Ann Eliza Gordon (maiden name: Pleasants) was born around 1834 in Virginia to John H. Pleasants. Her father was a prominent newspaper editor. She grew up in Richmond, Virginia, and she married Douglas H. Gordon on May 30, 1857. They had at least five children: Basil, born around 1861; May, born around 1863; Anne, born around 1865; Douglas, born around 1865; and Rose, born around 1869. They lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia, and by 1860, they owned $250,000 of real estate and $560,000 of personal property. They moved to Baltimore, Maryland, in the 1860s, and by 1870, they owned $190,000 of real estate and $720,000 of personal property. Her husband died on January 20, 1883, and she remained in Baltimore with her children and grandchildren. She died in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on June 27, 1901, after suffering from “paralysis.”