Thomas 'Tommy' Jordan 1804 - 1896

Thomas 'Tommy' Jordan was born sometime in 1804 in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland to William Jordan and Lavinia Acton. He was the oldest of seven children that included John (1811), William (1818), Jane (?), Ann (1822), James (1831) and Eliza (?). Somewhere before 1848 Thomas immigrated to the Ottawa valley and married Bridget Casey at Ottawa on July 25, 1848. It must have been an interesting occasion as Brdiget was a Roman Catholic and Tommy was an Anglican.

By 1870 they had moved to the area of Torbolton, Ontario and had settled on to a farm which seems a bit odd as Tommy had started out as a linen weaver in Ireland. The summer of 1870 had been incredibly hot and by August they had gone two months without rain. A fire that started on the outskirts of the city of Ottawa spread quickly to their property and they lost everything, including the timbers and goods for the new house that was to be built. They did eventually rebuild and with the children having moved out, Tommy's mother Lavina moved in with them to live out the rest of her days. Apparently this caused some grief for his sister Ann as she took it quite personally that her mother didn't move in with her. As a result, she wouldn't talk to her brother or family for quite awhile.

Thomas died April 18, 1896 at the age of 92 was buried two days later at St. Mary's Anglican cemetary on the bank of the Ottawa River.