Is this brothel owner in my family tree?

The name was J.A. Gordon and he was mentioned as the co-owner of a small brothel in Rawlins, Wyoming, in the 1880 census. The name stuck out to me because I have my own J.A. Gordon in the family tree. Who was in Wyoming. Theoretically in 1880. Which I can't prove because I haven't found him in the census yet. 

Here he is years later (1907-ish) with his family. The boy on the far left is my stepfather's grandfather. 

Did I want to tell my stepfather that I'd found out his great-grandfather was running a small brothel in Wyoming? 

No. No, I did not. 

There's actually already some prostitution history in that side of the family, but something about this story felt icky. Maybe it's all the charming tales I've been reading about brothel owners (men in particular). I was not looking to lay claim to this one.

I also knew that I had nowhere near enough information. It's true that my J.A. Gordon was in Wyoming around that time. It's true that I knew he had spent some time in Rawlins, Wyoming (1880 population of 1,451). That was it. I needed more evidence. 

Here's what I found: 

A search for earlier records of the J.A. Gordon who was running the brothel proved frustrating. He wasn't in Rawlins in 1870, which wasn't a huge surprise since it was a brand-new, tiny, nowhere town. However, I was able to track him down in Montana after the 1880 census. It turned out that while he was in Rawlins, his house of prostitution was actually a theater by the name of Comique Theatre and he opened another theater by the same name in Butte, Montana, after closing the one in Rawlins. 

That was enough to break the possible connection between this brothel owner and the J.A. Gordon on my family tree. It's true that I don't know exactly what my J.A. Gordon was up to in the time between 1880 and 1900, but by 1900 he is living with his wife and sons in Wyoming, ranching and working for the railroad. I think someone might have noticed if he was also running a theater/brothel in Butte, Montana. 

Just to double check, I reached out to the Montana Historical Society after I found a listing for a sketch of theater-owning J.A. Gordon. He bears a resemblance to my ancestor because of the facial hair style of the time, but not enough for me to believe this is the same person. 

Even though this person doesn't belong on my family tree, it was interesting to take a closer look at the records. Very soon after the census, it seems the co-owner of the theater/brothel had money trouble and J.A. Gordon (John A. Gordon) became the sole owner. He clearly advertises his business as a theater and yet it's listed as a house of prostitution in the census. Was it both? Was there bias on the part of the census taker against theater-folk? 

Here's a closer look at this household in the census: 

With names like Minnie Batcheler [sic] and Kitty Ford, I'm not sure that these women are using the same names that would have appeared on records of their childhood. And, speaking of childhood, notice that the census taker marked 2-year-old Lillie Bloom as a prostitute, along with her mother. 

We're going to call that a clerical error so I don't throw this whole study project out the window. Depressingly, I have learned that many of the female children of prostitutes went into the profession themselves at horribly young ages. It would make sense that the children of women who had no escape route for themselves wouldn't easily be able to find a different kind of lifestyle. 

In the meantime, he's not my relative and my study continues.