Gordon, John P.

Born: 1824-07-29 Lynnville, Illinois

Died: 1906-04-23 Morgan County, Illinois

Flourished: Lynnville, Illinois

John P. Gordon was a farmer, merchant, postmaster, and prominent citizen of Lynnville, Illinois. Son of William Gordon and nephew of James Gordon, John P. Gordon spent his early years on his father's homestead in Lynnville, receiving his primary education in local schools. At the age of nineteen, he moved to Steubenville, Ohio, where he studied at Scott's Academy for two years. By 1848, he was back in Lynnville and operating a general mercantile establishment, which he continued to hold an interest until well after the Civil War. In May 1849, he received appointment as postmaster of Lynnville, holding that position until 1855. In 1850, he was a merchant living in the household of Nimrod Funk. In December 1850, Gordon married Sarah P. Campbell, a daughter of Nimrod Funk. This union would result in seven children. In 1860, Gordon was living and farming in Lynnville and own real property valued at $15,200 and a personal estate of $4,100. Gordon was a member of the Christian Church and the Freemasons. In politics, he gravitated first to the Whigs and then to the Republicans, voting for John C. Fremont in the presidential election of 1856. After the Civil War, Gordon moved to Jacksonville, serving as director of the Jacksonville National Bank. He also represented Morgan County in the Illinois House of Representatives.

Richard Yates to Abraham Lincoln; Newton Bateman and Paul Selby, eds. Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Morgan County, ed. by William F. Short (Chicago: Munsell, 1906), 2:834-35; U.S. Census Office, Seventh Census of the United States (1850), Morgan County, IL, 291; Illinois Statewide Marriage Index, Morgan County, 22 December 1850, Illinois State Archives, Springfield, IL; U.S. Census Office, Eighth Census of the United States (1860), Lynnville, Morgan County, IL, 153; Record of Appointment of Postmasters, 1832-1971, NARA Microfilm Publication, M841, 145 rolls, Records of the Post Office Department, RG 28, 1845-1855, 18:144, National Archives Building, Washington, DC; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1849 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1849), 480*; Register of all Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1851 (Washington, DC: Gideon, 1851), 538*; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1853 (Washington, DC: Robert Armstrong, 1853), *509; Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States, on the Thirtieth September, 1855 (Washington, DC: A. O. P. Nicholson, 1855), 338*; Gravestone, Diamond Grove Cemetery, Jacksonville, IL.