Page 621

 

L. GORDON

 

L. Gordon, an enterprising and progressive farmer and successful business man of Grove township, where he has resided for more than thirty years, was born in Peoria county, Illinois, on the 10th of December, 1865.  He is a son of William Gordon, a native of North Carolina, who with his father, Samuel Gordon, removed to Indiana in early life and later settled in Peoria county, Illinois, in 1840. 

 

(Page 622) There William Gordon was reared and for a number of years was engaged in agricultural pursuits.  He became a soldier in the Civil war, enlisting from Peoria county as a member of the Forty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of hostilities.  He participated in the siege of Vicksburg and the battle of Shiloh, while he also took part in many minor skirmishes and engagements.  After receiving an honorable discharge he returned home and later removed to Iowa in 1876, purchasing raw land and opening up a farm in Grove township, Taylor county, where he reared his family and continued to engage in agricultural pursuits for many years.  The last ten years of his life, however were spent in Lenox, where he passed away in December, 1896, at the age of seventy-three years.  His wife, a native of Kentucky, was reared and married in Indiana and survived her husband until June, 1908, both being laid to rest in Lenox cemetery.

 

L. Gordon was a lad of eleven years when he came with his parents to Grove township, Taylor county, and was here reared to manhood, spending the period of his boyhood and youth upon his father's farm.  He acquired his education in the district schools near his home and took a commercial course at Burlington, Iowa, and when not occupied with his text-books was busily engaged in the work of the home farm, assisting his father in the development and improvement of a new place.  He early became familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and learned many practical lessons concerning the value of industry, diligence and perseverance.  He remained at home until twenty-four years of age, when, on the 2d of October, 1889, he was united in marriage to Miss Libbie Carter, a native of Henderson county, Illinois, and a daughter of James Carter, whose sketch appears elsewhere in this work.

 

After his marriage Mr. Gordon removed to a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, which he had previously purchased and which formed the nucleus of his present large farm.  When it came into his possession it was but partially developed and contained no buildings whatever.  Before his marriage, however, he erected a small house and barn, and here the young couple began their domestic life.  Mrs. Gordon had received from her father a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and with the passing of the years Mr. Gordon prospered in his business so that he was able to add from time to time to his original purchase until his holdings now consist of four hundred and twenty acres, all under an excellent state of cultivation.  He has remodeled his home, which is now an up-to-date and modern residence, and has two large and substantial barns and commodious outbuildings, while he has set out an orchard and grove.  The house is surrounded by a neat and well-kept lawn, ornamented by beautiful trees and shrubbery, and his place is today one of the neatest and most beautiful properties in the township.  In connection with tilling the soil he has given considerable attention to stock raising and feeding, fattening a large number of cattle and hogs annually.  His business interests, under his wise and careful management, are proving most profitable, and he is ranked among the substantial and representative agriculturists of Taylor county.

 

Mr. and Mrs. Gordon have two sons, namely: Earl L., who is assisting his father in the operation of the home farm; and Vernon, attending school near his home.  The parents are members of Blue Grove Christian church, in which (page 623) Mr. Gordon is serving as an elder, while his wife is actively and helpfully interested in the church and Sunday-school work.  Politically he gives his allegiance to the republican party on all national issues, but where local affairs are concerned he is independent, reserving the right to vote for the men and measures which in his estimation are best adapted to conserve the public welfare.  For about twelve years he was secretary of the school board and has been identified with the schools more or less for many years, the cause of education finding in him a stanch champion.

 

Having resided in Taylor county since eleven years of age, Mr. Gordon has therefore been a witness of the work of progress and improvement which has been going on within its borders during the last quarter of a century, and he has seen the raw prairie land converted into productive fields that are known throughout the country for the richness of their soil and the excellence of their harvests. In the work of growth and development he has been closely associated and is today recognized as one of the representative and highly esteemed citizens of the community, his excellent business ability, integrity of purpose and honorable manhood having gained him the respect and admiration of all with whom he has come in contact.