One of a Thousand/Jordan, Eben Dyer

 

Jordan, Eben Dyer, son of Benjamin and Lydia (Wright) Jordan, was born October 13, 1822, in Danville, Cumberland county, Maine. The Jordan family of this country trace their line to one progenitor, the Rev. Robert Jordan, a priest of the church of England, who came from England about the year 1640. For many years he held a prominent position in the region adjacent to Cape Elizabeth, and the early history of Maine shows him to have been a man able to conduct difficult enterprises, and to administer important trusts, at a time when the unsettled condition of the new country, the imperfect execution of the laws, and the terrors of warfare with savage Indians, were formidable obstacles to success. The line of descent is through Robert (1640), Dominicus (1664), Nathaniel (1696), Benjamin (1738), Ebenezer (1764), and Benjamin, who was born at Danville in 1786.

Mr. Jordan was left fatherless and penniless at an early age, and his mother being unable to maintain the large family of small children left dependent upon her, the lad was placed with a farmer's family in the neighborhood. He proved a smart, active, industrious boy. His life upon the farm differed not much from that of the ordinary youth who attends brief summer and winter terms at a district school of seventy-five pupils, ranging from five to twenty-one years of age. This limited schooling Mr. Jordan has supplemented in after life by hard experience, a wide range of reading, by extensive travel, and by personal contact with active and successful men in all the walks of business and professional life.

Just before he was fourteen years of age, Mr. Jordan made what proved to be an important decision in his life, by resolving to leave the drudgery of the farm and seek employment in Boston—that great centre which has for many years been the magnet to attract the farmer-boys of New England. With his small savings he came by boat from Portland to Boston, and landed in the city of his future renown and success with very little cash, but sound health, good principles, self-reliant habits, industrious and economic methods, and a desire to achieve results by honest toil. He showed good sense in embracing the first opportunity for employment that was presented, and went to work on a farm at Mount Pleasant, Roxbury, at four dollars per month. When he was sixteen, he entered the store of William P. Tenny & Company, Boston, remaining there two years, afterwards working for a Mr. Pratt on a salary of two hundred and seventy-five dollars per year. At nineteen years of age his energy, intelligence, and grit, attracted the attention of Joshua Stetson, then a leading dry-goods merchant in Boston. Through his kindness, Mr. Jordan started for himself in a small store at the

Eben D. Jordan.

corner of Mechanic and Hanover streets in that city. At that time the steamers from down East and the Provinces arrived early in the morning, and to capture the trade of the passengers, this enterprising young merchant was up and had his store open at four o'clock, doing quite a thriving business before breakfast. There was but one result from such devotion to business. His store became one of the most notable and popular on the street, and at the end of four years, the sales amounted to one hundred thousand dollars per annum.

Desirous of obtaining practical information in the matter of buying goods, of gaining a better understanding of the general lines of trade throughout the world, Mr. Jordan at the age of twenty-five sold out his store and took a position in the well-known and successful house of James M. Beebe. Here, in two years' time, by hard work and diligent study, he acquired a thorough knowledge of the principles and management of the business, and the system which Mr. Beebe had been a quarter of a century in perfecting. He was now better equipped for going into business on his own account, and immediately entered upon a new career as a Boston merchant.

The firm of Jordan, Marsh & Company was formed in the year 1851, when they opened a small jobbing store on Milk Street. They had a reputation for integrity, industry and ability, and it was not long before they had built up a permanent and profitable trade. Mr. Jordan introduced the cash system into the jobbing business, and made considerable headway in improving the methods of trade for the benefit of customers. Large importers were few in those days, but the competitors of Jordan, Marsh & Company enjoyed this facility, and had large credit abroad. A personal visit of Mr. Jordan to Europe, however, in 1852, removed this obstacle, and ever since the firm has obtained all the credit needed, and their English correspondents have never had occasion to regret the connections then made. The firm steadily progressed, increasing its trade and resources, weathered successfully the financial storm of 1857, enlarged its salesrooms and manufacturing departments, and kept up a spirit of enterprise which increased its profits and strengthened its name. In 1861 Jordan, Marsh & Company bought the retail store on Washington Street where now stands their magnificent establishment, a fit monument to the broad and comprehensive spirit which has ever characterized the career of this successful merchant.

During all these years, when Mr. Jordan has been active in building up the fortunes of his house, he has been one of Boston's most public-spirited citizens. Persistently refusing all suggestions of political honors, he has ever been ready to forward any public movement to promote the best interests of the city, and to contribute to any public testimonial in favor of those who have achieved success or merited public recognition. A staunch patriot at the time of the rebellion, a generous contributor to the Peace Jubilee, he has by liberal expenditure of time and money, indisputably linked his name with all that has tended to make the city of his adoption the metropolis indeed of New England.

The career of Mr. Jordan shows what is possible for a boy with few early advantages, without means or friends, to accomplish, by diligent application to business, a life of the strictest integrity, and by a generous and open-handed co-operation in enterprises that promote the public weal.

Mr. Jordan was married in Boston, January 13, 1847, to Julia M., daughter of James Clark. His children are: Walter (deceased), James Clark, Julia Maria, Eben Dyer, Jr., and Alice Jordan.