Mordecai Gist - Life

Life

Gist was born in Baltimore, Maryland (one source says Reisterstown, Maryland), the fourth child of Thomas and Susannah Cockey Gist. Thomas Gist's father, Captain Richard Gist (1684-August 28, 1741), was the surveyor of Maryland's Western Shore and one of the commissioners who laid out Baltimore Town in 1729. Richard Gist's father, Christopher Richard Gist (1655 or 1659-Feb. 1690), was an English emigrant who came to the Province of Maryland before 1682 and settled in "South Canton" on the south bank of the Patapsco River. Christopher Richard Gist married Edith Cromwell (1660–1694), who is believed to have been a relative of England's Lord Protector.

Mordecai Gist's great-great-grandfather was Lawrence Washington (1602-1655) who was also the great-great-grandfather of George Washington. Thus, he and Washington were third cousins. Gist was also the nephew of Christopher Gist (1706–1759), a son of Richard Gist. Christopher Gist was a Colonial-era explorer, scout, and frontier settler who was employed by the Ohio Company and had served with 21-year-old Colonel George Washington. (Christopher Gist is credited with twice saving Washington's life when they were surveying land in the Ohio country in 1753.) Mordecai Gist was also distantly related John Eager Howard.

Mordecai Gist was educated for commercial pursuits. At the beginning of the American Revolution, the young men of Baltimore associated under the title of the "Baltimore Independent Company" and elected Gist as their captain. It was the first company raised in Maryland for the defense of popular liberty.