Edward S. Jordan

Early years

Jordan was born in Merrill, Wisconsin in 1882, the only son in a family of six children. His mother, Kate Griffin Jordan, supported the family by running a series of small general stores along the Overland Trail.

University

Jordan supported his own way through the University of Wisconsin–Madison and achieved high grades while working as a sports reporter for a Madison, Wisconsin newspaper and the Milwaukee Journal. He then joined the National Cash Register Company in Dayton, Ohio for a year, and in 1907 began a nine-year affiliation with the Thomas B. Jeffery Company in Kenosha, Wisconsin, manufacturers of the Rambler and the Jeffery automobile, where he served as secretary and manager of advertising, publicity and sales, and eventually as general manager. Jordan married Kenosha native Charlotte (Lottie) Hannahs on February 1, 1902 and the couple relocated to Cleveland, Ohio after 1906 where he was a reporter for the Cleveland Daily Press. Jordan also worked as a reporter for the Crowell-Collier Company of Springfield, Ohio, publisher of Collier's Magazine at this time.

After leaving Cleveland, Jordan came under the employment of John Patterson of National Cash Register Corporation of Dayton, Ohio. From Patterson, Jordan learned that success was built upon doing one thing a little better than anyone else. Patterson also added the caveat that the "Husband is only half sold until his wife is sold" on the item at hand.

Using his position, Jordan arranged financing for the venture and chose Cleveland (where his father had lived as a child) as the manufacturing center for the car; outside of Detroit, Michigan, Cleveland had the greatest concentration of automakers and suppliers in the nation at the time. Cleveland’s position as a shipping and steel center as well as a finance center also weighed heavily in his decision. Jordan also selected a spacious home in East Cleveland, Ohio on Grandview Terrace to which he could retreat when the pressures of running the company became too great.

Charlotte Hannahs Jordan's family (The Hannahs Company made children's furniture at 1324-1330 52nd Street) had connections within Kenosha society, and it is believed by Jordan biographer James Lackey that she asked her family to make a contact with Thomas B. Jeffery about securing a position for her husband at Jeffery’s automobile company which produced the Rambler automobile in Kenosha. Upon arriving in Kenosha, Jordan was offered a position with the Jeffery concern.

In 1909, Thomas Jeffery died and the leadership of the company passed to his son Charles, who, in 1914, renamed the car the Jeffery in honor of his late father. While successful, Charles Jeffery decided to leave auto making in 1915, following a harrowing ordeal in the sinking of the RMS Lusitania. Jeffery’s wife had purchased a high-quality life preserver prior to her husband’s trip, and it saved his life. However the event also caused Jeffery to re-evaluate his life and priorities, and automaking wasn't one of them; he sold the Jeffery concern to Charles Nash, who renamed the concern the Nash Motors Company.

Nash extended an invitation to Jordan to stay on, but Jordan decided to pursue building his own type of car. According to Jordan, "Cars are too dull and drab." He reasoned that since people dressed smartly, they were willing to drive "smart-looking cars" as well.