Denver, History of Colorado, BIOS: GORDON, John A. (published 1918)
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"History of Colorado", edited by Wilbur Fisk Stone, published by The S. J. 
Clarke Publishing Co. (1918)  Vol. II


p. 234-235



HON. JOHN A. GORDON.

	Hon. John A. Gordon has been for many years connected with the 
legal profession not only in general practice but also in many 
important positions of an official character. He is at present serving 
the federal government as assistant United States district attorney, 
with headquarters at Denver. He was born in Bedford county, Tennessee, 
a son of the late Samuel B. Gordon, a native of Tennessee, although a 
descendant of an old South Carolina family of Scotch extraction. The 
father was a son of David Gordon, an early settler of Bedford county, 
Tennessee, where he was successfully engaged as a planter. Samuel B. 
Gordon also followed that pursuit as a life work and occupied a 
prominent position in his community. Prior to the war he was a whig. He 
not only conducted his own interests with gratifying results but also 
took an active part in political life and served for several terms as 
treasurer of Bedford county. He passed away in 1890, when in his 
seventy-eighth year. He had married Miss Amelia Euliss, also a native 
of Bedford county and a descendant of a pioneer family of Tennessee of 
German origin. Her maternal grandfather was Martin Schoffner, who was 
of German birth and served as a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. 
Gordon died in December, 1898, in her native county having passed her 
eightieth birthday. She was the mother of twelve children, eight sons 
and four daughters, of whom John A. Gordon was the ninth in order of 
birth and the seventh son.

	He was educated in private schools of his native county and 
passed his youth up to his twentieth year upon his father's farm. At 
that period he entered the East Tennessee University, taking a junior 
course in that institution. He then sought the opportunities of the 
southwest and moved to Wise county, Texas, where he assumed the 
position of deputy county surveyor. He continued as such for four 
years, but desiring to make the law his life work, studied the 
profession as his spare time permitted. His diligence and close 
application resulted in his admittance to practice before the Texas 
courts in 1880 and he immediately entered upon the actual practice of 
the law, winning a gratifying patronage by his serious efforts and the 
close attention which he devoted to any case given into his hands. In 
1883 recognition of his legal standing came to him through his 
appointment to the position of assistant to the attorney general of 
Texas, the Hon. John D. Templeton, in whose office he remained for a 
year. His legal ability was further recognized when he was appointed by 
Governor John Ireland of Texas as district attorney, with headquarters 
at Decatur, covering four counties. He served in this important office 
during 1884 and 1885 and then again entered upon private practice at 
Decatur, Texas, continuing with increasing success until the latter 
part of 1887, when he made another removal, locating in Trinidad, 
Colorado, where he was soon established in private practice, gaining a 
large clientage. His vast experience and thorough under-standing of the 
law, his unfailing logic and his unfaltering diligence, combined with a 
deep consciousness, soon gained for him the confidence of the public, 
and the high standard of ethics which he maintained won him the esteem 
of his colleagues in the profession. He continued in Trinidad as 
general counselor and attorney until 1898, having been nominated in the 
tall of 1897 by the democratic party to the position of supreme judge. 
However, Mr. Gordon did not consent to make the race. In 1898 he was 
appointed reporter to the supreme court and filled this office 
conscientiously and to the great satisfaction of the officers of the 
court, being so engaged until 1907, when he again took up private 
practice, and was so occupied until he received his present appointment 
as assistant United States district attorney, which office he has 
filled since the early part of 1915. He is eminently qualified for the 
work in connection with the office and has represented the interests of 
the federal government without fear or favor, his actions being 
dictated entirely by his conscience and based strictly upon the letter 
of the law.

	In 1901 Mr. Gordon was married in Denver to Mrs. Lethe (South) 
Porter, a daughter of Dr. W. L. and Louise (Brumley) South. The family 
was an old and prominent one of Trinidad, Colorado, later removing to 
Denver.

	Mr. Gordon is a stanch democrat and in his earlier days was very 
active in national, state and local politics. He is a member of the 
Denver and Colorado State Bar Associations. He was reared in the 
Lutheran faith and fraternally he is connected with the Knights of 
Pythias and the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. Much credit is due 
Mr. Gordon for what he has achieved, as he has made his own way since 
he was twenty years of age and has succeeded in a profession in which 
success means tireless effort, and it must be ascribed to his 
perseverance that he has reached the goal. Mr. Gordon also has a 
military chapter in his life history, for he was a ranking officer of 
his class when in college and had he completed his studies he would 
have received the rank of captain. At that time, however, his means did 
not permit him to continue and he had to gain his admission to the bar 
by unremitting labor performed in those hours which others devote to 
leisure and recuperation. Mr. Gordon is popular in social circles of 
Denver and has made many friends among his fellow townsmen. His 
professional actions have ever been unimpeachable and the high rank 
which he has reached in the profession is not only to be ascribed to 
his ability but also to the high qualities of character which guide him 
in all the relations of life.