Page 183 - Transcriptions d'actes notariés - Tome 20 - 1682-1686

old age foreed him jnio retirement. He resigned hie position, and went
to [ive with Bishop Piiwer in the newly-completed St. Michael's Palaee,
Toronto. He died on Good Friday, April Znd, ut the iollowing ye~r.'~l'
Vicar General McDcinald w~s sueceeded in Hamilton in 1846 by
the Rev. Edward Gordon, later Vicar-General Gordon. The ecclcsiasti-
caI career of this rern~rkabie nian in riiany ways trpifies the transition
f rom the early niissiiinary to ~he iiiore stable diocesan aspects of Caihol-
icism in ilte Hamilton area. Born in Dubliri on Nov. 1, 1791. snd
haptized an Anglican, Edivard Gordon was ciinverted to Catholicism in
1811, while still in Ireland, largely through the elIorts of an older
brottier, Angier Francis.('" He left Ireland for Eiigland in 1814, tu
live with his hriither in Woolsich.["3' 111 1817 Edivard Gordon emigrated
to Canada, landiiig at Quebec. Later he liecariie one oi Bishop Mac-
donell's first tlienln~ical stu(1enta at St. Railhael, and was ordained there
oii Jan. 29, 1829. Retnaining ai the seniiiiary for one year, he tnught
arid serveil ns misrionary in the area. In 1830 Fr. Gordon wa9 appointed
to "the ini~sioiis above York" as assistant ici the Rev. Dr. William
O'Gradr. At this lime Bivhop Macdonell spoke highly of the young
pries!\ abiliLy;iz4' and in 1835 named hirn resident prieat at Niagara,
Hcre, in 1U35, he tiegaii the building iif the first Catholic church in the
Niagara peninsnla.
On Kiiv. 13, 1x6, Fr. GorJon replaced Fr. McDonald in Haniilton.
He became Vicar Gen~rsl to Bishiiy de Charbonne1 iri 1851, and was
given Fr. A. Crirayoli as assistant in Fiamiltori. On the establishment
of the new diocese of Hamilton hc was named ils brst Vicar Gerieriil;
and tliis post he continued to hold ior the rest of his life. He elso

IZLi William Perkine Bull, Froni Mnrdairell to McGuigan, The H;SIOTI. O/ the
Growrh O/ the Romoir Caiholic L'hiirch in Upper Canada, p. 120.
(121 1t scpmq rhat Edward Gordoii was s son of parent%, one of whom wan Caiho-
lic, the orher Anglican, elrhougli it i~; uncertain wliicli or ihem wss Calholit.
His mother died shortly after Edward was bom, and ihe infant wes raised bp
hi6 father until ihat man's death in 1796. Subsequ~ntl~ uncle cered for
en
tlie buy until death too claiuied him in 1811.
(25) Deiuils conrerning Gordon's laniily are conflicting. An obituary in The Ca-
dian Freemon, Oct. 20, 1874 speaks of one broihcr, Augier Francis, the eldest,
wiih whom Edwerd stayed in Woolwich, England, from 181417; and 01
anoilier brotlier whum Edward j~ined in Outbec in 1817. Fr. Gordon him.
self, limever, speaks of an only broiher whom he visited in Woolwich in 1843
(aee repon 01 Fr. Gordon's address to the Catholics of Niagara on his depart-
lire {rom ihem: The Cdhotir. JuIy 12. 104.3).
Perhaps the iro brotherv emigrated to Canade, and Edward remuiaed rliile
Augier returned to Englnnd. Whether this ronj~cturr is valid or not. it seenis
certain tliat in 184.3 Fr. Gordon convinccd his elder bmilier io rrturn with
Iiim to Cauede; for a source who knew Fr. Gordon in Hsrniltod in the late
1840'9, relaies tliat the pri~st liied tliere wiih en oldzr brother, who had
accompanicd Fr. Gordon from Fiiagera: "Old-Timer" in Tlre Canadian RcM-
-
-
ter, &t. 5, 1M5.
(24) A lei~er frtirn hIacdonell in Dr. O'Gradv reteneed to Fr. Gordon aa "tao rtE-
. ..
. -
..
.
cieat e miSsionary 10 le&é bim e Y&; when he is capable 01 being a pria-
cipai"; and another read3: "Mr. Gordon poeeessei tbe genninr apirir of ihe
Aposiolic misrionary.. . bl~seed wirh slid judgment and gwd sense", quoid
in Bd, op. tir., p. 133.