Basic Dress: Annie Tabitha Bristow Jordan

Annie Tabitha Bristow traveled by wagon train with her family in 1875, arriving in October at their destination: the Verde Valley in the Arizona Territory.    

Annie was the daughter of Parson James Clawson Bristow. When they arrived in the Verde Valley, he preached the first Baptist sermon in the Territory under an old cottonwood tree in Middle Verde.    

Annie was a bit rebellious in her early years and violated her father’s strict rules (and Baptist preaching) to not attend dances in the area. But that was just where Annie met her future husband, Willie Albion Jordan. He was playing piccolo or flageolet, as he often did, in Middle Verde at one such dance. On May 26, 1889, Annie married Willie.    

Willie came to the Verde Valley from Cape Elizabeth, Maine. He traveled the northern route via railroad and supply wagon. Together they raised nine children at their home on Rattlesnake Hill (near Clarkdale, Arizona). Later they moved to Sugar Loaf Ranch in Bridgeport near Cottonwood.    

Throughout the Depression years, when the family gathered weekly at the Ranch, Annie always sent butter, milk, bread and leftovers home with her son Walter, his wife Ruth and their three children (Anne, Ruthie and Walter, Jr.).    

In later years Annie’s extreme arthritis crippled her hands but she continued to cook and quilt for her family. Her clothing was also simplified to accommodate her gnarled hands.    

Annie’s favorite color was purple. Music and fellowship were always a part of her life.    

BIO: Annie Bristow Jordan (1869-1957) was born in Missouri. At age 6 she traveled to the Arizona Territory by wagon train. Annie later married Willie Albion Jordan who arrived in the area in 1880 from Maine. Together, Annie and Willie had nine children. The family’s successful farming business had its ups and downs, including a lawsuit against the United Verde Copper Company for air pollution. The Jordans led a group of farmers in the fight that went all the way to the US Supreme Court in Washington DC. In the end it was found that “air pollution was not a matter of national concern” (1923). And the farmers won. Willie and two of his sons, Walter and George, relocated to Sedona with their settlement.