We’ll start up again on November 22, 1891, when James & Nancy sell the house to Joseph H. Jordan. This is all that is actually on the abstract. But I couldn’t help wondering, who was Joseph? Was he married? Did he have children? So I had to hop onto Ancestry.com since I didn’t have time to make a trip to the State Library. Someday when I’m retired, I hope to have time to do a more in-depth search on each of the former owners. At that time, perhaps we’ll be able to find some pictures of either the house or the people who have lived there. Until then, I’ll have to be satisfied with what I can find easily, the low hanging fruit so to speak.
I did find some interesting information on Joseph. On February 14, 1878, he married Jennie H. Allen in Parke County, Indiana. According to the 1880 Census, Joseph, Jennie, and their 1 year old son Allan were living in Adams Township, Parke County. Joseph was a farmer and his 22 year old brother was living with them as a laborer. They even had a servant.
In another marriage record, we found that Joseph married Victoria M. Ott on October 6, 1886 in Parke Co, Indiana. Joseph purchased the house in 1891 and when he sold the house, his wife Victoria M also signed the documents. So we can assume that we've found the correct Joseph. Approximately 5 years after they marry, Joseph and Victoria move into the Horner House. This leaves me with a lot of questions about what happened to Jennie. And why would Joseph move to Irvington if he's a farmer?
There is no 1890 census for Indiana which leads to a lot of walls when doing genealogy. Here, it would have been very helpful to have a census entry a year before they purchased the house. But we’ll need to fast forward to the 1900 census, approximately 7 years after they sell the house.
In the 1900 Census, we found Joseph, 49 years old, as a farmer in Perry Township, Marion County, Indiana. He’s living with his 39 year old wife, Victoria, and the record shows she’s had 4 children and all 4 are still living. The children are listed as Hubert R (18), Genevieve P (16), Hazel S (12), Raymond B (9), Rufus K (5) and Mary C (2). They also 2 boarders, Joseph Bell (22) a farm laborer and John Bell (4).
I concluded that Joseph & Jennie must have had Hubert & Genevieve. They are listed as Joseph’s son & daughter and Victoria had the last 4 children. To gather some additional unproven data, I looked at several family trees for Joseph H. Jordan. It appeared that his first son, Allan died in 1881. And Jennie died in 1885, the year after Genevieve was born.
They purchased the house in 1891 after Richard was born and sold it in 1893 before Rufus was born. They also went from living in the city to living in Perry Township which was mostly rural in the late 1890’s. It would be interesting to find out what business Joseph was working in during the time they lived in the Horner House.
While I was digging up this information, I found a direct descendent of Joseph Jordan on Ancestry. We’re hoping his family will find the information on his family’s wonderful house as fascinating as we do. Maybe we’ll even get a chance to share information.
And then on November 22, 1893 Joseph H. & Victoria M sell the house to James M Risley. Since this is already so long, I’m going to save Mr. Risley’s story until next time.
My father-in-law's family's farm, ultimately sold in the 1960s, was at what is now 21st and Post, but for a period in the late 1800's they lived in Irvington so that their children could go to school. Perhaps Joseph and Victoria were trying to do something similar? No telling, of course, but it's fun to conjecture!
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