William, my fourth great - grandfather, was also born at or near Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland about 1872. I will have to do more research in to who his parents were as I don't have that information yet. Thankfully there are a number of websites for tracing Irish ancestors. I am thinking that they must have been decently well off as when he and his wife, Lavinia Acton who he married in 1803, immigrated to Canada with some of their children they apparently paid their own passage so would have had a better cabin on the boat and they also were able to bring livestock with them. They most likely immigrated some time in the early 1840s. The Canadian census of 1861 shows them settled in Torbolton Township, Carleton county, Upper Canada. William died September 21, 1870 at the age of 88.
Hi Chrisanta
ReplyDeleteWilliam and Lavina are my 3 X Great grandparents. I live outside of Vancouver Canada. William's son Thomas is my 2 X great grandfather. I would be interested in any information you have on William's parents or grandparents, etc. My email addy is: heather.barr@shaw.ca Our family has published a book on the Jordan history a few years ago if you are interested. Here is the information that I have:
William (1782 to 1870) and Lavinia Acton Jordan (1788 – 1883). William and Lavinia were born in Castlebar, County Mayo, Ireland. It is believed that William and Lavinia immigrated to Canada with their 4 or 5 children and William’s brother, Edward, around 1840. We believe they settled in Torbolton Township, Carleton County, Ontario. While in Ireland, they lived on an estate that was given to the Jordan family for fighting for William of Normandy during the invasion. After they left for Canada, Lord Livingston lived on the estate and put a distillery on it to insure an income in order to keep the estate up.
There is a family legend that tells the story where William’s mother was dying and the Roman Catholic priest was paid for last rites. She recovered and got sick again and once again the priest wanted money for last rites. This went on for some time. Finally she died and the priest wanted more money or the body would have to lay in “purgatory” instead of the parlour. William refused to pay the money and instead called in a protestant preacher . The mother was buried beside her husband, but on the other side of the line between the protestant and catholic sections of the cemetery. William’s family became protestants and were then shunned by the rest of the family, which is why they came to Canada.
Cheers!
Heather
Hello, this is so interesting as they are my great great great grandparents as well, my grandfathers mother being Elizabeth Jordan, I also have the Jordan family history book. am trying to find out more, nice to know I am on the right path tho. Deb
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