John Gordon of Bristol

1758 - 20th Dec 1839

Claimant or beneficiary

Biography

John Gordon, formerly collector of customs and Sheriff of Bristol 1789, son of Robert Gordon of Auchendolly, who was a West India merchant and Mayor of Bristol 1773. He was encouraged to continue his father Robert's mercantile partnership with his brother William under their father's will of 1775, but it is not clear whether he did so.

  1. Married Catherine Hering (q.v., under Catherine Gordon), daughter of Julines Hering, in 1787.  Will of John Gordon late Collector of HM Customs of Bristol, Gloucestershire proved 05/02/1840. In the will [made 17/03/1836] he left the Campbelton estate in Jamaica and the right to the service of the apprentices on the estate to his wife Catherine for life and then to their five sons George, William, Henry, James, and Oliver Hering Gordon.

  2. John and Catherine Gordon's daughter Catherine married [Sir] William Miles, 1st bart., son of Philip John Miles.

  3. John's sister-in-law Mary Helen Hering married Henry Middleton (1770-1846), one of the signers of the American Declaration of Independence.

  4. John Gordon, 'slave merchant', bought Cleve Hill House in 1790 and resold it in 1804 to Stephen Cave. (One of the sons of John and Catherine Gordon was Oliver Hering Gordon, born 8 July 1799 at Cleve Hill.)


Sources

  1. Vere Langford Oliver, Caribbeana being miscellaneous papers relating to the history, genealogy, topography, and antiquities of the British West Indies (6 vols., London, Mitchell, Hughes and Clarke, 1910-1919), Vol II, pp. 11-14, 'Herring of Jamaica'; PROB 11/1922.

  2. http://www.inglis.uk.com/11%20the%20american%20branch.htm [accessed 28/03/2011].

  3. See the Hering Family Papers, 1674-1960, http://www.southcarolinahistoricalsociety.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Hering-Family-papers-1211.00.pdf [accessed 12/03/2013].

  4. Madge Dresser, Slavery obscured p. 115; Bristol Church of England Parish Registers: Ancestry. Thanks to Richard Savory for the reference.

We are grateful to Madeleine Mitchell for her assistance in compiling this entry.


Further Information

Absentee?
British/Irish
Spouse
Catherine Hering (1787)
Children
7 sons, 3 daughters including Charles Grey (1787-), George (1790-), Robert (1791-), Catherine (1798-)

Associated Claims (3)

£3,181 13s 1d
Awardee (Owner-in-fee)
£457 18s 8d
Awardee
£1,079 13s 4d
Awardee

Associated Estates (7)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes:

  • SD - Association Start Date
  • SY - Association Start Year
  • EA - Earliest Known Association
  • ED - Association End Date
  • EY - Association End Year
  • LA - Latest Known Association
1793 [EA] - 1839 [LA] → Owner
1792 [EA] - 1792 [LA] → Joint owner
1786 [EA] - 1786 [LA] → Owner

The early owners of the Glasgow estate have only been tentatively identified. 'John Gordon of Bristol' was shown in 1786, but the John Gordon of Bristol in the LBS database could not have been the same man as the John Gordon who was co-owner of Glasgow in 1771 [when LBS' John Gordon of Bristol was aged 13].

1797 [EA] - 1820 [LA] → Owner

Inferred to have been John Gordon of Bristol

1834 [EA] - → Mortgage Holder
1834 [EA] - → Judgement creditor
1785 [EA] - 1790 [LA] → Joint owner

Relationships (8)

Husband → Wife
Brother-in-laws
Other relatives
Notes →
Philip John Miles's son Sir William Miles, 1st Bart., married Catherine Gordon, daughter of John Gordon and Catherine...
Father-in-law → Son-in-law
Notes →
Michael Hinton Castle married John Gordon's daughter Mary Helen...
Brothers
Son → Father
Father → Son
Notes →
Tentatively associated...
Brother-in-laws

Addresses (3)

Bristol, Gloucestershire, South-west England, England
Cleve Hill House, Bristol, Gloucestershire, South-west England, England
Stapleton Grove, Stapleton [now in Bristol], Gloucestershire, South-west England, England