric, I see your name on the Gordon and Williamson Co lists often. Both of which I am also a member of. My Williamson Co Tx ancestor was a Uriah Hardy Anderson (1810-1893) from Giles Co, TN who married Elizabeth Emmaline Gordon (1824-1897) from Greene co, AL. However, I have always suspected that there were connnections because in Giles Co right next to the Andersons in a community called Brick Church were quite a few Gordons. There was at one time a website from a descendent of these Gordons called something like "Sons of Samuel". In there I found no connection, but there are still some odd connections. My Emmaline Elizabeth Gordon is definitely from John and Ruth Gordon of VA>SC>AL/MS/GA, etc. There were many Gordons in the Old 96th / Union District area of SC 1750+. John and Ruth moved there from Truro Parish, Farifax Co, VA due to a Royal land grant of 450 acres in SC. All of their sons fought with Rev Militia at significant SC battles and received further land in AL, etc. where many moved in early 1800's. My direct ancestor Capt. William Gordon was with Brandon's Regiment and died in 1781 possibly a Rev War casualty...proof weak. I can't remember when the major southern push by the British began which resulted in the Cowpens victory, etc., but I think it was after 1781, so if William died as a result of militia service it would have been in Loyalist vs. Rebel militia conflicts, not the major push that resulted in Colonial victory at Yorktown. These Gordons were later very pro-CSA. I think I counted 58 Gordons who perished in Civil War from the portion of Gordons that are in the book I mentioned, Gordons of the Deep South. I got a photocopied version last year from a kind distant relative. Basically, it covers several of the children of John and Ruth Gordon. Not all branches of the tree are traced completely, though. About half did not move on to AL/MS and are not traced very deeply in this book. For instance, John Gordon Jr. (1736-1799) is recorded as having serveed with Colonel John Chevilette in the Cherokee Wars. He seems to have stayed in SC, but we have nothing on his wife, children, etc. Benjamin Gordon (1738 - ?) nothing except service also with Chevilette in Cherokee Wars. This service would have certainly gained land grants in land, but the southern states were still infested with Indians at this time, so land in MD, KY, TN, etc. might have been more likely about 1765'ish I would think. Besides we know nothing about the original John Gordon's relations in VA. No doubt they would have been Scottish. It would be a rare Gordon from elsewhere, and they seem to have been Presbyterians. Did some go to KY/TN, etc. ? John was born about 1710...not sure where, but he was married to Ruth ? about 1733 and purchased 367 acres in 1733 on Clerks run, Truro Parish, Prince William Co (now Loudoun) Va. There seems to be nothing about his immediate family or heritage. At least I have not seen it, and there are many, many Gordons on the list from this family. Since most of the book is about the family of two or three children who moved to GA then AL/MS and LA. These are primarily the younger sons of John and Ruth who got their land for Rev War service. The Indians were cleared from Giles Co, TN and south about 1805-1810, so that is when movement that directions seems to have been. My Andersons moved from VA to Sumner Co, TN about 1787 then to Giles Co, TN about 1806/7. I have always wondered if there was a possibility that the Gordons of Giles Co are relatives of the AL Gordons due to very thin logic as follows: My Gordon gggrandmother Elizabeth Emmaline was the daughter of Posey Gordon (1775-1830) 4th son of the above mentioned Capt. William Gordon. DAR records show this relationship as does his will. Derivation of the name Posey is another enigma which becomes even more confusing later. Posey married an Elizabeth Sims and moved to GA and then on to Greene Co, AL where many, many Sims and Gordons were quite prominent until the Civil War. This county is now heavily negro due to many large cotton plantations with large slave populations and rather poor now, but at the time of the War of Northern Agression it was the largest exporter of cotton of any county in the country. Gordons and Sims were actively involved with rather large farms each including many slaves. Posey Gordon died when many of his younger children were quite young including Elizabeth Emmaline my gggrandmother. At 13 her mother also died. This left Elizabeth and several siblings