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Dr. J. Matt Gordon
Vol. 3, Page 1914

     Ten years ago Dr. J. Matt Gordon came to Weatherford and established himself in
medical practice here.  since that time he as been a continuous resident here, and has a
wide practice in the community and surrounding towns.  He is a native son of Missouri,
born at Bolivar, on November 14, 1865, and is a son of B.F. and Rebecca A. (Brown)
Gordon.

     B. F. Gordon was born in Kentucky in 1818, and he died near Bolivar, Missouri, 1900.
He came to Missouri in young manhood and engaged in the farming and stock raising
business, in which he experienced a pleasing degree of success.  He was a Baptist all his
life and a deacon in the church.  His wife born in Kentucky in 1827, and she died near
Bolivar, in 1892.  Their children were six in number, and are briefly mentioned here as
follows:  Ruan married J. M. Mullis, and they live on a farm in Cameron, Missouri.
Elizabeth married R. T. Ellis, and they live in Bolivar, Missouri.  Thomas Benton is
deceased.  R. D. lives in Waynoka, Oklahoma, where he is a druggist.  Naomi married W.
E. Johnson and is now deceased.  Dr. J. Matt Gordon was the sixth child.

     Doctor Gordon as a boy attended the public schools at Bolivar, continuing his studies
there until he was eighteen years old, when he turned his attention to school teaching.  He
taught several years in Polk County, Missouri, and then entered the state normal school at
Warrensburg, Missouri, to further his training.  He was graduated from that school in
1897, after which he was chosen to fill the position of superintendent of the Warrensburg
Public Schools.  He continued in that post from 1897 to 1902, when he entered the
College of Physicians and Surgeons in Chicago, now the medical department of the
University of Illinois, and he was graduated with the class of 1905, with the degree M.D.
Since that time Doctor Gordon has taken the A. B. course in South-West Baptist College,
Bolivar, Missouri, and post graduate course in the Chicago Polyclinic in 1910 and 1912.
Following his graduation Doctor Gordon came to Weatherford, and has been engaged in
practice here ever since, with offices in the Weatherford Drug Store.  He is at present
serving as local health physician, and has in past years served as president of the school
board, in which position he was especially well qualified to act, by reason of his previous
wide experience in the educational fields.  From 1909 to 1911 he was a member of the
Board of Regents for the University of Oklahoma, at Norman.  He has served as president
of the Custer County Medical Society, and he also has membership in the State and
American Medical Associations.  At the present time he is president of the West Central
Oklahoma Medical Society.  He is local surgeon for the Rock Island Railroad, and is a
member of the United States Pension Board, as well as local examining physician on that
board.  Doctor Gordon owns a splendid farm about three miles from Weatherford, and
has a nice home in town.

     Doctor Gordon was married in Bolivar, Missouri, in 1890, to Miss Pinnie E. Milliken,
daughter of H. R. Milliken, now deceased.  They have no living children.

     In a fraternal way Doctor Gordon is especially popular in Weatherford.  He is a Mason
of high degree and is affiliated with Weatherford Lodge No. 138 Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, Weatherford Chapter No. 31, Royal Arch Masons, Weatherford
Commandery No. 17, Knights Templar, and Indian Temple, Ancient Arabic Order
Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, at Oklahoma City.  He is also a member of the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows, the Woodmen of the World, the Modern Woodmen of America.

Transcribed for OKGenWeb by Norma Capehart March 5, 2003.

SOURCE: Thoburn, Joseph B., A Standard History of Oklahoma, An
Authentic Narrative of its Development, 5 v. (Chicago, New York: The
American Historical Society, 1916).