Biographical Sketch of BYRON JORDAN - Henry County, Illinois Byron Jordan, who stands for progress in all things and was recognized as a leader among the stock raisers and shippers of Henry County, but is now retired also has a notable record as a soldier of the Civil War. A native son of Illinois, he was born in Richland Grove, Mercer County, June 11, 1842. His ancestry is traced tack to Rev. Robert Jordan, who was a clergyman of the Church of England and as early as 1641 presided over the church at Richmond Island, off the coast of Maine. He married Sarah Winter, and that he was a man of more than average intelligence is indicated by the fact that he opposed the prevalent superstition of witchcraft. He died in 1678 at the age of sixty-eight years. In his family were six children, John, Robert, Dominicus, Jedediah, Samuel and Jeremiah. The line of ancestry is traced down through Dominicus, Nathaniel, Israel, and Robert Jordan, to Captain John A. Jordan, the father of our subject. The Rev. Robert Jordan belonged to a family that originated in Ireland, but religious persecution drove them to Scotland, and as indicated, it was early in the seventeenth century when the family was founded in America. The grandfather of Byron Jordan was Robert Jordan, who in 1800 married Hannah Keating. They resided for a time in Rockland, Maine, and in 1832 removed to Seneca County, Ohio, where four days later Robert Jordan passed away. His widow there resided until 1845, when she went to live with a son in Wisconsin, but finally took up her abode with Captain John A. Jordan, passing away in his home in 1854. In the family were fourteen children, of whom seven became seafaring men. John A. Jordan, the tenth child, was born in Camden, Maine, in 1819, and was a youth of fourteen at the time of the removal of the family to Ohio. After the death of his father he continued to live with his mother for five years, and in company with his twin brother, Thomas J. Jordan, he arrived at Richland Grove, Mercer County, Illinois, November 9, 1839. There he entered and purchased land to the extent of one hundred and sixty acres. At Richland Grove he was married to Miss Rachel Metzler, and all of their children were there born including Byron, of this review; Edwin T., now residing in Montezuma, Iowa; William H., a government clerk living at Rock Island; and Olive M., who died at the age of seventeen years. In the spring of 1856 the father sold his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Mercer county and removed to Rock Island County, where he purchased a like amount of land in Rural Township, then called Coal Valley. As his financial resources increased, he added to his landed possessions until at one time he owned five hundred and twenty acres, of which one hundred and sixty acres were located in Iowa. At the time of the Civil War, he was commissioned a captain of company A, Thirty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, but after five months' service was stricken with paralysis, which ultimately caused his death in 1886, when he was sixty-seven years of age. His widow died in 1903 at the age of eighty-one years. Both were active Methodists and in politics John A. Jordan was an earnest Republican, unfaltering and loyal in his allegiance to the party. He served as supervisor for one term and as justice of the peace for several terms, discharging the duties of both positions in a prompt and able manner. His decisions in the justice court were strictly fair and impartial and won him a high place in the regard of those who are loyal to the principles of righteousness and justice. Byron Jordan spent the first fourteen years of his life in Mercer County and from 1856 until 1867 was a resident of Rock Island County, Illinois. He then lived in Henry County until 1876, after which he returned to Rock Island County, where he remained until 1902. He then again became a resident of Henry County, taking up his abode in Orion. His early education was acquired in the public schools while after his return from the war he attended the Western High School for a time. Throughout his entire business career he has successfully followed agricultural pursuits and in the last few years he has put into practical operation advanced theories on the erection of buildings for the feeding and protection of stock and poultry. In the spring of 1877 he planted five acres in white pine, sugar maple, white ash and black walnut. A splendid growth of these trees demonstrates what can be accomplished in the interests of forestry in this section. He is greatly interested in the subject of the preservation of forests and his opinions on the subject are worthy of attention. The military chapter in the life history of Mr. Jordan is an interesting one. In 1862 he laid aside his text-books and joined Company C, of the One Hundred and Second