Compiled by Teresa
Martin Klaiber 2023
Klaiber
Cemetery is not without its share of mysteries and possibilities. I first heard about a tombstone of Civil War
Veteran Fleming Jordan from Evelyn Scyphers Jackson. She even wrote about it in her Daily Independent Column called
Reflections.[i]
Jackson stated that the stone had been discovered in 1970 on Davis Branch,
while a neighbor thought the stone had never been placed but was to go to
Klaiber Cemetery on Big Garner.
Thinking
someone might have ordered a military stone, I did a U.S .headstone search for
military service without success. In
April 1999, I called Mrs. Walter Holbrook, owner of the property where Jackson
said they discovered the stone. Mrs.
Holbrook said that Jackson had come out and she vaguely remembered there was a
stone. Mrs. Holbrook went on to say that
her neighbor was getting older and may have just remembered there were Jordan’s
in Klaiber Cemetery. “We decided a long time ago it didn’t belong there
either…we did know where the stone is but honestly don’t any more…”
Holbrook’s
neighbor was correct about one thing – there is a connection to Klaiber
Cemetery. Fleming Jordan’s son, George
Washington Jordan, daughter-in-law Mary Jane Perkins Jordan and grandson Ira
Vernon Jordan are all in Klaiber Cemetery.
Is Fleming Jordan at rest with them?
Fleming
“Flem” Jordan was born February 1846, the son of John Jordan. He grew up in Lawrence County, Kentucky and
during the Civil War mustered into Company B of the 14th Kentucky
Infantry. After his service Fleming married 20 August 1865, Louisa Prince, in
Lawrence County, Kentucky. They lived
for some time on Twin Branch in Lawrence County and were the parents of six
known children. He filed for a pension 8
July 1879 in Lawrence County[ii] By
1900 Fleming was widowed, living in the Willard area of Carter County, while
son George Washington Fleming and family were residing on the East Fork, in the
Bolts Fork/ Big Garner area of Boyd County.
George
Washington Jordan was born 28 April 1873, in Lawrence County, Kentucky, son of
Fleming and Louisa Jordan. Like his
father, records describe him as short with light hair. Civil War enrollment records for his father
described Fleming at only five feet 3 inches tall. The World War I draft card for George
Washington Jordan does not give exact height only that he was “short.”
George
married Mary Jane Perkins, daughter of James “Frank” and Martha J. Cotton
Perkins in 1893[iii]. The Jordan’s had nine known children at this
writing. By 1920 the family resided on
Garner in Boyd County next to the Workman family. Among the children, Ira, only sixteen
according to census[iv],
was already mining for a living.
By
the late 1920’s the Jordan’s moved to Guyandotte, Cabell County, West Virginia,
where George gave his occupation as carpenter.
According to George Washington Jordan’s death certificate he became
paralyzed in March 1929.[v] By
1930 they were residing with son James Robert Jordan[vi]
and his large family. When George died 20 April 1930 the doctor noted that he
had been bedfast for six months. The
certificate also states that burial would be in Sexton Cemetery. The name of the cemetery varied but by 1930
Julina Sexton Klaiber and James Matthew Klaiber were the owners of the land
surrounding the designated burial ground. A handmade marker was placed at the
grave in Klaiber Cemetery. a
Son,
Ira Vernon Jordan’s death, “carved in stone,” is 27 April 1933. But as I have
found with other handmade stones in Klaiber cemetery there are differences in
the official record. In 1930 Ira
“Vernon” was an inmate in the Spencer State Hospital in Roane County, West
Virginia. He appears both on the census
for the hospital as well as residing on Bellevue Road in Huntington along with
wife Lula and two daughters. His death
certificate is dated 27 April 1934. Dr.
T. R. Biggs wrote that he had attended him from March 1930 until his death 27
April 1934. The cause of his death was pulmonary tuberculosis with contributory
dementia praecox catatonic type.
According to the death certificate he was married and his usual place of
residence was Bellevue Road, Huntington[vii].
Ira
Vernon Jordan married Lula Jane Stephens sometime between 1920 and 1927.
The
1930 Huntington City Directory shows Vernon Jordan and wife “Lola” living on
Bellevue Road, He is a laborer. The 1932 Huntington City Directory shows Vernon
Jordan and wife “Lula” on Bellevue Road.
Ira Vernon Jordan’s mother also resides on Bellevue Road the same year. Ira Vernon Jordan was laid to rest in Klaiber
Cemetery (aka Sexton Cemetery) on 29 April 1934.
The
widow, Lula Jane Stephens[viii]
remarried 6 April 1935 in Cabell County to Finnie Robertson. By 1940 Ira and
Lula’s two girls utilized their step
father’s surname. Lula Jane Stephens
Jordan Robertson died in March 1981 and is buried in Mason County, West
Virginia.
George
Washington Jordan’s widow, Mary Jane Perkins Jordan, mother of Ira Vernon
Jordan, continued to live in Cabell County.
In 1930 she is living with son James Robert Jordan, on Bellevue Road in
Huntington. Mary died 24 April 1936[ix]
in Huntington and was brought back to Klaiber Cemetery for burial, as well. Her stone was designed and consistent with
the other members of this branch of the Jordan family.
[i]
Daily Independent, 16 Jun 1977
[ii]Fold3,
Pension index, Cert 296736 664518
[iii]
1900 census states married 7 years. No official m has been located at this
writing.
[iv]
Tombstone birth would make him 19
[v]
WV, Cabell cert 4558
[vi]
James Robert Jordan married Sarah B Stevens d/o Sam and Nell Kilgore
Stevens 13 March 1914 in Boyd County, KY
[vii]
WV Vital Roane Co cert 5310, 1934
[viii]
In 1910 Lula and family are living on Clay Jack in Boyd County. By 1920 Lula J Stephen is 16 living with her
parents Daniel and Ellen Colegrove Stephens on East Fork in Lawrence County, KY.
Daniel Stephens married Ellen Colegrove 29 Oct 1892 in Lawrence County, KY
[ix]
WV D cert 5310
