Thursday, September 2, 2010

Memorial Heraldry at St. Luke’s, Part 1

St. Luke's Church ("The Old Brick Church"), located near Smithfield, Isle of Wight County, Virginia, is the oldest existing church of English foundation in America and the nation's only surviving Gothic building. I have given the URL of their website below. It's a pretty church, and well worth the visit, even if you're not looking for heraldry.

Anyway, they have a couple of stained glass memorial windows with coats of arms. I'll discuss the first today, and the second next time.

In Memoriam
Col. Josiah Wm Jordan
Who departed this life
January 8th
1852

Arms: Azure[?], a lion rampant or maintaining in the dexter paw a decrescent bendwise sinister within an orle of [eight] crosses bottony fitchy or.
Crest: A bezant[?]
Motto: Percussa resurgo
Name underneath: Jordan

The nearest Jordan arms in Burke are: Jordan (co. Somerset, and Chittern Whistley, co. Wilts, 1604) Azure a lion rampant between eight crosses crosslet fitchy or, a chief of the second (another, the lion charged with a crescent gules). Crest, A mount or, over it a scroll with this motto, Percussa resurgo. Another crest: A football proper.

The blue of the field has largely disappeared, though it does show a bit in a close-up of the window. It is entirely possible that the crest here is a football proper; the color is far darker than the gold of the lion and crosses.

Col. Jordan is apparently not buried in or near the chapel; at least he is not listed among the Miscellaneous Headstone Inscriptions list that I found. (However, the Church’s website at http://historicstlukes.org/ says that “Archaeologists believe that only ten percent of the markers still exist.”) Nor could I find out any real information about him, although I suspect that he is certainly related to the many Jordans who are buried in the church’s graveyard.
Posted by at 6:00 AM
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2 comments:

  1. Here's some more information on Col. Jordan:

    http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=53024650

    "Birth: Sep. 1, 1801
    Death: Jan. 8, 1852
    Isle of Wight County
    Virginia, USA

    Husband of Frances Moseley Dawley, son of William Jordan and Martha Bidgood. Col. Josiah William Jordan was buried in a family plot in Isle of Wight County, near Christ Church in Smithfield. The location of the plot has been lost.

    There is a memorial window dedicated to the memory of Col. Josiah William Jordan and his wife in St. Luke's Church in Isle of Wight County.

    According to Hardesty's Historical and Geographic Encyclopedia 1884, Col. Josiah William Jordan "was born in Isle of Wight County, Virginia on the 1st of September, 1801. He was a man of superior intellect, high sense of honor, and of undaunted courage. He held several public offices of trust in his native county and was honorably esteemed by all who knew him. In 1830 he was commissioned major of the 29th Regiment of Virginia Infantry, and was subsequently promoted to colonel of the same regiment, and ranked as such from the 4th day of October, 1836…In February, 1827, he was married to Fanny Moseley Dawley, daughter of the Rev. James Dawley, one of the most highly esteemed and influential citizens of Norfolk, Virginia. A family of ten children six sons and four daughters, graced this union, and when the civil war between the states commenced, five of those sons were among the first to go forward to battle in defense of Southern rights and freedom from oppression. He died on the 8th of January, 1852, and was buried with Masonic honors, of which fraternity he was at the time of his death district deputy grand master. His widow survived him only a few years. She died on the 12th of October, 1855, and her remains were interred by the side of her late husband. For more than thirty years, she had been a true and devoted wife, a fond and self-sacrificing mother, and to the surviving children her death was an irreparable loss."
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  2. Nice find, Rufus! Thank you for sharing!
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