Patrick Gordon (ca. 1644 – 17 August 1736) was Deputy Governor of the

Province of Pennsylvania The Province of Pennsylvania, also known as the Pennsylvania Colony, was a British North American colony founded by William Penn after receiving a land grant from Charles II of England in 1681. The name Pennsylvania ("Penn's Woods") refers to W ...

and the Lower Counties on the Delaware from 22 June 1726 to 4 August 1736. He was deputy to the Proprietors of Pennsylvania, the heirs of

William Penn William Penn ( – ) was an English writer and religious thinker belonging to the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers), and founder of the Province of Pennsylvania, a North American colony of England. He was an early advocate of democracy a ...

, rather than to a governor. Since the Proprietors were usually in England, he was essentially the Governor. Gordon had a military, rather than political background, having been a Major in the regular army. Gordon resided in what is now Mont Clare. ote that another Patrick Gordon resided in Mont Clare (in a cave) from 1757./nowiki> Governor Gordon had at least seven children: Sons: Charles, Army(?), and Archibald; and Daughters: Henrietta, Philadelphia, Elizabeth, and Agatha Harriot. Peace and prosperity prevailed during Gordon's administration as Deputy Governor. An important lawsuit was settled in 1732Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, The Breviate in the Boundary Dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland, Edited by William Egle, 1890, p. 449 that (temporarily) defined the boundaries between Pennsylvania and the

Province of Maryland The Province of Maryland was an English and later British colony in North America that existed from 1632 until 1776, when it joined the other twelve of the Thirteen Colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Maryland ...

. Also,

Chester County Chester County may refer to: * Chester County, Pennsylvania, United States * Chester County, South Carolina, United States * Chester County, Tennessee, United States * Cheshire or the County Palatine of Chester, a ceremonial county in the North Wes ...

was split during his rule, creating Lancaster County. Construction of the first State House, today's

Independence Hall Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the United States Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution were debated and adopted by America's Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Fa ...

, began in 1732. Prior to 1735 in this incomplete new building, members of the state Assembly had met in private homes or at Quaker Meeting Houses.

References

External links

Patrick Gordon's second Royal Commission as Deputy Governor
Colonial governors of Pennsylvania Year of birth uncertain 1736 deaths {{Pennsylvania-politician-stub