Bayou Bend - Education - Research Guide

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		*A Trip to Georgia*
		Correspondence between David Warren and Green Hill Jordan family members revealed a rich family oral tradition of the brothers' propensity for "high living" and furnishing their homes identically. Benjamin Smith and Green Hill Jordan were brothers who married sisters. They lived in houses nearby that were supposedly furnished identically.
When it came time to actually write about the families and their furniture, Warren realized that he needed to go to Georgia to see what more he could learn about this intriguing family.

Confirming Oral Tradition

It was in Georgia that David Warren learned more about the houses through the Historical American Building Survey and by visiting Green Hill Jordan's townhouse in Milledgeville. Old newspaper articles provided information about the sale of the house after Mrs. Jordan's death. Further, he discovered Benjamin Smith Jordan's identical set of Belter furniture at the University of Georgia. This confirmed the story, at least in part, of the brothers having two identical sets of furniture for their houses, the only difference being the color of the upholstery. At a relative's house he saw portraits of Mr. and Mrs. Green Hill Jordan in which Mrs. Jordan is seated on an earlier, Grecian style sofa. Sure enough, there was also a set of furniture in that earlier style at the University of Georgia that had belonged to the other brother. In addition, family stories of the brothers and their wives traveling to New York to shop were corroborated by silver made in New York City currently in the possession of the descendants of both brothers.

Putting it All Together

Family oral tradition told David Warren about the pattern of living well, traveling to New York, and owning identical furniture, but the objects he saw confirmed it. Now, he was ready to write his story about the Jordan family of Georgia and their Belter parlor furniture.

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This website was a created as a class project by students at the University of Houston College of Education. It is not the approved website for the Bayou Bend Collection and Gardens or the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Refer to the MFAH website for information about Bayou Bend at: http://www.mfah.org.