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- Brought to Virginia by his mother in 1750; they settled in the northeastern section of Albemarle County, Virginia, near Charlottesville and Gordonsville. According to Isaac Martin Gordon, his father later joined them, but subsequently returned to Ireland and never returned from there.
Multiple sources identify his parents as Alexander Gordon and Jane Stewart; others call his father James Stewart Gordon. To the best of our knowledge there is no actual evidence for any of these names, or for the idea that either of his parents were descended from "the Huntley Gordons of Scotland."
Revolutionary War soldier, 16th Virginia.
From the Thomas Gordon entry on Find a Grave, a narration of the facts set forth at the ceremony for the Thomas & Sarah Gordon memorial marker, 27 Dec 2008, Pilot Mountain Cemetery, Pilot Mountain, North Carolina:
Thomas served in the Revolutionary War. While still a resident of Virginia, and less than a year following the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Gordon on May 11, 1777 enlisted in the 16th Virginia Continental Regiment for service in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This Regiment was organized by Colonel William Grayson of Prince William County, Virginia, who later became a United States Senator from Virginia. Thomas Gordon was assigned as a private soldier to the Company commanded by Captain Cleon Moore of Fairfax County, Virginia. Under the direction of General George Washington, Thomas Gordon fought, in Pennsylvania, in the battles of Brandywine on September 11, 1777, and Germantown on October 4, 1777, He spent the bitterly cold winter of 1777-1778 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania where his regiment was given military instruction and training under General Baron Von Steuben. On June 28 1778, Thomas Gordon fought in the battle of Monmouth, in New Jersey, with the temperature a reported 96 degrees in the shade. The Grayson Regiment played an important part in this battle, and Colonel Grayson was commended for valor in action. General Washington's Army spent the winter of 1778-1779 at Camp Middlebrook in Somerset County, New Jersey. On April 22, 1779 the Grayson and Gist Virginia Continental Regiments were united and Colonel Nathaniel Gist was made its commander, with Colonel Grayson being assigned to other duties. Thomas Gordon was transferred to the Company in the Gist Regiment that was headed by Captain Strother Jones. The records of the United States War Department show that Thomas Gordon last appeared on the payroll of the Jones Company in November, 1779. The Revolutionary War military service of Thomas Gordon lasted for two and a half years.
At some point during his Revolutionary War service, Thomas Gordon and 14 Continental soldiers were captured by the British and held for some time as prisoners of war until they were rescued by mounted American forces. It is not known when the capture and rescue occurred. During their imprisonment, the wrists of the Continental soldiers were bound by green hickory withes, which when the hardened and dried, cut deep wounds, leaving scars as permanent reminders of their painful sufferings inflicted by the British soldiers.
About 1780, as the Revolutionary War neared its end, Thomas Gordon and family moved to Surry County, North Carolina and established their residence near the west bank of what is now known as Stewart's Creek, near Mount Airy, in the White Plains community just north of Highway 601. They raised other children in Surry county and engaged in farming. In April, 1803, both Thomas Gordon and Sarah Gordon were killed when their home was struck by lightning. They were buried in a field near their home, in separate coffins in a common grave. In later years, their farm became a portion of the the farm properties of Eng and Chang Bunker, the famous Siamese twins.
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Nielsen Hayden genealogy
1745 - 1803 (58 years)
[1, 2] 