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Your connection with Scotland in the 1700s, and with pioneers in South Australia in the late 1800s
Jessie & Alexander GORDON - family tree & stories
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 1876 - 1957 (81 years)
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| Name |
Coningsby Matheson GORDON |
| Title |
Dr |
| Nickname |
Con |
| Born |
16 Jan 1876 |
Alma Plains, SA, Australia  |
| Gender |
Male |
| General event |
1902 [1] |
| Con and Melba Maston left for the USA by 'Sonoma' on 8th December 1902. |
| Notes for biography |
A degree of Doctor of Divinity from Lynchburg College was conferred upon Coningsby in 1943 (obituary, Frost). |
| Notes for biography |
BIOGRAPHY: From page 39 of 'The Gordons' by Nathalie & Colin Semmler. This book can be seen with Stories on the left of the home page.
Con was born on 16.1.1876 at Alma Plains in South Australia. As an infant he moved with his parents to Torrie Banks (near Strathalbyn). Here he received most of his early schooling. When he was twelve years old he was admitted to Point Sturt school where he attended for fifteen months. After leaving school he did farm work.
As a young man, Con decided to enter the Church of Christ ministry. He travelled to the United States of America where education in general was much less costly than in Australia. He did his early theological training at Transylvania College in Lexington, Kentucky, then returned to Australia where he pastored a church in Launceston, Tasmania. It was here that he met and married Helen Duff. The ceremony was performed by the evangelist, C.F. Nixon.
About a year after they were married, when Helen was about to give birth, she was tragically thrown from a trap when the horse bolted. Her son, Alexander, was born unharmed, but Helen died eight days later. The baby was brought up by his Grandparents Gordon at Finnis (S.A.) and Con returned to the mainland, where he was for a time, the assistant lecturer at a bible college.
In 1910 Con married Jean Craigie from Melbourne. At this time he was pastoring at Swanston Street Church of Christ. In 1914 he and his family sailed for the U.S.A. where he returned to the Transylvania College. From there he went to Butler University in Indianapolis and later to Harvard, in Cambridge, Massachusetts where he received his BA and MA. Lynchburg College bestowed him with an honorary doctorate.
On leaving Harvard, Con and his family spent some years in the town of Hamstead, New Hampshire, where he was appointed to the Congregational Church as well as serving as principal of the local schooI (probably due to teacher shortages in World War I).
In early 1919 the family returned to Australia where they remained for five years when they once again returned to the U.S.A. He then became the secretary of the Atlantic City Council of Churches in New Jersey, before moving to Norfolk, Virginia. It was here that he pastored the First Christian Church for twenty years. He served on the board of the International Torch Club from 1942 to 1945. His contribution to cultural life in Norfolk was very conspicuous. He spent his retirement yeas in Norfolk, where he and his wife, Jean, are both buried.
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| Died |
29 Jul 1957 |
| Buried |
Forest Lawn, Norfolk, Virginia, USA |
- Forest Lawn Cemetery, Location: C, Block 8, Lot 27, Space 3
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| Person ID |
I104 |
Alexander & Jessie |
| Last Modified |
5 Jul 2018 |
| Father |
Alexander (jnr) GORDON, b. 4 Apr 1852, Larbert, Stirling, Scotland, UK , d. 21 Apr 1925, Wxx Laurences Private Hospital, Wakefield St, Hindmarsh West, Adelaide (Age 73 years) |
| Relationship |
Birth |
| Mother |
Annie SALTMARSH, b. 28 Oct 1853, Bugle Ranges via Hahndorf, SA, Australia , d. 4 Nov 1932 (Age 79 years) |
| Relationship |
Birth |
| Married |
31 Mar 1875 |
Christian Chapel, Groote St, Adelaide, SA, Australia |
- They might have been married in 1876 rather than 1875.
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| Children |
As well as their own 11 children, they also raised Alexander Duff Gordon whose mother died in an accident soon after he was born and his father, Coningsby, went to America. Baby Alexander was Alexander's and Annie's first grandchild - he was born in 1902, just 8 years after their youngest child |
| Residence |
Annie and Alexander farmed around the Strathalbyn district. They lived at 'Watulunga'. |
| Wedding |
Wedding : Alexander and Annie were married on 31st March 1875 at the Christian Chapel in Grote St, Adelaide.
The witnesses on the marriage certificate were Mary McGREGOR of Alma, Henry SALTMARSH of Lake Plains, and Robert D LAWRIE of Alma.
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| Family ID |
F36 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 1 |
Helen DUFF, b. 1873, Scotland , d. 22 Jun 1902 (Age 29 years) |
| Married |
26 Jun 1901 |
Launceston, Tas [2] |
| Wedding |
Wedding officiated by CT Nixon, evangelist. |
| Children |
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| Last Modified |
24 Apr 2018 |
| Family ID |
F141 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family 2 |
Jean CRAIGIE, b. 1888, Melbourne, Victoria , d. 1967 (Age 79 years) |
| Married |
2 Mar 1910 |
Carleton, Melbourne, Vic [3] |
| Children |
| + | 1. Donald Craigie GORDON, b. 18 Nov 1911, Melbourne , d. 25 Jan 2003 (Age 91 years) |
| + | 2. Robert Coningsby GORDON, b. 29 Oct 1921, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia , d. 17 Jul 2013, Old Lyme, Connecticut, USA (Age 91 years) |
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| Last Modified |
20 Jul 2019 |
| Family ID |
F142 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
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| Sources |
- [S54] TBE Fischer's dates book - in media on this website , Transcribed by Craig Fischer .
- [S67] 'The Gordons' by Nathalie Semmler & Colin Semmler, 1997, page 10.
- [S84] Colin Semmler, Email on 10th Sept 2018.
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