JORDAN, Capt. Arthur Scott - 1912 Bio (1832-1914)

JORDAN, DYER, WELLS, EATON, WEBSTER, BROWN

Posted By: Joey Stark
Date: 9/16/2007 at 20:50:57

History of Jefferson County, Iowa -- A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, Vol II, Published 1912, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago
Pages 161-163

Captain Arthur S. JORDAN is now living retired in Fairfield where he has made his home since 1854. He has been connected at different times with the business interests of the city as a general merchant and a dealer in lumber and coal, and during the period of the Civil war he was a stanch defender of the Union cause. Now in the evening of life he is resting from labor, the efforts of his former toil supplying him with all of the necessities and some of the comforts of life. He has passed the seventy-ninth milestone, his birth having occurred at Cape Elizabeth, Maine, on the 22d of February, 1832. His parents, Clement and Elizabeth F. (DYER) JORDAN, were also natives of that place. The father first came to the west in 1851 on a visit and about 1863 or 1864 returned to Fairfield to spend the remainder of his days among his children. The JORDAN family is one of the oldest in the state of Maine, the first representative settling at Cape Elizabeth when that region was an unbroken wilderness. He secured a grant of land from King George and there established the ancestral home of the family. All through his early life Clement JORDAN was captain or master of a ship. In early manhood he wedded Eliza F. DYER who up to the time of her marriage had resided upon a farm near Cape Elizabeth. They became the parents of nine children. Emily D., the eldest, became the wife of Captain William R. WELLS and both died in Fairfield. Frances C. married Captain Henry EATON and died in Fairfield while her husband passed away in California. Clement J. died on the old homestead at Cape Elizabeth. Caroline E. became the wife of John H. WELLS, a merchant of Fairfield, and both passed away in this city. William Henry married Maria W. WEBSTER of Cape Elizabeth and his death occurred there while his wife died in Clinton, Massachusetts. Arthur S. is the sixth in order of birth. Charles Henry died in Cape Elizabeth when sixteen years of age. Albert married Hattie WELLS and died in Fairfield, Iowa, but his widow resides in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Harry married Maggie BROWN and died in Fairfield while his widow is living in Los Angeles, California.

Arthur S. JORDAN remained at the place of his birth until sixteen years of age and afterward spent two or three years as a sailor. He worked on the old homestead farm of two hundred acres until he made his way to the west in 1854, when twenty-two years of age, since which time he has resided in Fairfield, the period of his residence here covering fifty-seven years. For a time he was engaged in general merchandising with his brothers, W. H., Albert and Harry, the four conducting their store under the name of the JORDAN Brothers. The business had been established by Captain W. R. WELLS and William JORDAN in 1851 and in 1857 Captain JORDAN purchased the interest of Captain WELLS and organized the firm of JORDAN Brothers, the other brothers being admitted at a later date. They continued the business together with gratifying success until the '70s. In the meantime A. S. JORDAN had enlisted in Fairfield, Iowa, in July, 1862, as a member of Company B, Nineteenth Iowa Infantry. He joined the army as a private but was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant and afterward became captain of his company. He served until the close of the war and was mustered out in July, 1865, having in the meantime participated in all of the engagements of his regiment, including the sieges of Vicksburg and of Spanish Fort. His brother Harry also served in the same company, going out as captain. He was promoted to the rank of major and was mustered out with that title. The older brothers, William and Albert, remained at home and conducted the store, being joined in its management and operation by the two soldier brothers after the close of hostilities. In 1871 William JORDAN died, after which the three other brothers continued the business for a few years and then closed it out. Captain JORDAN next entered the lumber and coal business form which he retired in his seventy-fifty year, remaining throughout the whole period as one of the representative, honorable and honored business men of the city.

In 1868 Captain JORDAN was united in marriage to Miss Ada M. JORDAN, of Cape Elizabeth, Maine, who was not related unless the tie of kinship came in many generations back. The JORDANs, however, were very numerous in Maine, almost half of the town of Cape Elizabeth bearing that name. Mrs. Ada JORDAN was born in 1848 and was a daughter of John G. and Ann V. (DYER) JORDAN, also natives of Cape Elizabeth. Unto the marriage of our subject and his wife have been born two children, Nellie E. and Arthur G. The former, a graduate of Parsons College with the class of 1892, has been engaged in teaching in the high school most of the time since. Captain JORDAN, his wife and his two children are now the only members of the family still living in Fairfield, all the others having passed away. He has never held any public office but served on the city school board for twelve years and for twenty-four years was a member of the board of trustees of Parsons College but resigned that position on reaching the age of seventy-five years, at the same time putting aside all other business and public connections in order to live retired. His is an honorable old age and the respect and veneration of his fellow townsmen are accorded him. No history of Fairfield would be complete without mention of Captain JORDAN, so well and worthily has he lived and so actively has he participated in the business life of the city and in its growth and improvement in other ways.

*Transcribed for genealogy purposes; I have no relation to the person(s) mentioned.