Part of the Indiana Biographies Project
J. Bennett Gordon
Mr. Gordon is a member of the firm of Barnes & Gordon, publishers of the Item, of Richmond, and is the able and efficient editor of that bright and newsy journal. He is undoubtedly the youngest editor in the state, and has been familiar with newspaper work for many years.
He is the son of Charles E. and Nancy (Bennett) Gordon, and was born in Dixon township, Preble county, Ohio, April 29, 1876. The family from which he springs is of Scotch-Irish extraction and was founded in this country before the war of the Revolution, locating in Guilford county. North Carolina. Charles Gordon, our subject's grandfather, was born and reared to manhood in that county, and moved with the tide of emigration westward, settling in Union county, Indiana. He married and brought up a large number of children, was a prominent farmer, owning a considerable extent of land in this state, and was known as a thrifty, prosperous man.
Among his children was Charles E. Gordon, the father of our subject, who was born in Union county, Indiana, in 1849. After reaching the state of manhood he engaged in agricultural pursuits in his native county, and was quite prosperous. Later he moved to Preble county, Ohio, where he continued as a farmer until 1883, when he moved to Richmond, in order that his son might receive the benefit of more thorough educational training. In 1864 he enlisted in the Ninth Indiana Cavalry, Company D, and served through the war. In marriage he was united with Miss Nancy Bennett, April 26, 1873, who still survives him and resides in Richmond, at which place he died April 26, 1885. His widow remarried, wedding Arthur Hazelton in 1889.
J. Bennett Gordon was an only child. He entered the district schools at the age of five years and was instructed in them until he was eight years old, when his parents removed to this city and he became a student in the public schools here. He graduated in the high school in the class of 1894, when but eighteen years of age, being one of the four chosen, on account of thought and delivery, to represent his class on graduation day. He gave great promise of literary talent at an early age, and when a student in the high school he was always prominent in every literary task of his class. He was active in the organization of the first debating club in the Richmond high school.
After his graduation he was given the position of city editor in the office of the Richmond Telegram, where he showed that he was a thorough master of the situation, and afforded the publishers of that paper great satisfaction by his able management of that department. In the autumn of 1895 he entered Earlham College and completed the regular literary course in three years, graduating with the degree of Bachelor of Literature. While attending to his class work he took a prominent part in the literary work of the college, debates, etc., and was regarded as the best speaker in the class, of which he was president. He twice represented his college in the debate with De Pauw University, being a member and the leader of the team which captured the state championship in forensics. He was also a regular correspondent of the Item.
Immediately after graduating at Earlham he purchased an undivided half interest in the Item, of B. B. Johnson, and took editorial charge July 1 of that year. The business of the journal is conducted on strictly business methods, and Mr. Gordon, as editor, so well understands the wants of the reading public that he publishes the news in the most intelligible and attractive form, and has met with ready appreciation and extended patronage. The Item is to-day the leading paper in this part of the state. It is a power in the Republican ranks, is bold and fearless in its utterances of the truth, and its influence can hardly be overestimated.
Mr. Gordon is one of the most active and intelligent workers of the Republican party in this state, and is destined to become a leader. He is the president of the Young Men's Republican Club of Richmond, and has been a speaker in the cause for several years. In 1896 he "stumped" the sixth congressional district of Indiana, delivering fifty-six speeches in six weeks during the campaign. Two years later he was under the direction of the state committee and was sent to "stump" the sixth congressional district and southern Indiana. As a speaker he is argumentative and convincing, being known as a "vote-maker." He is in frequent demand as the orator of various public gatherings; and if his career as a public speaker is unchecked he will be widely known in the future as an orator who adorned the rostrum, and a scholar whose literary productions are models that are studied and appreciated. He was a delegate to the state convention of 1898 and was a member of the committee on credentials for his district. He is a prominent member of the Lincoln League in Indiana, being a member of the state committee, representing the sixth congressional district.
Mr. Gordon is a young gentleman of exemplary habits and a member of the First Methodist Episcopal church of Richmond. At present he is engaged with Professor Hodgin, of Earlham College, in compiling a political history of Wayne county, Indiana, together with biographical sketches of the county's most prominent politicians.
Source:
Biographical and Genealogical History of Wayne, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties, Indiana, Volume 1, The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1899