General Gordon

[gusrgordom]

My name is Augustus Gordon and General John Brown was my great great uncle. Many don't know that General Gordon had a half-brother who was mulatto by the name of Israel Gordon. Israel was a wealthy farmer that owned over 900 acres of land in western Georgia near Columbus. Israel was my great great grandfather and his father Zachariah Herndon Gordon was my great great great grandfather.

John and Israel had a brother by the name of Augustus Manly Gordon whom was killed during war. He is my namesake. As a black man, it was a bit surprising to learn that my ancestors were confederate soldiers, and especially learning about J. B. Gordon's KKK affiliation, but nonetheless they are part of my genetic makeup.

I'm here to learn more about the history of the Gordon's in battle and to potentially meet some of my distant relatives in the group. I'll gladly hear any information that you all may have to offer and I look forward to the info. Glad to be here!

Gus Gordon

 

[lupaglupa]

Welcome from the Researching Your Civil War Ancestry forum. It sounds like you have a great family history to share. The American story is often surprisingly complicated - we rarely fit into the little boxes we think we will.

 

[Norman Dasinger Jr]

Where was Israel's farm?

 

[gusrgordom]

Around the Cussetta, GA area and supposedly in Arkansas and Oklahoma as well. I don't know a pinpointed location as most of this information was provided by others and I am just recently learning much of this information myself.

I was able to find a few property tax forms from Cussetta, but this is as far as I've gotten thus far.
I attached a screenshot of on of those documents. It says zone 33 which I haven't determined an answer for, but if you are from that area, perhaps you can help me answer that.

 

[gusrgordom]

Welcome from the Researching Your Civil War Ancestry forum. It sounds like you have a great family history to share. The American story is often surprisingly complicated - we rarely fit into the little boxes we think we will.

Thank you, and yes we definitely do not fit into boxes. It adds an alternative perspective to what we think we know, for sure!

 

[gusrgordom]

Around the Cussetta, GA area and supposedly in Arkansas and Oklahoma as well. I don't know a pinpointed location as most of this information was provided by others and I am just recently learning much of this information myself.

I was able to find a few property tax forms from Cussetta, but this is as far as I've gotten thus far.
I attached a screenshot of on of those documents. It says zone 33 which I haven't determined an answer for, but if you are from that area, perhaps you can help me answer that. View attachment 401248

District 33, not zone 33

 

[lupaglupa]

@gusrgordom There are ways to take coordinates like that and put them on modern maps. If you look at this snip from a 1940 Census map you can see district 1104 has Cusseta and most of the western part of Chattahoochee County.

If you want help doing some digging feel free to start a thread in the Ancestry forum - we love to find old records!

https://civilwartalk.com/forums/researching-civil-war-records-ancestry.38/

 

[gusrgordom]

@gusrgordom There are ways to take coordinates like that and put them on modern maps. If you look at this snip from a 1940 Census map you can see district 1104 has Cusseta and most of the western part of Chattahoochee County.

View attachment 401262

If you want help doing some digging feel free to start a thread in the Ancestry forum - we love to find old records!

https://civilwartalk.com/forums/researching-civil-war-records-ancestry.38/

I truly appreciate it! If available, If like to locate and purchase some of the land to keep it in the Gordon family for generations to come.