
Maria Hale Gordon (b. Hale) (1842-1921) was born in Providence, Rhode
Island, and died in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1863 she married A. J. (Adoniram Judson)
Gordon, a Baptist preacher, writer, and founder of Gordon College and Gordon-Conwell
Theological Seminary, who was later a vocal opponent of Christian Science. They had
originally met in 1856 while attending Brown University in Providence. Soon after
marrying, they moved to Boston, where A. J. had accepted the position of pastor of
Jamaica Plain Baptist Church. After six years he accepted the pastorate of the Clarendon
Street Baptist Church in Boston, where he would remain until his death. The Gordons were
advocates of women in public ministry. Gordon was a leader in Boston's Temperance
Movement, serving as president of the Massachusetts Women's Christian Temperance Union
and Boston area chair. She was also involved with the Boston Fatherless and Widows'
Society. She helped found and served as secretary and treasurer of the Boston Missionary
Training School, which later became Gordon College. Gordon taught Sunday school and was
a lifelong member of the Baptist church. In 1989 the library director of Gordon College,
John Beauregard, edited and published
Journal of Our Journey, a
collection of the Gordons' journals from participating in the 1888 London Centenary
Missions Conference and their subsequent missionary tour through Scotland.
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