Peter Gordon was born in Caveston, Scotland in 1773, and was educated in Glasgow and Whitburn. In early life he... had no intentions of entering professional ranks. Receiving a common school education, he entered upon the weavers'1 trade, in which he spent some years. Deeply moved by the strong appeals wafted across the , he became a recruit for the ministry. Entering college, he eventually graduated with a degree of honour, notwithstanding a deficiency in education in earlier days. When prosecuting his studies he had much to contend with. His resources were limited and at the time he was a student, the French Revolutionary Wars were prevailing, hence there was a stagnation for business, and he had to struggle for support with a depleted purse, (this probably laid the foundation of the tuberculosis which killed him).... With diligence, perseverance and strong faith he laboured and at last was licensed and set forth to preach the gospel... Before leaving his native land he was married to a niece of the late Reverend Dr. Bruce , Jessie Auld ; her mind was deeply impressed at the same time as Mr. Gordon 's with Dr. MacGregor 's earnest appeals. (from The Dickie Histories, Maritime Church Archives, Halifax, Rev. A.B. Dickie , D.D .) Peter Gordon was ordained and inducted by the Presbytery of Pictou , and the Rev. James MacGregor assisted at his induction in 1806. Gordon travelled long miles by horseback in all weathers between his scattered congregations of Head, St. Peter 's and Fortune. He held services in people's homes as well as in the new church at Head; baptising, marrying and burying members of his flock; staying nights in people's homes. Sad to relate, he survived only three years of this arduous existence, dying suddenly on April 3, 1809, of consumption (pulmonary tuberculosis, common then among young adults) at the home of James MacCallum , Brackley Point . Gordon had been travelling from Malpeque after taking a service there, when he was taken suddenly ill, and stopped at the MacCallum home. His wife was sent for, but he died before she arrived. (Dying so suddenly, did he perhaps succumb to a haemoptysis?) He left his widow with two small children, and it is interesting to note that she subsequently married the Rev. James MacGregor , left a widower shortly before, with seven children. He wrote in his diary: In 1809 Mr. Gordon died and I went to comfort his widow, and, as Mrs. MacGregor had also passed away (in childbirth) the expression of mutual sympathy in our bereaved condition rendered such visits a solace to my own spirit, and in 1812 we were married One son and three daughters were born to them. Peter Gordon was succeeded by the Rev. Edward Pidgeon , who was inducted in 1812. He was followed by the Rev. Robert Douglass in 1821, at which time the first Presbytery of the Island was con- 62