A.  HAYES JORDAN

A. HAYES JORDAN, editor and publisher of the “Republican,” Doylestown, was born in Riegelsville, Bucks county, Pennsylvania, July 13, 1868, and is a son of Dr. Alexander S. and Amanda (WEIKEL) JORDAN, the former a native of Lehigh county, and the latter of Springfield township, Bucks county.

      The first paternal ancestor of A. Hayes JORDAN of whom there is any definite record was his great-great-grandfather, Frederick JORDAN, of English ancestry, who was born in 1744, and in 1769 married Catharine ECKEL, daughter of Henry and Susanna ECKEL, of Bedminster township, and settled in Alexandria township, Hunterdon county, near Milford, where he operated two mills during the Revolutionary war. Dr. John W. JORDAN, librarian of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, (a great-grandson) has in his possession letters from Colonel HOWELL, quartermaster of New Jersey to Frederick JORDAN, arranging to meet the farmers at Mr. JORDAN’s mill to pay them for grain ground by Mr. JORDAN for the use of the Continental troops.  Frederick JORDAN also served for a time as a sergeant in the New Jersey Line during the Revolution.  He died in 1784 and his wife Catharine in 1786, and both are buried in the grave yard of St. Thomas’s Protestant Episcopal church in Alexandria township, near where they lived.  Catharine

ECKEL was born in Bedminster township, Bucks county, December 1, 1750.  Her father, Heinrich ECKEL, with his wife Susanna and his mother Catharine ECKEL, came to America from Hannan on the Main, in Hesse, in the ship “Ranier,” Captain Henry BROWNING, arriving in Philadelphia from Rotterdam, on September 26,1749.  He settled in Bedminster township, on land surveyed to Chief Justice William ALLEN, which the latter later conveyed to him in fee.  He died in Philadelphia on his return from a visit to his relatives in Germany, in the autumn of 1764, leaving children, Henry, Catharine and John.  The children of Frederick and Catharine (ECKEL) JORDAN were: John, the grandfather of Dr. John W. JORDAN, born September 1, 1770; Frederick Jr., born August 27, 1772; Catharine, who died young, and Henry.  John and Henry lived and died in Philadelphia.

      Frederick JORDAN, Jr., the great-grandfather of A. Hayes JORDAN, was but twelve years of age at the death of his father, and, his mother dying two years later, he was left to the care of his maternal uncle, Henry ECKEL, then a farmer and tanner in Bedminster township, Bucks county, removing later to Springfield township, where he lived to an advanced age, dying in 1839, Frederick JORDAN, Jr., learned the trade of a tanner, and soon after attaining his majority established himself in business in Philadelphia, being senior member of the firm of Jordan & Foering, Third street, near Race, tanners and leather merchants.  This firm did an extensive business for several years, shipping their product to Europe and distant ports of the United States, but lost heavily in the trying times preceding the second war with Great Britain and failed financially.  Mr. JORDAN then removed to near Coopersburg, Lehigh county, where he soon recupterated (sic) his shattered finances and became a considerable landowner and a prominent man in the community.  He was one of the commissioners who laid out Lehigh county, March 6, 1812, and held for several years the office of justice of the peace.  He was twice married, first on April 4, 1797, to Catharine HARTZELL, daughter of Paul and Catharine HARTZELL, of Rockhill, Bucks county, and second to Catharine STETLER, of Lehigh county.  Paul HARTZELL was a tanner in Rockhill township, and died there in 1806, leaving a large family, Catharine JORDAN being his eldest daughter.  Paul was a son of Henry HARTZELL, the pioneer ancestor of the HARTZELL family of Bucks county, a large landowner and prominent citizen.  Many of his descendants have become eminent business and professional men.  The date of the death of Catharine (HARTZELL) JORDAN and that of the subsequent marriage of Frederick JORDAN to Catharine STETTLER have not been ascertained further than that the first Catharine was living at the death of her father in 1806.  Frederick JORDAN died in Upper Saucon, Lehigh county, February 1, 1861, and his wife Catharine died February 18, 1847.

      Henry JORDAN, eldest son of Frederick and Catharine (HARTZELL) JORDAN, and the grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was born in Philadelphia in 1800 and died in Lehigh county in 1876. He married Ellen STAHR, of an old Bucks county family and German ancestry, and followed the life of a farmer in Lehigh county.  His children were: William, late of Coopersburg, deceased: Catharine, who married Louis SEIGER; and Mary, who married Owen SEIGER, both of whom are deceased: James, still living on the old homestead; Frank and Milton, of the firm of JORDAN & Bro., carriage manufacturers of Coopersburg: Alexander S., deceased; and Frederick, of Coopersburg.

      Dr. Alexander JORDAN was the fourth son and sixth child of Henry and Ellen (STAHR) JORDAN, and was born in Lehigh county, April 10, 1839.  He was educated at Muhlenberg College, Allentown, and later studied medicine and graduated from the medical department of the University of Pennsylvania in the class of 1861.  He first settled at Coopersburg, where he practiced for a short time, locating later at South Bethleham, (sic) from whence he removed to Riegelsville, Bucks county, in 1866, practicing his chosen profession at the latter place with eminent success until his death in November, 1900.  During the war Dr. JORDAN served for two years in the Union army as assistant surgeon in the general hospital.  He married, July 4, 1861, Amanda WEIKEL, daughter of Charles and Annie (TAYLOR) WEIKEL, of Springfield township, where she was born in 1840.  Charles WEIKEL, father of Mrs. JORDAN, was also a native of Springfield township, Bucks county, where he died in 1852 at the age of about forty-five years.  He was a son of Samuel WEIKEL and a grandson of Peter WEIKEL, who settled in Springfield township in 1772 and died there in 1830 at an advanced age.  Samuel WEIKEL, grandfather of Mrs. JORDAN, was twice married and had fourteen children, all of whom grew to maturity and left families.  His many descendants are now scattered over several states of the Union, though a number of them still reside in Bucks county.  Dr. Alexander S. and Amanda (WEIKEL) JORDAN were the parents of three children: Minerva A., Lillie C. and Alexander HAYES.  Dr. JORDAN was an active and prominent member of the Masonic Fraternity, being a past master of Prosperity Lodge, No. 567.  He was also a past grand of Peace and Union Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Riegelsville.  He was affiliated with the German Reformed church, and politically was a Democrat. 

      A. Hayes JORDAN was born and reared in Riegelsville, Bucks county, and obtained his elementary education at the Rieglesville public schools and Riegelsville Academy.  He later took a classical course at Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania, graduating in the class of 1890 with the degree of Bachelor of Arts, and later receiving the degree of A. M. at the same institution.  He taught school for a short time in Bucks county, and in 1891 entered the office of the “Riegelsville News,” but soon after connected himself with the editorial staff of the Easton Argus,” where he remained until March 1, 1903, when he purchased the “Bucks County (Weekly and Daily) Republican,” published at Doylestown, which he has since conducted with success.  Mr. JORDAN married, in 1892, Dora SNYDER, daughter of William H. and Annie Snyder, of Easton, Pennsylvania, and they are the parents of two children—Glenn Catharine and Alexander Weikel JORDAN.  

Test taken from page 474-476 of:

Davis, William W. H., A.M., History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania [New York-Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1905] Volume III

Transcribed August 2004 by Joan Lollis of, IN. as part of the Bucks Co., Pa., Early Family Project,

Published October 2004 on the Bucks County, Pa., USGenWeb