author
Hanford Lennox Gordon
1836–1920
A Minnesota pioneer who moved easily between public life and poetry, this 19th-century writer turned frontier history, regional legend, and personal reflection into verse. His work is closely tied to early Minnesota, where he was also active as a lawyer, soldier, and legislator.
2 Audiobooks
The Feast of the Virgins and Other Poems
by Hanford Lennox Gordon
Legends of the Northwest
by Hanford Lennox Gordon
About the author
Born in Andover, New York, on December 30, 1836, Hanford Lennox Gordon came to Minnesota in 1857 and became part of the state's early civic and cultural life. He served in the Civil War with the 1st Minnesota Infantry, later worked as a lawyer, and was also a member of the Minnesota legislature.
Alongside his public career, he wrote poetry and longer narrative works shaped by the people, landscapes, and legends of the Upper Midwest. His books include Pauline, and Other Poems, Legends of the Northwest, and Indian Legends and Other Poems, which helped preserve a literary picture of frontier-era Minnesota.
Gordon died on November 13, 1920. Today he is remembered as a writer whose life brought together literature, politics, military service, and the experience of Minnesota's early years.