🔊 Hear The Story

Matthew Pate Jordan, a once prominent Danville tobacconist, was born in Person County, North Carolina on June 8, 1850. He was one of seven children born to Dr. Clement Hobson Jordan and Mary Anderson Edwards Jordan. It was around 1870 that Mr. Jordan relocated to Danville and took work with the tobacco concern of Moore and Price eventually becoming partner in the company. After the death of Mr. Price, the firm dissolved and Mr. Jordan went into business for himself under the name Jordan and Scott. Mr. Jordan, in his success, became president of the Danville Tobacco Association, the Commercial Bank, and the People’s Savings Bank and Trust Company. To show off his success, he built the stately home at 130 Holbrook Avenue.

In 1874 he married Mary Alice Witcher, daughter of Daniel Patrick and Martha Milner Witcher of Caswell County, North Carolina. In 1880 the couple took up residence on Paxton Street but in 1883 built their own large and stately home at 130 Holbrook Avenue. The couple had seven children together. Mr. Jordan suffered from Bright’s disease, now known as ‘nephritis’ a disease of the kidneys. A complication which arose in June of 1902 led to his death on January 26, 1903. He passed away in his home.

Following his death, in 1906, Mrs. Jordan sold the home to John J. and Maria Westbrook. Mr. Westbrook was the founder of the Westbrook Elevator Company.

John James Westbrook was born on November 30, 1871, in Danville, one of two children born to Joseph Benjamin and Josephine Hall Westbrook. He married Maria Thomas Arrington, and the couple had twelve children, including the much beloved Old West End naturalist, John James Westbrook, Jr. Mr. Westbrook moved to the Jordan house from his previous home at 907 Green Street (no longer existent). They occupied the home for ten years, and in 1916 sold it to Chesley S. Anderson and his wife Annette.

Chesley Samuel Anderson was born in Halifax County, Virginia on January 16, 1868, the youngest of eight children born to Charles Chesley and Harriet Walker Anderson. Chesley married Ida Hill Moss shortly after the death of her first husband in 1887. From her first marriage, she brought with her four children who shared the family home on South Main Street. Ida and Mr. Anderson had five children together before her death in 1906. It was probably about 1910 when Mr. Anderson married Annette Blanche Crafton. The 1910 census identifies Mr. Anderson as living as a widower at 888 Pine Street. A year later, in April of 1911, Dorothy Crafton Anderson was born. Dorothy would grow up to marry Danville airport-based pilot Edgar Douglas Sager and the couple would occupy the now demolished home at 1007 Main Street. Sisters Frances and Laura would follow in 1916 and 1918, respectively.

In 1926, while on a business trip in Florida, Mr. Anderson died suddenly from a fit of apoplexy. Mrs. Anderson continued to live in the home, renting out rooms, until 1966 when she moved to North Carolina, presumably to be near family. She died in 1983 at the age of 102. The house continued to be rental property until Present owner Kay Trakas and her late husband, Dr. William Trakas, an Averett University Professor, took ownership in 1997. Dr. Trakas passed away in 2013, but his wife Kay has remained and is a beloved Old West End resident whose care and love of the home is apparent today.

Sources:
Danville Historical Society annual holiday tour archives
Census and Vital records found at Familysearch.org
Images and vital information, including biographical sketches found at FindaGrave.com
Death notices and other information found in the Danville Register, Danville Bee and other newspaper archives at Newspapers.com and GenealogyBank.com
Census, Directory, Newspaper, and other information compiled by Paul Liepe