Son of Augustus W. and Martha Lenoir Gordon; married Sep 27, 1893 to Caroline Elizabeth "Carrie Lizzie" Cowles. He was born at "Fairmount" his parents plantation (as it was known in those days), which is located where the North Wilkesboro post office now stands overlooking the town. As a boy Thomas roamed the woods on his father's land, checking his rabbit gums and hunting. He was sent to Finley High School in Lenoir, afterwards to Davidson College where he was a member of Kappa Alpha social fraternity, and won a declaimer's medal. He next studied at Col. Folk's law school in Caldwell County and began the practice of law in Wilkesboro where his first law partner was J. C. Cranor for one year. Later partners were Herb Greene and F. B. Hendren. He at one time occupied the law office just east of the courthouse that was still standing in 1980. He did not marry until he was almost thirty-one years old. Before marriage, he enjoyed parties and dances given by the Hortons in Happy Valley and trips to Blowing Rock. A Wilkesboro newspaper wrote an account of an accident he experienced while taking a visiting young lady friend buggy riding on the Moravian Falls Road. It seems that his horse became frightened in the exact spot in the road where W. W. Peden had been murdered in 1844. The buggy overturned, throwing out the occupants. A passing friend drove the young lady back to town, while Thomas hunted the nearby woods for his horse. He was known as a constant, enthusiastic booster of Wilkes County in all his speeches. He worked vigorously to secure the first railroad to Wilkes, was chairman of the committee that secured rights-of-way for the Watauga Railroad that ran westward from North Wilkesboro prior to the 1916 flood. In 1916, he was presidential elector, voting for President Wilson. In 1919, he was a member of 16 corporations and committees, president or chairman of nine and director of most of the others; was first vice president of the North Carolina Bar Association in 1918 he was elected and served as Superior Court Judge of North Carolina from 1918 to 1934. Not only did he work on industrial growth, but he helped to promote better schools (chairman of North Wilkesboro school board from 1914 to 1918) and better agriculture, as president of the first Wilkes County Fair prior to the 1916 flood. He married Carrie Lizzie in a formal public ceremony with bridal attendants. The vows were made to the Rev. Mr. Crawford and immediately after, the bridal couple was accompanied to the railroad station by many well wishers who wanted to see them off on their honeymoon to Niagara Falls and the World's Fair in Chicago. In his home, he was a good husband and father. For many years, he and his family traveled, some by horse drawn carriage in the early 20th century, to Blowing Rock to vacation in the Watauga Inn. At his death, many well known people sent condolences, including Senator Sam J. Ervin. (information from the Wilkes County Heritage Book, author Elizabeth C. Finley).

He was also the father of:

Ellen Lenoir Finley who married Lewis Mann Nelson. Ellen born 11 January 1902 died November 3, 1981.