FIFTH GENERATION

16. Major Powhatan Gordon (5)(4) (10) was born on Nov 15 1802 in Nashville, Tennessee. He died on Jan 29 1879 in Bryan, Texas. Powatan Gordon was a major in the Second Seminole War, when he served in the First Tennessee Mounted Militia. His life was saved when a roll-call book in his breast pocket stopped an Indian bullet. Among those under his command was the young Robert E. Lee. He had such respect for his enemy, the Seminole Chief Osceola, that he named one of his sons William Osceola, which is how that Indian name entered the family. My sister's middle name, to carry on the tradition, is also Osceola.

He was wounded again in the Mexican War. Tennessee troops, marching to Mexico, bivouacked on the shore of the Tennessee River at a spot they named Gordonsville in his honor. The town that developed there still bears that name. He was often addressed as colonel, but the title appears to have been honorific.

He farmed the land that his mother-in-law owned in Williamsport, Tennessee, on the Duck River, and lived in the fine house that she built there. He served in the Tennessee State Legislature in 1842 and again in 1845. He was quite swarthy and was often known, because of his appearence and his name, as "the Indian." In one of his legislative campaigns, when he was running against Col. Terry H. Cahal, who was very fair complected, and the Rev. Barclay Martin, the popular saying was that the voters could take their choice among "The white man, the preacher, and the Indian."

He ran for Congress in 1856 on the "Know-Nothing" ticket but was defeated.

He died in Bryan, Texas, while on a visit. He was married to Caroline Mary Coleman on Jun 26 1828 in Probably Nashville, Tennessee.

17. Caroline Mary Coleman (11) was born on Sep 12 1809 in Salisbury, North Carolina. She died in 1887 in Columbia, Tennessee. Children were:

child i. George Clinton Gordon was born on Apr 20 1829 in Maury County, Tennessee. He died on Mar 2 1883 in Arkansas.
child ii. Elvira Gordon was born in 1831. She died in 1838.
child iii. John Gordon was born on Jul 11 1833. He died in 1906.
child iv. Powatan Gordon was born in 1835. He died in 1838.
child v. William Osceola Gordon was born on Oct 23 1837. He died on Dec 29 1917.
child vi. Mary Eliza Gordon was born in 1840. She died in 1843.
child vii. Virginia Carolina Gordon was born on Apr 27 1842 in Maury County, Tennessee. She died on Aug 17 1874.
child8 viii. Richard Haden Gordon.
child ix. Joseph Woods Gordon was born on Dec 24 1847 in Maury County, Tennessee. He died on Mar 20 1888 in Texas.
child x. Thomas Gordon was born in 1850. He died in 1850.
child xi. Ella Gordon was born in 1850. She died in 1857.

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