Wednesday, January 19, 2011

A History of Delaware County (Jordan)

Jordan, John Woolf. A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Its People. Lewis Historical Publication Company, 1914.

Though not as widely recognized as Ashmead and Smith's Histories of Delaware County; John W. Jordan's history is definitely on the same level as his predecessors. Rather than a chronological history of the county, he divides his works by topic - township histories, agriculture, churches, newspapers, Civil/Spanish American War, members of Congress, family and personal histories, etc. As a result, his works are easy to use. Researching is a breeze when you can browse to the chapter of interest and find the information you are looking for.

Mr. Jordan's literary career extends far beyond Delaware County. He also authored 'Colonial and Revolutionary Families of Pennsylvania', 'Encyclopedia of Pennsylvania', 'Historical, Biographical and Genealogical: Relating Chiefly to Interior Pennsylvania' and dozens more. I was unable to find much information on the life of John W. Jordan. I did locate a few discussions on a message board concerning his family history so maybe between now and my post on his next book, I'll do some more research to find out who Mr. Jordan was...

The publishers did insert a forward the explains the work quite nicely:

It was the consensus of opinion of many native residents of Delaware county, Pennsylvania, - men deeply interested in its history and proud of the impress its people have ever made upon the character of the State and Nation - that the time had come when a comprehensive history of this remarkable region would prove an invaluable contribution to the literature not only of the country itself, but of the commonwealth, and of the country at large. With this encouragement, and the assistance of unusually well informed antiquarians and annalists, the publishers undertook the present work, "A History of Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and Its People". This include a comprehensive resume of the history of the county, from its colonization down to the present day. The narrative down to 1862 is based upon the elaborate history of Dr. George Smith, published that year. While not at all slighting the periods covered by that accomplished historian, due attention has been given in the present work, to the marvelous development of the county during the half century which has passed away since the appearance of his publication.
The value in this set to me lies in its mention of Amos Johnson, an individual who inspired the family name Amos Johnson Horne of which my son is the 4th in that line. Volume 3 contains the only written mention of Amos that I have found (other than census and vital records) so it is especially important to me. I'm grateful that the publishers and authors set out to document the history of the county and update the record to the "present time". Without these works, our history would be lost.

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