J. H. Gorden, a representative citizen and successful agriculturist of northeastern Oklahoma, where he has made his home for more than two decades, is busily engaged in the cultivation of a farm of fifty acres situated one mile north and four miles east of Dewey. His birth occurred in Henry county, Missouri, in 1861, his parents being J. B. and Anna (Parks) Gorden. The father is still living at the ripe old age of eighty-five years, and now resides at Wagoner, Oklahoma. The mother passed away in 1904. They reared a family of three sons, namely: J. H., of this review; Dr. G. R., living at Wagoner, Oklahoma; and B. P., who is a resident of Haworth, this state.
J. H. Gorden supplemented his preliminary education by a course of study in the State Normal School at Warrensburg, Missouri, and subsequently followed the profession of teaching in his native county for a period of sixteen years, imparting readily and clearly to others the knowledge that he had acquired. The year 1900 witnessed his arrival in the Indian Territory and the establishment of his home on the O. H. ranch near Wann, in Nowata county, where he devoted his attention to farming and the handling of cattle for eight years. During that period the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad was put through the farm, cutting off a corner of it. At that time the road ran direct from Warm to Dewey, as there were no fences across sections.
In 1907 Mr. Gorden was elected county clerk of Washington county and upon his accession to that office he took up his abode in Bartlesville. After the close of his term he purchased and began the cultivation of a tract of land comprising one hundred and sixty acres north of Copan but when two years had passed he disposed of the property and embarked in the mercantile business at Ochelata, being thus engaged for four years. On the expiration of that period he sold his interests and purchased a farm of fifty acres near Dewey, whereon he has since devoted his attention to the raising of cows and beef cattle and to the cultivation of oats and wheat. He has an attractive country home and enjoys an enviable reputation as one of the substantial and esteemed citizens of Washington county.
On the 2d of April, 1883, Mr. Gorden was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Bell, who passed away April 4, 1921, her demise being the occasion of deep regret to her many friends, as well as a source of great grief to the members of her own household. Mr. and Mrs. Gorden became the parents of five children: Eva, the wife of Ira W. Green, who lives on a fine farm near that of his father-in-law; Clyde, who is thirty-four years of age; Mason, a young man of thirty-one; Ruth, who is the wife of W. J. Green of Dewey; and Josephine, who is attending school at Dewey.