Illinois Volunteer Infantry, with which he continued to serve for almost three years, being honorably discharged in June, 1865, at the close of the war. He participated in the battle of Resaca, was with Sherman on the march to the sea, participated in the entire Carolina campaign and was altogether in twenty engagements. Upon his enlistment he was made sergeant, afterward becoming second lieutenant and during the last year of his service was in command of his company, his promotion coming to him in recognition of his bravery and fidelity. On the 17th of November, 1867, Mr. Jordan was married to Miss Mary Anna Blackfan, a daughter of William and Elizabeth K. (Trego) Blackfan. Mrs. Jordan was the first white female child born in Western Township, her natal day being October 22, 1841. She is a descendant of Edward Blackfan, who was persecuted in England because of his religious belief and came to America about the time of William Penn. Tradition says that he was a cousin of the founder of the Penn colony and from secured a grant to a large tract of land in what is now Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The title of most of his property remained in the family until 1859. William Blackfan with his wife and son, William, and daughter, Elizabeth, arrived at Stevenson, now Rock Island, May 3, 1841, after three weeks' journey by stage and canal boat to Pittsburgh, thence by steam boat down the Ohio and up the Mississippi Rivers. He purchased a forty-acre tract of land in Western Township upon a part of which the town of Orion now stands. Mr. Blackfan died November 10, 1843, leaving a widow and four children, a son, Samuel, having been born in the previous July. One daughter, Mary Anna, had been born after the arrival of the family in this section. Mrs. Blackfan toiled nobly and by strict economy and indomitable energy succeeded in keeping her little family together, and as the years passed and the children grew and added their strength to hers, she was able to extend the boundaries of her little farm by the additional purchase of sixty acres, making a good farm of one hundred acres. It was twelve years after the death of her husband before public schools were opened, during which time a teacher was hired to train the children. In 1855 the public school system was inaugurated and all of the children attended, and later Mrs. Jordan became a pupil of the Rock Island High School. She taught for six months in the local schools, afterward attended Lombard College at Galesburg, Illinois, and later again engaged in teaching. Unto Mr. And Mrs. Jordan were born four children: Roland B.; Elmer H.; Samuel Lester, deceased; and Erwin B. The eldest son, who lives in Roseville, Illinois, is a carpenter by trade and married Miss Linnie Davis, who died when their daughter Edith was only twelve days old. He afterward wedded Miss Sophia Davenport. Elmer is in business at Winfield, Kansas, and Erwin is a civil engineer. On attaining his majority, Mr. Jordan became a Republican, but for the past few years has supported the men and measures of the Prohibition Party, and has served as county chairman. He has been a delegate to numerous state conventions of his party and in 1896 attended as a delegate the National Prohibition Convention at Pittsburg. In 1894 he ran as the Prohibition candidate for state senator in the twenty-third senatorial district, and received a fair vote. He is a faithful member of the Methodist Church in which he is now filling the position of steward, trustee and teacher in the Sunday School. He is very prominent in the Rock Island Camp Meeting Association, having been a member of its executive committee for a number of years, and is now its vice president. Mrs. Jordan was also a member of the Methodist Church and during her life had taken special interest in philanthropic and charitable work, building and furnishing a room at the Deaconess Hospital at Peoria, and also furnishing a room in a school for poor white girls in the south, and was actively engaged in various other lines of religious and charitable work. She passed away January 16, 1910. Mr. Jordan is a visiting member of Heding College at Abingdon, Illinois, and fraternally holds membership in Edgar Trego Post, No. 394, G. A. R. Kind hearted and generous, he allows the use of his grove for picnics, and it has become a very popular place among pleasure seekers. Genial and kindly in nature, he fully appreciates his obligations to his fellowmen, and his honorable principles and upright manhood have won for him the high regard, confidence and good will of all with whom he has come in contact, while the consensus of public opinion accords him prominence among the valued and representative citizens of Western Township. (there are separate pictures of him and his wife) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Alice Gless