living with older siblings and other relatives including Sims' and Gordon's. Meantime, my gggrandfather who is 14 years older than Elizabeth was many hundreds of miles away living in Brick Church community of Giles Co. TN in the same neighborhood of many Gordons. He traveled to TX for the TX Rev (or at least part) and was awarded quite a bit of land in Williamson County, TX while his brother Matthew got land in Robertson Co, TX. There was a bit of an Indian problem still in these areas, though. He went back to TN and in 1841 married the 17-year-old Elizabeth Gordon. I do not know where they were married, AL or TN, and where he met her some several hundred miles away is a mystery. Since she was an orphan, I have wondered if she might have been living in Brick Church with relatives, but that is a total speculation with absolutely no info. In 1842 Elizabeth and U. H. Anderson moved to area which becomes Rock House of Williamson County, TX. U. H. inherited well from his father in Giles Co, TN, Stephen Anderson, in 1844, went back to get inheritance, returned to TX, and bought almost 5,000 acres in the area around Rock House. He is the one who gave the land for the school, etc. there. By Civil War he was listed as the wealthiest man in Williamson Co while his brother Matthew had that distinction in Robertson Co. Actually, that probably meant very little, but it is recorded. There were no good schools in the area, so in mid-1860's Elizabeth took a house in Round Rock where the Greenwood Academy was located so that the youngest three children could be better educated. There is a possibility of a political conflict between U. H. and his wife because U. H. and his brother Matthew had been avid Sam Houston followers and Houston was anti-secession. Obviously, the Gordons were very pro-Confederacy throughout. While both Matthew and U. H. had sons who fought for the Confederacy there is evidence that they may have been lukewarm in their own support. In fact, Matthew in Robertson Co. was a bit more than lukewarm. He disowned his son James Posey Anderson when James left to join the Confederacy in LA. This son was a casualty of the war at Holly Springs, MS, and father and son had not reconciled. There is no such evidence of disagreement between U. H. and his sons George Washington Anderson and Thomas Hardy Anderson who both served with the CSA Williamson County Greys, apparently. I descend from Thomas Hardy Anderson. In 1868 Elizabeth Gordon Anderson returned to Rock House with younger children to discover that her husband had taken another woman to his bed who later became "Aunt" Betty. There was a divorce with Elizabeth and younger three children moving to property owned in Limestone county, TX at Tehuacana site of the newly formed Trinity University (now in San Antonio). There they lived until death. The daugher Margaret married a Thames and gave birth to two daughters. She died in 1878 at age 22 of child birth however. Thames remarried and moved away somewhere. She is buried near her mother in Tehauacana Cemetery. Son James seems never to have married and is buried beside mother. He died one year after his mother in 1898 at age 36. Rufus, the youngest, like most other Andersons finished school at Trinity U. and went on to Cumberland Law School in Lebanon, TN. He died the year of his graduation from Cumberland of TB. The older children/s connection to their mother was rather strong, apparently, even after the divorce. Older children were grown and married by and large by the divorce. My own grandfather was named for a professor at Trinity as was his brother. Their father, Thomas Hardy Anderson, seems to have spent some time there after returning from the Civil War. Tehuacana is now practically a ghost town, the old college building is a stark yet impressive relic near the cemetery, and Trinity U. after about 50 year in Tehuacana plus another 30 or 40 in Waxahachie, has moved to San Antonio where it is no longer associated with any religioius body. Rather well known for drama department. This was originally a Cumberland Presbyterian institution which was their religion as well as most Scot/Scotch-irish-born southerners. I do not know if any related Gordons were students here. I would love to get historic information from the U. but have no idea of how to do so. Trinity has not responded to my emails. Above I noted that James Posey Anderson nephew of my gggrandfather was killed in Civil War. His name is an odder thing. It was my gggrandfather