Yolo
County
Biographies
G. A. JORDAN
G.
A. Jordan, who has lived in the Sacramento Valley for seventeen years, a period
fraught with noteworthy accomplishments, is nationally known as the founder and
head of the Jordan Bird Farm near Woodland, in Yolo County. He was born on one of the Hawaiian Islands,
October 22, 1885, and was there reared and educated. For twelve years he was prominently
identified with development work in the islands, becoming statistician for the
sugar planters, assistant and inspector in the plant and fruit department of
the territorial experimental station, and also taking an active part in the
work of digging canals.
It
was in 1913 that Mr. Jordan came to California and purchased a tract of eighty
acres in the vicinity of Woodland, where he engaged in dairy farming for
several years, his well directed labors bringing him substantial returns. In 1926 he turned his attention to bird
culture, ranking with the foremost in this line in the United States. He started with valley quail and English call
ducks, which are used for decoys by hunters and in 1927 added ring-necked
pheasants. Later he discontinued these
varieties and began specializing in rare aviary pheasants, having twenty-three
varieties of very rare birds. These are
imported from Japan, ranging in value from twenty dollars to five hundred
dollars a pair, and are used as show birds for the aviaries of wealthy
men. Some were sold to William Wrigley,
Jr., for his notable bird colony on Catalina Island, also to the president of
the Kellogg Company of Battle Creek, Michigan, and to other persons of means
whose hobby is the collecting of fine birds.
F. E. Booth, of the Booth Packing Company of San Francisco, was associated
with Mr. Jordan in the business, which was conducted with system and efficiency
and grew rapidly. They also had twenty
varieties of wild ducks and pigeons, three varieties of partridge and three
varieties of quail. The selection and
care of these rare, beautiful and valuable birds devolved upon Mr. Jordan, who
assembled what is considered the best collection to be found either in the
United States or in England. He has
devoted much thought and study to his work, which he has greatly enjoyed, and
has become widely recognized as an authority on the subject of bird
culture. His business has now been taken
over by Leland Smith, of Fair Oaks, for as a close friend of Governor Rolph,
Mr. Jordan expects to take charge of the department of natural resources of the
state.
Mr.
Jordan was united in marriage to Mrs. Elston, also a native of Hawaii. A. M. Elston, the father of her first
husband, was a pioneer of Woodland and a well known educator who served for a
number of years as president of Hesperian College. Mr. Jordan has a daughter, Alice Lees, and
three stepchildren: Katherine, Arthur
and Marion Elston.
Transcribed by
Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
Wooldridge, J.W.Major History of Sacramento Valley
California, Vol. 3 Pages 279-280. Pioneer Historical
Publishing Co. Chicago 1931.
© 2010 Gerald Iaquinta.
Golden Nugget Library's Yolo County
Biographies