JORDAN, James 15 Nov 1755 - 9 Jul 1935
There is considerable evidence this man was known
as John Jordan and "Father" Jordan, the first Methodist society within the present
limits of Jacksonville was formed on Oct. 17, 1821. The worshipers were segregated, the
men in one room and the women and children in the other room. Rev. John Granville conducted
the service from the area between the two rooms. On Oct. 3, 1971, the congregation of
Centenary United Methodist Church dedicated a plaque commemorating the event.
The plaque is embedded on the lawn of the Father Formaz Memorial Church of Our
Saviour (Catholic) at the norteast corner of Brown and East State Streets. The
church now occupies the site where the Jordan cabin originally stood. A Jacksonville historian,
Ensley Moore, once chose the Jordan family as the topic of his column "Old Jacksonville". He wrote, in part "In their
historical accounts of this region, both Charles M. Eames and dr. W.F. Short refer to Mr. Jordan
as John. This was not his name, it was James Jordan.
Mr. Jordan was born November 15, 1755, and Mary, his wife, was born March 30, 1756.
They presumably came from Virginia to South Carolina, for the first definite record of the
family is at Union, S.C., about eighty miles from Charleston, where their son,
John R., is known to have been born. From the Palmetto state the Jordans came to Golconda, Pope
County, Illinois, where they remained a short time, and then went to near
St. Charles, Missouri. The family came from there to Jacksonville, in 1822.
Mr. & Mrs. Jordan were the parents of Jane, born 1784(?); James M., born 1785; Mary, 1787; Sarah, 1790; Catherine, 1793; John R., 1794; Elizabeth, 1797; and William Scott, 1803.
James died July 9, 1835, and Mary, his wife, died May 2, 1832. Mr. Jordan served in the
Revolutionary War, as his pension certificate, dated May 19, 1835, and signed by
C.A. Harris, acting Sec. of War shows. The document is now possessed by
W.H. Jordan, grandson of "Father Jordan" generally known as "Tip" Jordan.
Father Jordan had a double log cabin on the Hardin-Passavant lot as his residence here in
1822, and in it, Eames says: "The statement is undisputed that the first Morgan county
church was organized in 1822 by a few persons who held their meetings for worship
in this famous large log cabin of "Father" Jordan."
JORDAN, Mary 30 Mar 1756 - 2 May 1832 Wife of James Jordan
SAYER, Dr.
(In 1980, Mrs. Florence Hutchison furnished the following information taken
from a newspaper dated February 17, 1899. This was a letter to the "Editor Journal"
by C.B. Bartin, which evidently referred to an earlier letter of controversy between
Dr. Prince and a Mrs. Vail, daughter of Mrs. Catherine Kendall Carson. Better known as
"Mother" Carson, Mrs. Carson was a well known figure in Jacksonville's early days." ....An instance
in her life (of Mother Carson) illustrates the qualities of her mind and
heart. In 1860 and on I was acquainted with a minister then preaching in Shipman,
Macoupin County. He inquired of me about his brother, Dr. Sayer, if I knew where he
was buried. I told him he died before there was any public burying ground here and was
probably buried on the Mound Road, where interments were mostly made at that time. He
afterward told me he had been to Jacksonville to find his brother's grave. He said "I
inquired for some old citizen who would most probably know where it was, and
was directed to John Henry. He went with me to the cluster of graves on the Mound Road,
but could not identify my brother's. So he drove me back to town and found
Mother Carson who said she could show me just where he was buried. "Mr. Henry took her into
his conveyance with us and returned to the place where the remains were deposited. We opened
a gap in the rail fence and passed through. She went direct without hesitation or examination to
the spot distinguished by no other marks than what time had wrought. I procured the help of an
undertaker and beneath that sod we found the remains of my brother and took them to the
East Cemetery for re-interment." This incident shows that Mrs. Carson
had an intimate friendship with one of the best men in town, too strong for death to
sunder; and a mind of clear observation, which connected with such a heart must have
treasured up much that was profitable to others. She had a large experience in the service
she rendered and that experience in the early days was unquestionably sought for by the learned men...."
WOLCOTT, Helen Died May 1831 Age about 71 Yr Dau of Elihu & Juliana Wolcott
From page 18 of Jacksonville Journal Courier of Sunday, Aug. 5, 1979, in a reprint of "Diary, not
an autobiography" written in 1903 by her sister, 77 year old Julia Wolcott Carter. "In this same
spring, in May of 1831, my little sister, Helen, two years older than I, died of scarlet fever.
I was first taken with the fever in a most virulent form, and it did not seem possible that
I could get well, but little Helen was not thought to be dangerously ill until
a short time before her death. I cannot fix the face of this sister in my memory, but I catch
occasional faint glimpses of a little child, my companion and playmate; older sisters say she was a very bright
and lovable child."
WOLCOTT, Juliana Died Dec. 1832 Wife of Elihu Wolcott
To learn of this woman's life and her death from consumption - tuberculosis - see page
18 of the Jacksonville Journal Courier of Sunday, Aug. 5, 1979. Microfilms of old Jacksonville
newspapers are available at Jacksonville Public Library and the Illinois State Historical
Library in Springfield.