[7] He was born 5 May 1786 at Old Crawfordton, Glencairn, Dumfriesshire, the son of John Gordon, parish schoolmaster, and his wife, Janet McAdam.[8] In February 1821, he was translated to St. Cuthbert's Chapel of Ease, on Buccleuch Street in Edinburgh, and in January 1824 to the Newington Parish Church to the south, which was built for his growing congregation.[10] When the conflict which led to the disruption of the Scottish church began (around 1833), Gordon had sided with the non-intrusionists, and was one of the committee appointed in 1839 to consider the case of the seven suspended ministers of Strathbogie.During the same year he appeared in the court of session to support the presbytery of Dunkeld, then threatened with censure for disregarding the interdict in the Lathendy case.He replaced Thomas Chalmers as Professor of Divinity at the Free Church College on the Mound, but declined the Principalship thereof.Early in life he devoted himself to scientific studies, invented a self-registering hygrometer, and was the author of the articles on 'Euclid,' 'Geography,' and 'Meteorology' in the Edinburgh Encyclopædia.