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CM8 /iaprorN No IOZi.pp18
<br /> NPS Form 100900-a
<br /> United States Department of the Interior 069
<br /> National Park Service
<br /> i
<br /> National Register of Historic Places
<br /> Continuation.- Sheet
<br /> Section number __8 Page 5
<br /> Dr. Arch Jordan House
<br /> Orange County, North Carolina
<br /> manufactured goods in more affluent ones.8 Robert C . Kenzer, in his study of Orange County from 1849 to
<br /> 1881 , noted that in both antebellum and post-war Orange County rural society, the general store served as a
<br /> vital economic and social center for rural neighborhoods . Such stores were often run, as in the Jordan ' s
<br /> case, by a local wealthy family. A history of the Jordan family confirms that the Jordan Brothers ' Store
<br /> was a gathering place for Academy students, locals, and travelers , and that traveling salesmen would often
<br /> spend the night in Dr. Jordan ' s guest room. 10
<br /> Dr. Jordan was also a ruling elder in the nearby Little River Presbyterian Church . In this small
<br /> community settled largely by Seots-Irish migrants , the church served as a central social institution . Kenzer
<br /> concluded that the church was "probably the most important social institution in the lives of Orange
<br /> [County] ' s families" and "played an important role in preserving the bonds between families and promoting
<br /> cohesion in the neighborhood," citing several examples from the history of the Little River Presbyterian
<br /> Church. l Dr. Jordan ' s house became even more firmly linked to the local Presbyterian church when Dr.
<br /> Jordan moved his family to Durham in 1904 and sold the house to the church for use as its manse. 12 It was
<br /> used as a manse for three local Presbyterian churches -- the Little River Presbyterian church, the Fairfield
<br /> Presbyterian church, and the Eno Presbyterian church until the church sold it in 1929 to William Thomas
<br /> McKee. 13 Presbyterian ministers C.M. Arrowood and William S . Wilhelm both occupied the house,
<br /> serving the Little River, Eno, and Cedar Grove communities , and conducting services that would rotate
<br /> among the three churches .
<br /> Both Dr. Jordan and the Presbyterian ministers, although not farmers themselves, utilized the
<br /> acreage associated with the property for farming. According to available census records , Dr. Jordan
<br /> boarded a man named William Smith, who was employed by Jordan as a " farm laborer." Similarly, the
<br /> 1920 census, although noting the occupation of the Rev. William S . Wilhelm as "minister" and the general
<br /> nature of his work as "preaching," nevertheless characterized the property as a "farm" rather than merely a
<br /> "house, " and referenced the agricultural schedule number which detailed the farm ' s produce . l4
<br /> Rural communities in turn-of-the-century Orange County were often isolated and tight-knit,
<br /> springing up and centering around the crucial institutions of post offices, churches, schools, and general
<br /> a Mattson, "History and: Architecture of Orange County," 38 ; 6 .
<br /> 9 Robert C. Kenzer, ,Kin.4hig and Neighborhood in a Southem Community : Orange Counly. North Carolina, 1 4 -
<br /> JM (Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1987), 36-38 ; 113 - 14 .
<br /> 10 Octavia Jordan Perry, These Jordan Were Here (Provo, Utah: J. Grant Stevenson, . 1969), 187.
<br /> 11 Kenzer, Kinship and„N igh_bo�d, 1142.
<br /> 12 Deed Book 58 : 599 (October 3, 1905), Orange County, North Carolina.
<br /> 13 Deed Book 59 : 95 (April 17, 1906) and Deed Book 94 : 38 (December 1 , 1929), Orange County, North Carolina.
<br /> 14 U. S. Census, Pgpul tion Schedules- North Carolina, 1900, Orange County, Little River Township, District 5 : 71 ,
<br /> Sheet 12 ; U.S . Census, Population Schedules. North Carolina. 1910, Orange County, Little River Township, •
<br /> District 204 : 170, Sheet 13 .
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