Dr. Joseph Wiley Jordan, my great-grandfather, was a "horse-and-buggy" country doctor in Clay County, Alabama in the late 1800s and first half of the 1900s.
.
His son Thomas was his driver/assistant. They originally used horse and buggy, then later, automobiles. The two men were on call 24/7.
Grampa Jordan was usually compensated only with whatever his patients and their families could spare from their farms - tomatoes, dairy products, etc. - "cash money" was scarce. Many times nothing to spare was available, but that did not influence the care his patients received. In those days, being a physician was a "calling", and country doctors were totally dedicated - they were very highly respected in the community because of their vocation, but they were not made wealthy by it.
Joseph Wiley Jordan's first wife was Elizabeth Jane Cannon, daughter of Wiley Jackson Cannon and Harriet Elizabeth Browning Cannon, who was, according to her granddaughter (my grandmother Lula) at least one-half Indian (Native American).While I do believe that my grandmother would definitely know the ethnicity of her grandmother, I have yet to prove it. Since I cannot find parents for Harriet, I also cannot disprove it, of course, so will continue to believe my grandmother Lula.
Elizabeth died in 1891 at age 30 as a result of the birth of her sixth child, who survived only a few months.
This picture is from a newspaper around 1900. The man seated is Dr J W Jordan. The woman on his right is Augusta Wesley Jordan, his second wife, stepmother to my grandmother and her four siblings (the older children in this picture) and mother to the younger children. The older woman on his left is his mother, Mary Creel Jordan, widow of Thomas S. Jordan.
Grampa Jordan built this home in Ashland, AL in the early 1900s. I remember happy times on that huge porch, and wish the house were still standing.
