Native and Resident Physicians. 313 



and afterwards studied medicine with Dr. Thomas Kittredge of 

 Andover. He first entered upon the practice of his profession at 

 St. Andrews, but upon the invitation of several prominent citizens 

 of Hingham, he came and established himself here in 1807, re- 

 maining until the autumn of 1838, when he removed to Boston. 

 He afterwards settled at Taunton, and there passed the closing 

 days of his life in the midst of his children, ne joined the 

 Massachusetts Medical Society in 1828. During his long resi- 

 dence in Hingham his practice was extensive and oftentimes 

 arduous and perplexing, — embracing a large circuit and requiring 

 the utmost activity and perseverance in the discharge of profes- 

 sional duty. He was eminently successful, however, both as a 

 physician and surgeon. An easy politeness in addition to a 

 cheerful speech and agreeable manners always made his presence 

 in the sick room pleasant to the invalid, and his removal from 

 this town was deeply regretted. He died suddenly from an affec- 

 tion of the heart, to which he had been subject for several years, 

 and at his special request his remains were brought here and 

 buried in the Hingham Cemetery. A tablet has since been 

 erected at his grave, upon which is the following inscription : 



" In Memory of 



Dr. William Gordon. 



Born at Newbury, 



May 17, 1783. 



Died at Taunton 



June 17, 1851. 



From 1808 to 1S38 

 a devoted physician in this town." 



William Alexander Gordon, the oldest son of Dr. William 

 and Helen (Gilchrist) Gordon", was a native of Newburyport, 

 Mass., and born March 17, 1808. His early education was ob- 

 tained at the schools in Hingham. He afterwards entered Har- 

 vard University and was graduated in 1826, in the class with 

 Hon. Robert Rantoul, Rev. Oliver Stearns, and others, and in 

 1829 received his degree of M.D. For a short time only he was 

 located as a physician in Hingham, having for his office a room in 

 the second story of Loring's Building, Broad Bridge. In 1834 he 

 was elected a Fellow of the Massachusetts Medical Society, being 

 at that time a resident of Taunton, Mass. He died at New Bed- 

 ford, Feb. 1887, in the 79th year of his age. 



The " Christian Register " says of the late Dr. Gordon : — 



" Dr. William A. Gordon, who died suddenly at his late home in New 

 Bedford, was of Scotch ancestry, and was a son of Dr. William Gordon, 

 who at the time of William A. Gordon's birth, March 17, 1808, was 

 a resident of Newburyport. Dr. Gordon was a lineal descendant of Alex- 

 ander Gordon, a scion of the loyal Gordon family in the Highlands of 

 Scotland. When William A. Gordon was two months old his parents 

 moved to Hingham. He was prepared for college at Derby Academy in 

 that town, and was graduated at Harvard in the class of 1826, when but 

 eighteen years old. He at once commenced the study of medicine with 



