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mcc-jrr_jcc-002
Jordans Chapel Cemetery Summary Report, page 2
W. Jordan of Mississippi.] The site of Mullins Flat in Section 31, Township 4S, Range 1W, is known from several living sources and printed materials to have been located on arsenal lands, along the north end of Dodd Road, near its junction with Martin Road. However, there are some who recollect that Mullins Flat was near the junction of Buxton Road with Patton Road -several miles from the Dodd Road location. Accordingly, the initial focus centered on land in both of those areas, where the early Jordan families and their relatives by marriages did indeed have extensive holdings. Subsequent detailed investigations of land and probate records proved that Mullen's Flat was in fact at the location along Dodd Road near Martin Road. This was confirmed by several old newspaper clippings as well as by detailed deed descriptions that used the name of the place. Digital photographs of the several hundred pertinent deeds and probate records checked in the effort to locate the site of Jordan's Chapel (and incidentally Mullin's Flat) are included in the files supplied to the Army offices on CD-ROM. [For those digital images of deeds incorporated into this particular report, it may be necessary to adjust the “ZOOM” feature within the “VIEW” menu in order to more easily read the old writing.] Moreover, photographs of various possible site locations for Jordan's Chapel indicated by the initial investigations are included in a separate subfolder within the Jordan's Chapel folder. Each site had its apparent basis as the location of the Chapel, as suggested by information uncovered at the time the photographs were made. However, by continuing to examine all pertinent records of land holdings and probate by the Jordan family, it became apparent that Jordan's Chapel could NOT have been located in Mullin's Flat - confirming that family tales were somewhat fact-based, but also they were somewhat distorted with time. It is easy to understand how the Mississippi Jordan family stories could confuse the location of Jordan's Chapel, since the Jordan families in Madison County, Alabama, had land tracts that were widely separated. The largest parcels in term of total acres were perhaps in the Mullin's Flat area, but other large holdings were around the north end of the arsenal lands, and that is the area where the Chapel was finally proven to have been, just outside the northern perimeter of the arsenal. Unfortunately, in all of the many deeds and probate records that mention or address Jordan's Chapel, none state the section, township, or range of its location. Apparently it was so well known that the tract of land from which it had been taken was itself a landmark of reference in the early days. Even in the deed from Batt Jordan 2 - (3156)