My Genealogy Hound

SAMUEL ROSS GORDON, son of Ross Gordon, was born in Bucks county, Pennsylvania, January 4, 1834. His father married Miss Fannie Nutt, and emigrated from Ireland to America, settling in Bucks county about 1825.

Samuel R. Gordon was taught early in life that work was not only conducive to health on account of its exercising the body, but was the means of gaining a livelihood and acquiring a fortune. He obtained his education in the common schools of the neighborhood. Having acquired habits of industry and thrift by force of the example of his elders and by the lack of money to spend, he became a rising young farmer, and his services were much sought after by all the farmers in the neighborhood. He also made many friends in the vicinity of his home, and on October 12, 1861, married Margaret, daughter of Frederick and Matilda (Neavil) Knipe, of an old and prominent family of Upper Gwynedd township.

The children of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon are: Amanda, born January 1, 1864, married December, 1886, Henry Englehart, of Lebanon county, Pennsylvania, they residing on the Helfenstein homestead, near North Wales; Samuel Bird, born July 30, 1865, died March, 1866; Mary Ann, born February 9, 1867, died in infancy; George Washington, born February 17, 1869, married September 30, 1903, Elizabeth Fisener, of Colmar, they residing at “Gordon Place,” where he is engaged as a farmer and butcher; Walter Scott, born March 10, 1871, married October 3, 1903, Fanny Y. Yocum, of Hatfield, and lives at “Gordon Place;” Simon Gordon, born October 16, 1873, is deceased; Viola, born July 2, 1875, died May 23, 1894; Ross B., born November 13, 1879, Samuel R. Gordon died December 17, 1883. Amanda, the oldest child, wife of Mr. Englehart, has had the following children: Helen Evelyn, born March 6, 1888; Gordon born February 7, 1899.

Soon after his marriage, in 1861, Samuel R. Gordon and his wife removed to the farm of Daniel Foulke, in Montgomery township, Montgomery county, where they lived two years. They next rented the farm of Richard Dobbins, of Montgomery Square, and managed it for three years, Mrs. Gordon always ably assisting her husband in his undertakings. In 1867 they purchased the farm of George and Samuel Woolf, on Bethlehem Pike, just beyond the limits of North Wales, and established a dairy there. It included 119 acres of improved land and was well watered and drained. It is now known as the “Gordon Place.” Mr. Gordon always took a deep interest in his herd of cows, usually keeping about thirty, mostly Alderney. He lived on this place the rest of his life, dying May 27, 1895.

Mr. Gordon always took an active part in the affairs of the community in which he lived, and served as director of the North Wales Building and Loan Association, and also in the local bank. In politics he was a Democrat, and, although he was active in working for his party, never sought personal preferment. He and his family belonged to St. Peter’s Lutheran church at North Wales, and took an active interest in religious and educational matters. In the division of his estate he gave to his two sons jointly the farm “Gordon Place,” and to his daughter, Mrs. Englehart, the property which was formerly the homestead of the Helfenstein family. His widow, Mrs. Margaret Gordon, resides with her daughter, Amanda.