On Saturday, July 16, over 60 members of the Gordon family visited Gordonsville to commemorate and remember their ancestor, Phillis Gordon, a former slave on the John Gordon Plantation. John Gordon was the founder and first mayor of Gordonsville, Tennessee.
Last year, a descendant of Phillis Gordon, Dr. Princess Gordon-Aziz, found a document while conducting genealogical research at the Tennessee State Museum that traced their roots back to Gordonsville, Tennessee. The document was the will of Alice Gordon (John Gordon’s wife). In the will, Alice left the slaves she owned to her children and among the slaves listed was Phillis Gordon.
Earlier this year, Dr. Princess Gordon-Aziz made contact with Mayor John Potts, Smith County Historian John Waggoner and Kurt Bass with Bass Funeral Homes, to schedule a time for her and her relatives to come and visit the grounds where the John Gordon Plantation formerly stood. Gordon family relatives traveled from all over the United States from as far as Los Angeles, Phoenix, Indianapolis, and all parts of Tennessee to be a part of the remembrance ceremony.
The family members along with Mayor John Potts and a few community members gathered on the former John Gordon Plantation home property (located beside Bass Funeral Homes) where they placed a wreath in honor and memory of Phillis Gordon. Mayor Potts then read a proclamation naming July 16 as “Phillis Gordon Day” in Gordonsville. Below is the text from the proclamation:
Proclamation for Phillis Gordon of Gordonsville, Tennessee
Whereas, determining the roots of African people in America proves to be difficult because of the nature of slavery, and
Whereas, our ancestor, with roots in the Congo, was first recorded as living in Gordonsville, Orange County, Virginia, and
Whereas, our ancestor was born around 1810 and came to be enslaved on the plantation of Mayor John Gordon of Gordonsville, Tennessee, and
Whereas, our ancestor, who was given the name Phillis and was listed as “property” in 1865, in a will written by Alice Amis Gordon, and
Whereas, Phillis Gordon was the mother of several children, including William, Gilbert, Henry Gold, Edmond, and Prince, and
Whereas. in January 1865, under the direction of the Emancipation Proclamation as written by President Abraham Lincoln, slavery was abolished in America and the enslaved people were set free, and
Whereas, despite the legality of freedom for enslaved people, many remained on the properties of their enslavers because they had nowhere to go, and
Whereas, Phillis and her sons continued to live in Gordonsville for some time thereafter, and
Whereas, Phillis’ son Gilbert married Elizabeth A. Baird in 1847, another formerly enslaved woman from Gordonsville, and this branch of the African-American Gordon family moved to Springfield, Robertson County, Tennessee, and
Whereas, Phillis lived to be about 80 years old and died in 1890, and
Whereas, because of her sacrifice and resilience during tumultuous times prior to, during, and following the Civil War, the descendants of Phillis Gordon produced many preachers, teachers, and honorable citizens, and
In remembrance of her, we pay homage to Phillis Gordon, the Matriarch of the Robertson County Gordon Family, and proclaim this day, Saturday, July 16, 2022, as “Phillis Gordon Day” in Gordonsville, Tennessee.
Following the proclamation reading, members of the family went inside the chapel of Bass Funeral Home where Smith County Historian, John Waggoner, spoke to them about several historical documents he had found with information pertaining to their ancestors.
