The Jordan Story

James and Margaret Jordan Chapters

James' Early Years

by Dave Jordan

Our James Oscar Jordan was born as Joseph Canute Oscar Scholdberg at 15 Oriental Street in Poplar, England on the 18th February 1868. He was the first child of Oscar Scholdberg and Elizabeth Priscilla Holloway Steward and was likely named after his grandfather Joseph Steward and his father Knut Oscar Scholdberg. As a boy we think he was called Oscar, a name he used throughout his life.

His father, Oscar was born in Sweden but found work in England as a merchant seaman. He traveled extensively as a seaman and most likely met Elizabeth on shore leave while at the Poplar Docks, a major docking area for the East and West India Trading companies. In the early 1800s, Poplar was a newly settled area in the East End of London and had experienced rapid growth for many years due to the huge East and West India Company docks which provided employment for loading, unloading, repair and as crew for the many ships coming there. While the area was relatively poor, it was much better off than nearby Bethnal Green, a location Dickens used to obtain his material for his books.

In the 1870s, Poplar must have been a great place for a young boy to wander around to see the ships, the docks, the locks, the ship repairs at dry dock, the local characters and the taverns. Poplar was a cosmopolitan area and people, primarily sailors from all over the world settled and called it home. There was even a Chinese area and in fact young Oscar was born on Oriental Street.

His younger brother Charles was born in 1873 when Oscar was 5 and his father continued to work in the seaman's trade, taking long voyages on the new iron ships of the time and generally relaxing or picking up odd jobs over the cold winters. Young Oscar's grandparents Joseph and Elizabeth lived nearby and all went well until 1875. In the fall of that year on a voyage on the West to ports in the Mediterranean, Oscar Scholdberg at about age 38 died of a heart attack while in Alexandria. The date was 15 November 1875. Little Oscar was seven and Charles was two.

Life would now change for the young Scholdberg boys. What had been a small happy family with a dad regularly employed turned into a need for mom to remarry and find someone to take care of her and the boys. Within a year she married James Jordan, a donkey engine driver who worked on the docks. Three years later a third brother. James Henry Jordan was born to the new family on December 27, 1879.

During the spring 1881 Poplar Census, the three boys were living with their maternal grandparents, Joseph and Elizabeth Steward at 20 Wade Street in Poplar. James and Elizabeth Jordan though were not there that night and have yet to be found. In England, the register enumerates individuals where they actually were on census night and not at their normal place of abode. On that night, young Oscar, age 13 and his brother, Charles, age 7 were still using the name Scholdberg. This was not unusual given that they were stepsons, but what was unusual was that they both later started using the Jordan surname.

There must have been tensions in the household between young Oscar and his step-dad or he got into some kind of trouble. Because between 1882 and 1886 (age 18), young Oscar immigrated by himself to Chicago where he likely stayed with his Uncle Charles Steward who had immigrated to Chicago a few years before.

Oscar prospered and by 1890 at age 22, he was an electrician in this newly thriving industry and had been raised to the status of Master Mason with the Masonic Lodge in Chicago. He had also changed his name to James Oscar Jordan. When the change was made is not clear and may have taken place when he immigrated. Why he changed is not known and why he chose James, his brothers and stepfather's name is even more unclear.

Our young James must have liked Chicago and he must have suggested that his mother come also. In August 1893, his mother, grandmother and two brothers left Poplar and immigrate to Chicago. His Grandfather Joseph Steward had died the previous fall and James Jordan was not with them so either Elizabeth had divorced him or he had died also. The new family settled in the Douglas Park area with James Oscar and probably Charles Steward. James Oscar bought his young brother a bicycle, which he rode to work in the Chicago loop. There are pictures of the family from this era and it appears that for the first time in years all was going well for them.

In this time period James Oscar met Margaret Jane Knowles and they were married in 1896. How they met is unclear as they both lived in different Chicago neighborhoods. One possibility was they met in the Chicago loop, a focal point for jobs in the area. Young Margaret was ten years younger than our James.

Notes

1. Initial Web Publication Date: 9/16/2002
2. Modified:
3. Desktop Master file: Stories_Jordan