BIO: Hon. Cyrus GORDON, Clearfield County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja & Sally Copyright 2005. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/ NOTE: Use this web address to access other bios: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/clearfield/1picts/swoope/swoope.htm _____________________________________________________________ From Twentieth Century History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and Representative Citizens, by Roland D. Swoope, Jr., Chicago: Richmond-Arnold Publishing Company, 1911, pages 717 & 718. _____________________________________________________________ HON. CYRUS GORDON, senior member of the prominent law firm of Gordon and Boulton, at Clearfield, Pa., has been an honored resident of this city for forty years. He is a leading member of the bar and for a number of years was president judge of Clearfield county. He is a representative of one of the old pioneer families of Pennsylvania, of Irish extraction, and was born on the old family homestead at Hecla Park, Center county, Pa., December 1, 1846. His parents were James and May (Steel) Gordon, and his grandfather was Robert Gordon. Robert Gordon was born in county Armagh, Ireland. He came to America in 1788 and in the following year located in Center county, Pa., acquiring land in the rich Nittany Valley, where, as a farmer, he passed the remainder of his life. He had five children, two of them being born after he reached Center county. Before leaving Ireland he was married to Elizabeth Leslie. James Gordon, father of Judge Gordon, was born in Center county December 17, 1799. Farming was his occupation. He is recalled as a man possessing many sterling traits of character and which tended to make him an influential citizen in his section. His death took place December 17, 1868. He married a daughter of Robert and Rebecca (Dunlop) Steel, the latter being a daughter of James Dunlop, a colonel in the Revolutionary war. Mrs. Gordon was born in 1825, at Bellefonte, Pa., and died July 20, 1895. To the above marriage ten children were born. One son, Robert, who was a soldier in the Civil war, died in 1863 at a hospital in Murfreesboro, Tenn. All others of the family are deceased, except I. N. Gordon, who is connected with the Standard Oil Company of New York as manager of the West India Oil Company, and Cyrus, subject of this sketch, who has remained a Pennsylvanian, not only by birth, but also by preference and since 1870 has lived at Clearfield. Cyrus Gordon was afforded better educational opportunities than were many young men of his time, and in 1866, after several years of study there was graduated from the Pennsylvania State College, with the degree of Bachelor of Science. He was a trustee of the college, as a representative of the alumni for a great many years. After his graduation from the Pennsylvania State College he entered the University of Michigan and in 1869 was graduated from the law department of that institution with the degree of LL. B. He then came to Clearfield and this borough has been his home ever since. There has been little important litigation in the courts of the county in which his professional services have not been in some way engaged. For the term of nineteen years prior to his election to the bench he was associated with Hon. Thomas H. Murray in the practice of law under the firm name of Murray and Gordon. In 1893 he was elected to the office of president judge of Clearfield county and during his term of service on the bench, his decisions demonstrated his learning, his true conception of law and his unusually judicial cast of mind. After his term on the bench had expired he was for many years one of the solicitors of the Dairy and Food Division of the Department of Agriculture of Pennsylvania. Aside from his profession Judge Gordon has always been a vitally interested citizen in all that relates to the well being of his community. He was reared in the Republican party and has never changed his political allegiance. Judge Gordon was married to Miss Mary R. Weaver, who was born at Clearfield and is a member of one of the leading families of this section. Four children have been born to them, namely: Dr. John W., Leslie Dunlop, James T., and Rebecca, the last mentioned being now deceased. The eldest son, John W, is a practicing physician at Clearfield. Judge and Mrs. Gordon are members of the Presbyterian church. They reside at the corner of First and Market streets, Clearfield, their home being often the scene of pleasant social functions. Judge Gordon owns a fine farm of 200 acres at Hecla Park, Center county, where he was born and reared.