The Gordon Family of New Jersey & Ontario, Canada

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Origins of the Gordon family of Sussex Co., NJ


Peter Gordon, United Empire Loyalist

Peter Gordon was a Loyalist to the Crown during the American Revolution and relocated his family to Ontario, Canada obtained the status of United Empire Loyalist and receiving compensation for the property he lost in Sussex Co., New Jersey. My work on the Peter and his family has just begun and I have yet to establish Peter as a member of one of the Gordon families in the northwestern region of New Jersey; however, Peter marriage to the daughter of a wealthy and prominant figure in Sussex County (and later in Upper Canada) provides us with a great deal of information on Peter's wife.
Peter and Mary (Pettit) Gordon are established as the parents of Margaret Gordon Green by evidence of land granted to Margaret and Samuel Green in 1811. Margaret's mother, Mary, is noted as the daughter of Nathaniel Pettit by William D. Reid in his book, The Loyalists in Ontario [re: pg. 250]. Mary Gordon claimed her land based on Nathaniel's UEL service in 1800. Other Pettit sources also call her "Catherine", but the origin of this idenfication of Peter Gordon's wife is unknown.
Little is know of Peter Gordon. His name comes to light mainly due to his marriage into the prominent Pettit family. In his petition to the Crown, Peter Gordon states that he was, "an inhabitant in the State of New Jersey. And that in the time of the late war he was known to be a faithful subject to his Majesty, as he lived in a private place, their person who came from the British Army to recruit soldiers staid much at his house ... that in the year 1793 he came into this province with a wife & five children ..." [re: Upper Canada Land Petitions: Reel C-2028, I, L-3, Vol. 263, file G bundle 2 #8, 03 May 1796]. The same is also stated in "Land Book B", where it is shown that Peter Gordon received 300 acres for "... assisting greatly in piloting & sending recruits to the British Army ..." [re: Reel C-101, pg. 178]. Unfortunately, in none of the documents does he name his exact place of residency in New Jersey, but by his marriage to Pettit's daughter and his association with the Green family it can be assumed that he lived in Sussex county or at least in nearby Hunterdon county. He may be the Peter Gordon of Hopewell, Hunterdon County, New Jersey as found in the 23 March 1790 "Brunswick Gazette" selling horses [re: Notices from NJ Newspapers 1781-90, Thomas B. Wilson (1988) pg. 348]. The petition also notes, "The Subscribers having been Neighbors to the above Petitioner Peter Gordon, do certify that the Facts set forth in the above Petition are true & that some of us were of the number of Recruits mentioned therein ... Joseph Willson, Henry Buchner, Jacob Wilson, John Pettit (all signed)". The Willson and Pettit families are all found in Sussex county, New Jersey suggesting Gordon's residency. From his petition to the Crown, it appears he married in New Jersey and came to Upper Canada with five of his children. Though his initial petition gives no evidence that he took an active part in the War, but rather states his service to the crown in recruiting and supporting troops. Peter Gordon later submits a petition dated Ancaster, 25 June 1809 where he states, "That your Petitioner did in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven hundred and Seventy six join the Royal Standard, with many others ..." [re: Reel C-2042, I, L-3, Vol. 222, G Bundle Misc. #45]. It should also be noted that on the 04th of July 1809, Charles Pettit, Adam Green, John Green and Peter Gordon jointly requested that their names be inserted on the U.E. List "which had been recorded in Council on the 23d of April 1798 & 25th June 1799" [re: Reel C-102, Land Book H, pg. 178]. Only Peter Gordon was "recommended" to be inserted on the U.E. List [re: ibid].
In Upper Canada, Peter Gordon is found in the 02nd of March 1795 Court Minutes along with John Smith as "Overseer of the Roads" for the Grimsby area [re: Annals of the Forty, No. 2 (1951)]. The "Annals of the Forty" does not give us much information on Peter or his UEL service, but recognizes Peter Gordon mainly as the son-in-law of Nathaniel Pettit and notes that he left Grimsby about 1800 to settled in Ancaster on Lot 23, Concession 4 [re: ibid]. This meager footnote suggests there is little information on Peter Gordon or his service in the Grimsby records and little interest in the Gordon family genealogy in Ontario. According to Reid, the children of Peter & Mary (Pettit) Gordon are listed as:

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