page_title: John Gordon (merchant)
section_title: Land speculation in East Florida
hierarchical_section_title: John Gordon (merchant) / Land speculation in East Florida
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of part of East Florida from the St. Johns River to the Bay of Mosquitos, showing names of proprietors of estates. Drawn from the original plan of John Gordon, and given to Governor Grant by James Moncrief, Engineer. 1764
context_page_description: John Gordon was a Loyalist British merchant and trader of Scottish origin who lived in South Carolina for many years. He settled in Charles Town about 1760, and from 1759 to 1773 he was a major exporter of deerskins supplied by Native American hunters. Gordon also participated in the transatlantic slave trade but was not a major importer of captive Africans.
  John Gordon did business in Charles Town and Savannah, as well as in British East Florida. The regional network of Scottish traders headed by Gordon in Charles Town, and the brothers John and James Graham in Savannah, served as a liaison between government officials
  and the Indian tribes, primarily the Creeks.
  Gordon also underwrote the mercantile activities of George Galphin, at that time the wealthiest Indian trader in the Southeast, whose trading firm was predominant in the tribal towns of the Chattahoochee Valley and in Coweta.
context_section_description: After the signing of the Treaty of Paris of 1763, and with the impending mass evacuation of the Spaniards in Florida, Gordon recognized an opportunity to acquire lands there, and corresponded with the merchant Jesse Fish of St. Augustine, Florida, about acquiring large tracts from the Spanish landholders, who were anxious to sell. Gordon raised the necessary capital and arrived at that city in August 1763. In September and October of the same year, the two speculators purchased hundreds of thousands of acres from departing Spaniards.
  The Spanish governor of Florida, Melchor Feliu, was determined to ascertain the validity of all land titles before properties were sold to British subjects. The deeds signed by the Governor and the Royal Treasurer, Juan Esteban de Peña, affirmed  that the Spanish owners of the lands had legitimate titles and that according to the Treaty of Paris, Gordon and Fish had become the "true and lawful owners and possessors" of those lands.
  The Floridanos, or Spanish citizens of Florida, were allowed by the terms of the Treaty of Paris to sell their property to English subjects within a period of eighteen-months, but few buyers were found, leaving Spanish agents unable to dispose of St. Augustine properties. After the last of the emigrants had left, Juan José Elixio de la Puente, formerly chief official of the royal accountancy (Oficial mayor de la Royal Contaduria), returned to St. Augustine from Havana with an appointment to dispose of the remaining Spanish property.
  Because the incoming British soldiers had little money, and civilian settlers hoped to receive outright grants of land from the British Crown, few of them were interested in acquiring Spanish real estate. Under these conditions and with the uncertainty of future sales, Puente was eventually compelled to transfer all the unsold Spanish property to an agent who would represent its owners. In July 1764, most of the houses, lots, and lands, amounting to almost 200 estates in and around St. Augustine, were conveyed from Puente to Fish.
  Fish and Gordon were frustrated in their joint land speculations, as their claims were disallowed by British officials. Gordon, then a merchant and slave trader from Charles Town, had formed a partnership with Fish operating as his agent. The two speculators purchased largely from the outgoing Spaniards, but the British authorities refused to allow the deeds to be recorded. These officials disregarded entirely the conveyances of the Catholic church properties, and proceeded to take possession of them in defiance of the provisions of the treaty of 1763. Because the Spanish monarchy had proprietorship rights in the patronato real relationship of church and state, those same prerogatives were claimed in the name of the English monarch, who had assumed sovereignty in Florida. All tierras realengas (royal lands) in St. Augustine, including the church estates, thus reverted to the British Crown. The Catholic Church and the two partners were subsequently required to turn over the buildings and all the land in their transaction to the British government. On orders from England, the Spanish bishop's house was seized for use of the Church of England, and the Convent of St. Francis, which had the best well in the town, was taken to house British troops, extensive barracks being erected on the old foundations.
  Early attempts to colonize British East Florida were hindered, particularly in St. Augustine, the capital of the province, by speculators like Jesse Fish and John Gordon, who held such great tracts of land. Fish and Gordon claimed ownership of a huge section of 4,600,000 acres on both banks of the St. Johns River, as far south as Ponce de Leon Inlet and westward as far as Alachua, and including a considerable portion of the Tampa Bay area. The Commissioners for Trade and Plantations rejected the validity of Fish and Gordon's "pretended purchase", telling their agents it was inconsistent with the spirit of the Treaty. Governor James Grant refused to confirm their grants and distributed the property to actual settler
caption: Copy of map drawn by John Gordon, showing lands claimed by him and Jesse Fish[25]
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