GORDON, FRANCIS, pioneer planter, was born at Spring Hill, Maury County, Tenn., January 4, 1795, and died while on a return visit there, in 1868; son of Samuel and Rachel (Herron) Gordon, the former a native of Woodford County, Tenn., who moved to Maury County, served with the Tennessee troops in the War of 1812, removed to St. Clair County, near Ragland, on Trout Creek, where he lived until his death; grandson of Samuel and Rachel Gordon, the former a native of Scotland, who emigrated to America, about 1750, who lived in East Tennessee and Kentucky and is buried at Brick Church, Tenn. Francis Gordon served in the Creek Indian War and in the War of 1813-14 as a private in Capt. Archibald McKinney's company of cavalry, Col. Robert H. Dyer's regiment, Tennessee volunteers, and in Capt. Glenn Owen's of the same regiment. It is a tradition that they were with Gen. Andrew Jackson in his Alabama campaigns and in the battle of New Orleans. He removed to Alabama, located in Lowndes County, founded the village of Gordonville, and was a planter. The family connections are large, represented principally in Alabama and Tennessee. Married: September 24, 1817, to Elizabeth Wells, daughter of James and Sallie (Wells) Caperton, of Spring Hill, Tenn., the former a native of Kentucky; granddaughter of Hugh Caperton; great-granddaughter of John Caperton, a native of Wales, who emigrated to America and settled on New River, Va., in 1757. Children: 1. Sarah Ann, m. (1) Malachl Johnston; (2) John G. Brown; 2. Jane Rachel, m. Joseph Sidney Reese; 3. Susan, m. William Browning Haralson; (q. v.) 4. Mary Elizabeth, m. J. Monroe Cole; 5. Eliza, -d. unmarried; 6. Frances, m. John Dudley; 7. Cassandra Boone, m. Alfred Edwards; 8. Thomas Niles, m. Tabitha Edwards; 9. Lucy Cain, m. James H. Hardy; 10. Matilda Asceneth, m. B. R. Hall; 11. David, student at Howard college, Marion; mustered in with Hayneville guards, Co. E, 6th Alabama infantry regiment, later Co. M, C. S. Army, and died from wounds received at battle of Seven Pines; 12. Tennessee, d. unmarried; 13. Alabama, m. Dr. Hugh William Caffey, (q. v.). Last residence: Gordonsville.
Credit: History of Alabama and Dictionary of Alabama biography, Volume 3 By Thomas McAdory Owen, Marie Bankhead Owen, S.J. Clarke Publishing Company, Chicago, 1921, p. 679