Dr. Alexander Jackson Gordon
Jesup, Wayne County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Alexander Jackson Gordon Physician 1862-1943. Born in Ohoopee, Georgia, to Alexander James Gordon and Sarah John Williams Gordon. As a young man Alex floated logs down the Altamaha River to pay his way through medical school. Graduating from the Georgia Medical College at Augusta in 1888, Doctor Gordon established a medical practice in Lyons, Georgia. Later he went to Waynesville, Georgia, where he met and married Carolina Butler Wiggins on October 30, 1907. He moved to Jesup in 1917 to join his boyhood friend, Jeff Rogers, in practice. Jeff had just purchased the local hospital from Doctor Crummey. Alex bought the drugstore. In 1918 Doctor Gordon purchased the house at 148 East Cherry Street, and called it home for the rest of his life. He assisted in the formation of the Jesup Presbyterian Church in 1922 and the Mannington Presybyterian Church in 1929. He was active in city government, serving on the Jesup City Council for several years. Dr. Gordon devoted much of his time to agriculture and was the first citizen to introduce Hereford cattle to Wayne County. In addition to treating the citizens of Jesup, he also served as Medical Examiner for the local Selective Service board and physician to convicts at the State Highway Camp in Brantley County. Doctor Gordon lived up to his Hippocratic Oath all his life, seeing his last patient the day before he died. He is buried in the Jesup City Cemetery.
The Story
Born in Ohoopee, Georgia in 1862, Alexander Jackson Gordon floated logs down the Altamaha River to pay for medical school, graduating from the Georgia Medical College at Augusta in 1888. After practicing in Lyons and Waynesville, he settled in Jesup in 1917, buying the local drugstore and joining a boyhood friend's practice. Beyond medicine he served on the city council, helped found two Presbyterian churches, introduced Hereford cattle to Wayne County, and — true to his Hippocratic oath — saw his last patient the day before he died in 1943.
Why it matters
Gordon exemplifies the small-town Southern physician whose care, civic leadership, and self-made rise shaped the life of a rural county for half a century.
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Related people
- · Alexander Jackson Gordon
- · Carolina Butler Wiggins
- · Jeff Rogers
Themes & tags
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