Passed Time - Photograph of Philip Gordon of Trenton, New Jersey

Photograph of Philip Gordon of Trenton, New Jersey

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I had been on a photograph and recipe kick lately. The exception being that Passed Time, wanted to acknowledge the anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, which changed my scope these past couple of days. Luckily, it was easy to do as there were a plethora of great articles that we linked. However, it is time to get into gear and get something new out there. Not new, technically, but newly public? In any event, this photograph of this beautiful blond child is labeled, "Philip Johston Gordon Age 3".*

Two candidates (at least) are possibilities with regards to the tow-headed Philip Gordon, the subject of the photograph. The first is found on Crestleaf who has a listing for a Philip Gordon of Trenton, New Jersey. This candidate was born on November 23, 1905 and died in September of 1983. Unfortunately, there are no citations, except a statement claiming the information came from historical records (they use the Social Security Death Index). Otherwise, that is the only information posted about this Philip Gordon on Crestleaf. baby philip johston gordonww

The other possibility is this is a baby picture of New Jersey composer Philip Gordon (1894-1983).** He was born in Newark, New Jersey and began learning the violin at an early age with teachers James Efross (violin) and Mandel Svet (violin and piano). Gordon was a graduate of Columbia University. He studied English Literature and the Germanic languages. His dissertation was "Contemporary Music for Performing Groups." After college, Gordon became a composer and conductor, and always maintained his love of teaching music by working with children.

In the 1950's he married author and educator Julia Weber. After the couple settled in Princeton, Gordon worked throughout New York and New Jersey. The University of Maryland houses the Philip Gordon Papers and their website provides a brief write-up of his music, as well as a description of his papers.

In this case the active dates for Trenton photographer, William H. Sharp, encompass the dates of both Philip Gordons. According to Gary Saretzky's information about New Jersey photographers, Sharp was active at 942 South Clinton Avenue, from 1897 until 1910. As stated on the reverse of the photograph, Gordon was three-years-old at the time of the sitting. The composer was born in 1894, indicating the photograph was taken circa 1897, corresponding to the earliest of Sharp's active dates. If this is the Philip Gordon born in 1905, the date of the photograph would be 1908, also within Sharp's active dates at that address.

Hopefully, at some future point the differences of birth dates will be worked out. Until then, at least interested parties know what one Philip Johston Gordon looked like as a child. 8 August 2015 Pat Earnest Dover, Delaware

* I've tried both "Johnston" and "Johston" and other variations in a name search and found nothing in relation with the name "Philip Gordon." Any help by family or someone "in the know" in that regard would be greatly appreciated.

**Please note the date of death is the same for both Philip Gordons. It is possible that we are talking about the same person and there is some confusion over his birthdates.

Philip Johston gordon a

Author HistoryKeeper, currently lives in Dover, Delaware, with family, both two- and four-footed. I am a history enthusiast, who has great regard for the past and is especially proud of the Pennsylvania German culture. In addition to my work here at Passed Time, I am currently working on a project for the German Historical Institute's Immigrant Entrepreneurship: German-American Business Biographies (http://www.ghi-dc.org). I also contribute to various newsletters and am working on another book...or two. Feel free to email me at pcsuter@hotmail.com for questions, comments, information, a shared love of history, an idea, etc. Please be aware, Files with Attachments will not be opened, but immediately deleted.

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