U. H. Anderson whose wife (later divorced) was a daughter of Posey Gordon, and we have many Poseys thenafter. However, James Posey Anderson was named such several years before U. H. Anderson married the daughter of Posey Gordon. I have long wondered if there might be some connection between my Andersons and Gordons back in the Rev War possibly serving under Gen Thomas Posey one of the heroes at Yorktown and the oft alleged illegitimate son of George Washington. Posey's fame could be such that more than 50 years after his death completely unrelated children were named after him, but that seems problematic unless there was a closer connection. He was never famous enought to be a cult hero like Washington or even Gen. Nathaniel Greene. My Gordons and my Andersons had Poseys before the marriage of Posey Gordon's daughter to U. H. Anderson. That's odd to me. Another weak link. I guess I could clear up in my mind any relationship in Giles co, TN between Gordons (yours, maybe) and Andersons in the Brick Church area, if you have knowledge of where yours are from which excludes any John & Ruth Gordon connection. Certainly, these names and areas are not uncommon, and coincidences do exist. I went into excessive detail in order to see if anything seems to jibe with your Gordons. It is not impossible to imagine that they would move to TX because they had relations there. Another probably unrelated issue is physical size. As I recall, the Samuel Gordon mentioned in the website I mentioned was almost 7 feet tall. My Anderson gggrandfather, U. H., was as well. Either the water in Giles Co, TN was unique when people were much smaller than now, or that is an odd coincidence as well. Oh well, just looking for clues in a "haystack". Does anything light a fire of recognition? Have a great day, Hurston Anderson Anderson ----- Original Message ----- From: Ric <fdg@flash.net> To: <TXWILLIA-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, July 02, 2000 12:24 PM Subject: Re: [TXWILLIA] Gordons of Giles Co, TN > My Gordons did come from Giles Co., Tennessee, but I've never read or > seen a copy of "Gordons of the Deep South". So I couldn't tell you > anything about the book. > > > > "L. Hurston Anderson" wrote: > > > > Ric, > > > > Do your Gordon's come from Giles Co TN before moving to Williamson co, TX? > > Are they from the "Gordons of the Deep South"? > > > > Hurston Anderson > > > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Ric <fdg@flash.net> > > To: <TXWILLIA-L@rootsweb.com> > > Sent: Saturday, July 01, 2000 6:53 PM > > Subject: [TXWILLIA] thank you...thank you > > > > > So far, this is what I've been able to put together thanks to many of > > > you out there: > > > > > > Andrew Gordon (my cousin) and his wife, Eliza Goff, came to Texas in the > > > early 1850's and brought their children (and in some cases, > > > Grandchildren) to eastern Williamson Co. The two had eleven children of > > > which one baby boy, Robert McDonald Gordon, died at the age of 6 months > > > and is buried in Tennessee, five girls and five boys that survived to > > > maturity. Of those five boys, two have been identified to have died > > > during the fight for Southern independence, William Henry "Harry" > > > Gordon, killed on skirmish line near New Hope Church, Georgia, and was > > > buried on the battle field. He had recently been transferred to this > > > regiment from the 8th Texas Cavalry, Company "A" which he had joined > > > from Burleson County, Texas, and when shot said to his brother ( Gen. > > > George Washington Gordon ), "Tell father (who was living in Williamson > > > Co. at the time) that I died in a glorious cause", his last words, taken > > > from "Military Annals of Tennessee", vol.1, page 298: a chapter written > > > by Gen. George W. Gordon; David Martin Gordon who had joined the 8th > > > Texas Cavalry, Company "A" , Terry's Texas Rangers from Burleson County, > > > Texas and was killed in action as a Private at Pulaski, Giles County, > > > Tennessee, two that may well have fought for the 4th Texas (not found > > > yet), and one son that returned to Tennessee to become a rather famous > > > General and gentleman, General George Washington Gordon, who headed up > > > the Eleventh Tennessee Infantry. > > > > > > I do believe I have a lot here to be proud of and I'm anxious to find > > > the information on the other two brothers, John Goff Gordon and Andrew > > > Franklin Gordon. > > > > > > Fred (Ric) Gordon > > > of Williamson Co., Texas > > > > > > > >