George N. Gordon

George N. Gordon (1822 – May 20, 1861) was a Protestant Canadian missionary to the Pacific Islands. Due to the murder of Gordon and his wife, they are considered by many to be martyrs of modern times.[1]

Rev. George N. Gordon and Ellen Catherine Powell, his wife

George Gordon was born to John Gordon and Mary Ramsay, both of Scottish ancestry near Alberton, Prince Edward Island. In 1848 he was converted to Christianity and began distributing Bibles and religious tracts. In 1850, he attended Presbyterian Theological Hall in West River, Nova Scotia. Gordon began his missionary work in Halifax City Mission where he would minister to the poor about the gospel of Christ.

Rev. George N. Gordon and Ellen Catherine Powell, his wife signatures

He arrived on the coast of Erromango, an island near Vanuatu, in the Pacific Ocean, in June 1857 to evangelize among the natives. About forty natives of Erromango were converted to Christianity. However, in March 1861 sandalwood traders intentionally exposed the natives to measles, and Gordon spent most of his time caring for them, however, the two children of one of the island's chiefs had died in his care, and the chief thought that he had put a spell on his children, he banded together a group of warriors and killed both George and his wife on May 20, 1861.[2]

Gordon's younger brother James followed him to Erromango, and was also martyred.

References
  1. The last martyrs of Eromanga : being a memoir of the Rev. George N. Gordon and Ellen Catherine Powell, his wife by James Douglas Gordon, 1863
  2. Bush, Peter (2001). "Dying for the Gospel: The Gordons of Erromanga". Archived from the original on September 24, 2012. Retrieved 2007-02-22.


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