I'M INDEBTED TO THE LATE CORMAC GORDON OF DUBLIN, HIS SON CORMAC IN CO. WICKLOW, AND DAVID HEGARTY IN DUBLIN FOR SHARING THEIR KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR GORDON FAMILY HISTORY.
It's believed John Gordon was born in Scotland. According to family lore, he came to Ireland as a horseman with the army of Catholic King James II (of England and Ireland) and VII (of Scotland). However this doesn't tie in with John's date of birth as provided by the family (1750) because James II was in Ireland from 1689 until 1690. Perhaps it was John's father or grandfather who came from Scotland with King James's army. According to the family, John had a wife and two sons and lived in the Roscommon town area before settling in the townland of Kilgarriff in the parish of Tibohine (now Fairymount). If John or his ancestors did come from Scotland it's likely they came from Aberdeenshire, with which Gordons have been associated for centuries.
According to another family source, the Gordons were brought to Roscommon from Scotland by Baron de Freyne of Frenchpark, the date of their arrival and the reason they were brought over being unknown. What is certain is that our Gordons were Catholic, unlike most of the Gordons of Northern Ireland who, for the most part, are descended from Scots who had come to Ireland during the Plantation of the 17th century. It's possible that our John Gordon, like many Gordons, both Catholic and Preotestant, had connections with Aberdeenshire, a Scottish county with which clan Gordon has been associated for centuries.
To further complicate matters, in Connaught, according to M. O Droighneáin and M. A. O Murchú in 'An Sloinnteoir Gaeilge agus an tAinmeoir' (1991), 'Gordon' is an anglicisation of the Irish surnames 'Mag Muirneacháin' and 'Mórbhoirneach'. So perhaps our Gordon family was native Irish rather than Scottish, but this doesn't tie in with the belief held by generations of our Gordons that their particular family originated in Scotland. Any information which would help solve this mystery would be much appreciated.
Gordon researchers may be interested in the following entries in the 1749 Elphin census (from www.leitrim-roscommon.com) which show there were three Gordon families (all Catholic) living in Tibohine at the time of the census (although there's nothing to indicate any connection to our Gordon family):
1. A. Gordon lived in the townland of Clooncagh with his wife and one child under the age of 14.
2. M. Gordon lived in the townland of Aghalour with his wife and four children over 14.
3. J. Gordon lived in the townland of Aghalour with his wife and two children under 14.
