Canada has grown to very estimable dimensions, and it is not too much to say that 
     
    
   
   
    
     one of the mightiest forces in producing this enlargement has been the spirit and ex- 
     
     ample of Rev. Geddie.”92 
     
    
   
   
    
     16. THE REV. GEORGE N. GORDON AND THE 
     
     REV. JAMES D. GORDON OF ALBERTON, 
     
     PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND: 
     
     MISSIONARIES AND MARTYRS 
     
    
   
   
    
     “If Prince Edward Island contributed the first missionary, it also gave the first 
     
     martyrs. The Rev. George N. and the Rev. James D. Gordon, of Alberton, both 
     
     devoted and consistent followers of Christ, were martyred on the Island of Er- 
     
     romanga. It forms a sad tale of cruelty and bloodshed exciting our sympathy, yet, it 
     
     is not at this distant date to be regretted. They, by the shedding of their blood, have 
     
     cemented the foundations of the church, as did all the martyrs before them, for it is 
     
     still true that the blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. The honour that 
     
     belongs to the Presbyterian Church in this province in thus inaugurating foreign 
     
     mission work, which has been expanded and expressed in so many noble sacrifices 
     
     since is one indeed to be coveted, but is at the same time an honour to inspire those 
     
     who rejoice in such a heritage to deeds of splendid self-sacrifice for the sake of the 
     
     many heathen who still dwell in superstition and darkness.”93 
     
    
   
   
    
     George Nicol Gordon, son of John Gordon and his wife Mary Ramsay, was 
     
     born, near Alberton in 1822. He was nine years of age when the Presbyterian con- 
     
    
   
   
    
     gregation there was formally organized and his father was one of the first elders. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Some years later this young man felt called to the Christian ministry and, 
     
     perhaps partly through the influence of Rev. John Geddie who had left his con- 
     
     gregation at Cavendish and New London to become a pioneer missionary to the New 
     
     Hebrides, he offered himself for missionary service. 
     
    
   
   
    
     After being ordained in 1855 he went to London, England to continue medical 
     
     studies begun in Halifax which, he believed, would better equip him for the work he 
     
     was preparing himself to do. There he met a fine young English girl, Ellen Catherine 
     
     Powell, who consented to share his life and his work. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Immediately after their marriage in the summer of 1856 they set sail from 
     
     England and eleven months later they were settled on the island of Erromanga, the 
     
     first white people to live among the natives whose only previous white acquaintances 
     
     had been sandalwood traders who treated them with revolting dishonesty and cruel- 
     
    
   
   
    
     ty. 
     
    
   
   
    
     For four years George and Ellen Gordon ministered to the spiritual and 
     
     physical needs of the people and their work met with a measure of success. 
     
    
   
   
    
     Then came an epidemic of measles and dysentry that proved fatal to many 
     
    
   
   
    
       
     
    
   
   
    
     92 Fullerton, op. cit.. pp. 309A-310A. 
     
     93 Fullerton, op. cit.. p. 310A. 
     
    
   
   
    
     245