52 Ancestors: #47 - William JORDAN

Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued a challenge:  write one blog post each week devoted to a specific ancestor.  It can be a story, a biography, a photograph, an outline of a research problem – anything that focuses on one ancestor.

My 4X great-grandfather William JORDAN was born in 1760 near the Schuylkill River, about six miles from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  When he was 13, his family moved to Augusta County, Virginia.  He moved to nearby Albemarle County about 1783.  He said so himself in his 1832 application for a pension based on his service in the Revolutionary War.

While living in Augusta County, William was drafted into the militia in May 1779.  He served for about three months as a private in Captain William Kincaid’s company.  His first experience in battle was in a campaign against the Indians along the Monongahela River.  By itself, it was a minor skirmish, but it was significant as part of a much larger effort to seize British outposts in what is now the Midwest. 

Map of Battle of Cowpens
from wikimedia commons

From October 1780 to February 1781 he was a private in the company of Captain Patrick Buchanan.  They fought in the Battle of Cowpens, which has been deemed the turning point in the war.  Not only did the colonists finally see the possibility of victory but also the British suddenly felt the possibility of defeat.  William received a written discharge at Guilford Court House in North Carolina, but it was destroyed when his house burned. 

William returned home to Augusta County and married a girl named Mary.  They were just newlyweds when once again he was drafted into the militia.  Beginning May 1781 William served three months as a sergeant with the Commissary Guard in Captain Givens’ company in Colonel Cameron’s regiment.  William was in the Battle of Hotwater and Jamestown, among the last battles prior to the siege of Yorktown.  Coincidentally, my 4X great-grandfather Leonard Davis was also in those battles.  I wonder if they knew one another.

Afterwards, William was transferred into Captain William Findley’s company in Colonel Vance’s regiment.  He was assigned to march with his company to the siege of Yorktown; however, perhaps fortunately, he became sick with ague (a malaria-type illness marked by regular intervals of fever and shivering) and was subsequently furloughed, never to return to service.  By the time he got out of the hospital, the war was over.

The pension application contains no reference to his wife or children.  However, men with whom he served remembered him and vouched for his service.  Local clergy, neighbors, and justice of the peace likewise affirmed his upstanding character.  Apparently William had made several attempts to secure his pension.  In a final plea dated 1833, the justice of the peace said this:

from pension application

He is now very old and exceedingly infirm and poor, he has here said all that he can conscientiously say and hopes that this last appeal to a Country for which he fought will not be disregarded. 

THREE GENERATIONS:

William JORDAN  ( 1761 Philadelphia, PA – After 1850 ) & Mary UNKNOWN

1. Nancy C. JORDAN ( 1806 Albemarle Co, VA – Aug 1860 Rockbridge Co, VA) & William Shelton HARRIS  (10 Jun 1810 Albemarle Co, VA – 25 Apr 1894 Miami Co, OH)  28 Jan 1833 Albemarle Co, VA

• John E. HARRIS ( 1834 Virginia – ) & Ann E. UNKNOWN ( 1832 – )
• William Edward HARRIS ( 1836 Virginia – 1875 )
• James R. HARRIS ( 1840 Virginia – 1865 )
• Henry C. HARRIS ( 06 Apr 1845 Virginia –  19 Aug 1926 Springfield, Clark, OH )
• Theophilus Daniel HARRIS ( 1848 Virginia – 1917 Clark, OH )
• Lucy Ann E. C. HARRIS ( Sep 1852 Virginia – 26 May 1906 Springfield, Clark, OH ) & James Madison BERRY (12 Aug 1846 Page Co, VA – 11 Nov 1919 Springfield, Clark, OH )  26 Jul 1868 Rockingham Co, VA

2. Early B. JORDAN ( 1812 Albemarle Co, VA – ) & Lucy UNKNOWN

3. Susan JORDAN ( 1814 Albemarle Co, VA – 28 Feb 1882 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Isaac SHIPLETT  ( May 1807 Albemarle Co, VA – Jan 1862 Albemarle Co, VA ) 24 Oct 1836 Albemarle, VA

• Philip Penelton SHIPLETT ( 29 Oct 1837 Albemarle Co, VA – 16 Mar 1919 Rockingham Co, VA ) &  Jennetta Ann DOVEL ( 17 Jan 1841 Rockingham Co, VA  – 24 Mar 1922 Rockingham Co, VA )  13 Dec 1859
• Octavius SHIPLETT ( 1841 Albemarle Co, VA – 03 Jul 1863 Gettysburg, PA )
• Lycennius H. SHIPLETT ( 1844 Albemarle Co, VA – 16 Mar 1919 Rockingham Co, VA ) & Emily J. “Ginny” BRUCE  17 Dec 1867 Albemarle, VA
• Comaia Clarissa SHIPLETT ( 1847 Albemarle, VA –  03 Sep 1894 ) & John Wesley LONG ( 1847 – )  25 Jul 1867  Albemarle, VA
• Segourney F. SHIFLETT ( 1851 Rockingham Co, VA – 09 Feb 1926 Washington DC ) & George Harvey EPPARD  (Sep 1839 Rockingham Co, VA – 13 Jan 1917 Rockingham Co, VA )  28 May 1870 Rockingham Co, VA
• M. E. SHIPLETT ( 1854 – )
• George SHIPLETT ( 1856 – )

4. Clarissa JORDAN ( 21 Feb 1817 Albemarle Co, VA – 07 Jan 1889 Hamilton, Decatur, IO) & John MAY (1808 Virginia – 08 Sep 1873 Decatur, IO )  07 Apr 1836 Albemarle Co, VA

• Ann MAY ( 1836 Virginia – )
• George MAY   ( 1838 Virginia – )      
• John MAY  ( 1841 Virginia – )          
• James MAY  ( 1843 Virginia – )               
• Mary MAY  ( 1846 Indiana – )                   
• Newton MAY  ( 1848 Indiana – )                                       
• Alfred B. MAY  ( 1850 Indiana – )                                           
• Lucy M. MAY   ( 1852 Indiana – )
• Sarah MAY ( 1856 Decatur, IO – )

Source:

Pension Application of William Jordan (Age 72), 2 October 1832; for service of William Jordan (Pvt., Cpt. Kincaid and Cpt. Buchanan; Sgt., Cpt. Givens, Revolutionary War); Case Files of Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Applications Based on Revolutionary War Service, compiled ca. 1800-ca 1912, documenting the period ca. 1775 - ca. 1900; Department of Veterans Affairs, Record Group 15; National Archives, Washington, D.C.; digital images, "Revolutionary War Pensions," Fold3.com (www.fold3.com : accessed 16 November 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm publication M804.

 © 2014, Wendy Mathias.  All rights reserved.