Samuel Gordon purchased Kenmore from John T. and Susan H. Thornton in 1819. According to tradition, the Gordons named the house "Kenmore" after their ancestral Scottish home of Kenmuir. The Gordons replaced the original wooden shingles with a slate roof around 1820 and they added the portico on the garden side of the house, probably around 1834. Samuel and Susannah Gordon had six sons and three daughters. Kenmore was given to his wife Susannah and eldest son William when Samuel died in 1843. William Gordon and his wife, Eliza Fitzhugh, sold the property to Franklin Slaughter in 1859.

Samuel Gordon and several of his relatives are buried in the Gordon family cemetery just one block north of Kenmore (behind the Mary Washington Monument).

The Gordon Family (owners of Kenmore from 1819 to 1859)

• Gordon Family Ancestors
• Gordon Family Cemetery

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Last Updated: June 24, 2008