Peter Gordon

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This white person has 2 related events in the database, listed at the bottom of this page.
Identifier
NJS-PER-02498
Given Name
Peter
Family Name
Gordon
Sex
Male
Occupation
Marketing, Retail, and Trading
Government
Biographical Description
Peter Gordon was a merchant, legislator, and enslaver in Hunterdon County, New Jersey (he lived in the area of Hunterdon County that has since become part of Mercer County). He is often referred to as Major Gordon, a rank he attained during the Revolutionary War. His business can be traced through advertisements that he placed in the newspapers in New Jersey and Philadelphia. He had a store and farm in Hopewell, near the Baptist Church. During the Revolutionary War, he served as a major and quartermaster in the Quartermaster General's department, procuring supplies for the Continental Army. He had a second business location in Trenton in the 1780s. By the 1790s, he was primarily operating his business as a merchant in Trenton, and he also became the Postmaster there. In 1801, he was elected to represent Hunterdon County in the New Jersey State Assembly. Two years later, he was appointed the Treasurer of the State of New Jersey. He also served as the Treasurer of the Delaware Bridge Company.

It appears he also had a Princeton connection earlier, before the Revolution. "Mr. Peter Gordon in Princeton" was mentioned as a point of contact for the New York merchant firm Hallett and Hazard when they published a runaway ad for a Black man in 1772.
Keywords
white person
enslaver
government official
Places
Hopewell (Mercer County)
Princeton
Trenton
Enslaver of
James (b. 1786)
Related Person
Patrick Simpson
References

Ege, Ralph. Pioneers of Old Hopewell, with Sketches of Her Revolutionary Heroes. Hopewell, NJ: Race & Savidge, 1908. Page 250. http://archive.org/details/pioneersoldhope00egegoog<\p>

Snell, James P., ed. History of Hunterdon and Somerset Counties, New Jersey. Philadelphia: Everts & Peck, 1881. Page 83. https://archive.org/details/historyofhunterd00snel_0
Record Contributor
Kayra Guven
Jesse Bayker
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