john gordon

john gordon was grampas' maternal grandfather; i was named after him. the gordons and the orrs both came to ireland from the argyle regeon of scotland. the orrs were farmers and the gordons were seafaring people.(there is much rumor of smuggling!) thier land in ireland was granted to them after they put thier ships into service with the english to fight the spanish. the story goes that during a great sea battle, as one of the gordon ships was sinking, a gordon clung to the mast top as she went down and shouted " horraw for ireland ". the family always thought they would have gotten more or better land if he had called horraw for england! when john gordon was 17 yrs old his father gave him a 70 ton smack for his start in life. (i used to know the name of this ship; grampa drew it for me once; i think it was the caterina?) jg made 7 trips accross the atlantic with this little ship; he ran whiskey to montreal and brought timber home to ireland. this made him enough money to build a big three masted sailing ship which he named "the phylis"(not sure on spelling). grampa drew me a picture of her; she was square rigged on two masts and schooner rigged on one. once a huge atlantic storm pushed the phylis so far off coarse the ended up off the coast of south america; jg brought a parrot home for his wife eliza; eliza lived to be 98, they took her bicycle away the year before she died. the parrot lived to be over 100yrs and could talk very well. john gordon sailed the phylis till he retired in his 70s,(not always the same ship, for as jack berry told me the wooden ships were likely replaced every 8 or 10 yrs, but, all named the phylis.)jg gave the phylis to his 1st mate on his retirment; the mate lost her in a wreck on his 1st voyage. john gordon taught grampa about boats, ships and the sea; he had a big influence on grampas' life...

john orr

john orr was grampas' paternal grand father. he ran the farm at annalong, (the orrs' were farming people), he was also a cattle dealer; buying cattle in ireland and shipping them over to england. when grampa left ireland at 17 to start a new life in canada his grampa john orr saw him off; he took a leather pouch out of his coat, reached in and pulled out a big handfull of gold coins which he gave to grampa to help him get started in canada; the coins were not counted. this is who taught grampa about farming; they were very close...

william orr

william orr was grampas' dad. he served with a north irish regiment in the boer war of south africa; he was an engineer, to my knowlege. he worked overseas much of the time on big construction prodjects. he was a hard drinker. grampa did not know his dad that well because of his overseas work. william orr was killed (along with a few others) by a drunk driver; he was in buffalo new york, working on the erie canal, and was waiting for a tram with others when they were all struck by a car....early 30s i think....grampa was on the homestead and didn't hear about it till months later.

elizabeth gordon

my next few blogs will be about family long past....most, i don't know much about.... if anyone can add more, have at a comment. elizebeth gordon (orr) was grampas' mum. she ran the familys butcher buisness at annalong; they mostly sold meat to the many ships and boats sailing out of annalong harbor. grampa learned the butcher trade from her as a teenager. i did not know grampa was a butcher until i killed my first deer; i was about 18 and brought home a nice mule deer buck. we hung it in the pump house for a couple of days; then grampa took over. as usual there was no verbal teaching.....so, pay attention! grampa had the deer cut and wrapped in no time, he then told me he had learned the butchers trade from his mum before leaving ireland at 17. this he also told me about his mum....our family were protestants; at a village further up the track the catholic church had burnt down (you can speculate on why and how, as i do.) the parrishioners from the burnt church had to walk a long way, passing grampas' farm, to go to mass in the next nearest church. grampas' mum would set out a bench and brew a big pot of tea, she would give the people walking to mass a place to rest and a cup of tea.....sounds familier....

ernie

grampa was in germany at the end of the war; there was much work to do, especially for sappers, with rebiulding and logistics, they would be the last to get home. in thier camp, the engineers had a young german iturperater named ernie. grampa and he became friends. grampa finally was sent home in the fall of '45 after five and a half years of war. as a kid i was once looking at a picture of grampas company of sappers in canada before heading overseas;(about a hundred men) on seeing this grampa said" there was only three of us left at the end of the war." i asked if they all were killed; he said" hell no; some were killed; some were wounded; some got sick; but, most went crazy!" grampa sponsered the young german lad ernie to come to canada; he worked on grampas' farm and went to school and became a high school principle while raising his family. even through more than five years of war and the loss of many of his friends grampa kept his humanity. this is a great legacy for those of us who carry on.....