By Al Dorof
George Ord
This article was previously published at the Southwark Historical Society. It has been reprinted with permission.
George Ord is one of those odd gentlemen of a bygone era—a wealthy businessman who retired young and dedicated the balance of his long life to scholarship. Self-taught and without a trace of formal education, Ord was a member of Philadelphia’s Academy of Natural Sciences, where he rose to many leadership positions, including president. He was also an elected member of the American Philosophical Society, the oldest and most prestigious of the nation’s scholarly organizations, where he also served at high levels. Ord became one of the leading natural scientists, ornithologists, and lexicographers of his time.
Family Life and Business
Ord was born and lived his entire life in a three-story brick house with a large garden at 784 South Front Street, between Catherine and Clymer Streets, in the Southwark district. His father, also named George (1711-1806), acquired the house soon after it was built. George senior was a successful sea captain who made his fortune when he partnered with Samuel Inglis (1745-1783) as a privateer.
Before he arrived in Philadelphia, Inglis was based in Virginia, where he was a friend of George Washington and represented the Philadelphia merchant company Willing & Morris. The company bought and sold tobacco, was a major trader in other goods from the West Indies, and invested in real estate. When the Revolutionary War broke out, Inglis’s Virginia estate was sacked by the British and he moved to Philadelphia to join Thomas Willing and Robert Morris, and the firm became Willing, Morris & Inglis.
From 1779 to 1781, Inglis and Ord bought or insured more than 10 privateer ships, several of which were co-owned by Willing, Morris, and other leading Philadelphia merchants. The fledgling American Navy was in no position to challenge the British naval forces, the most powerful in the world at the time. To supplement its small fleet, the Continental Congress authorized private ships along the East Coast to attack and seize British commercial vessels. Ord and Inglis became wealthy from the bounties earned on the ships and cargoes taken by their privateers.
In 1798, George used his fortune to establish a successful business as a rope maker and ship chandler—that is, a merchant who provides supplies necessary for ships, such as sails, tar, pitch, oils, tools, hooks, and brooms and mops. The business was based at the Willing & Francis wharf on the Delaware River. At age 19, Ord junior joined his father’s business in 1800, which became George Ord & Son, Ship Chandlers. After his father died in 1806, Ord continued the business with his mother, Rebecca Lindemayer, as George Ord & Company.
Ord married Margaret Biays (1783-1808), the daughter of a Baltimore rope maker and shipbuilder, in 1804. She died within four years, but the Ords had two children, a daughter who died in infancy and a son, Joseph Benjamin Biays Ord (1805-1865). Joseph became a respected still life and portrait painter. He left an estate worth more than $24,000 (about $338,000 in current value), which went to his father as executor.
Ord remarried in 1815, but little is known about his wife, not even her name. What is known is that she suffered from a severe mental affliction and was admitted to Pennsylvania Hospital, where she remained for many years. In gratitude for the kind care she received, Ord donated more than $20,000 to the hospital over his life, most of which was dedicated to the study and cure of mental disorders.
Gentleman and Scholar
In 1829 at age 48, Ord retired from the family business. He dedicated himself to his scholarly interests, which were already distinguished by their breadth and depth at this time.
As a teenager, Ord dedicated himself to reading English literature. He collected obsolete words that could not be found in dictionaries, and provided examples of their use. Noah Webster somehow discovered Ord’s compilation and used it to publish his first dictionary, A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, in 1806, when Ord was 25 years old. It was compendious largely because of Ord’s contributions. But Webster didn’t credit Ord for his work. So he declined Webster’s invitation to contribute to the second edition of the dictionary published in 1841. Instead, he gave his enlarged manuscript to Robert Gordon Latham, who published a revision of Samuel Johnson’s famous Dictionary of the English Language in 1864. Latham credited Ord each time his contributions were used.
In 1804 or 1805, Ord became friends with Alexander Wilson (1766-1813), a Scottish poet, naturalist, and ornithologist who had lived in the Philadelphia area since 1794. Wilson lived down the street from John Bartram, the famous American naturalist, and was inspired in 1802 to begin work on a book illustrating the birds of North America. The result was a classic nine-volume series titled American Ornithology, published from 1808 to 1814. The volumes illustrated 268 species of birds, including 26 that had not been previously described. Ord joined Wilson on his birding expeditions in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He also became Wilson’s patron, providing both financial and editorial support of his work. After Wilson’s death, he completed the final two volumes of the series, and later revised and reprinted the entire series.
Ord also published widely in American and British natural science periodicals. He examined various specimens from the Lewis and Clark expedition and, for the first time, described and named several species of birds and mammals, such as the black-tailed prairie dog (Arctomys ludoviciana) and grizzly bear (Ursus horribilis). His essay in Guthrie’s Geography, published in 1815, is considered the first systematic work on the zoology of North America by an American.
At age 33 in 1815, self-taught and not formally educated, Ord was elected a member and curator of the Academy of Natural Sciences. He later became vice president (1816-1834) and president (1851-1858). In 1817, he was elected a member of the American Philosophical Society, the nation’s oldest and most prestigious scholarly organization. He served the Society as secretary (1820-1827; 1829-1831), vice president (1832-1835), councilor (1839), and treasurer and librarian (1842-1847). For good measure, he also was a member of the Linnean Society of London, the world’s oldest biology society, in 1828.
Final Days
Isaac Minis Hayes (1847-1925), a fellow member of the American Philosophical Society who knew Ord, fondly recalled him as he appeared in his later years to Samuel Rhoads. Rhoads was a founder of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club and owned the Franklin Book Store at 920 Walnut Street. He also wrote the only substantive biography of George Ord, the primary source for this article.
Rhoads noted that Hayes described Ord as “a tall, rather spare and decidedly stoop-shouldered man, using a cane in his walks about town. An abundant shock of gray hair covered his head, even in old age. He talked deliberately but, once aroused upon a favorite theme, with much enthusiasm. His benign countenance comported well with a tenderhearted, kindly disposition.”
Ord’s health was never robust. Suffering from poor eyesight and often inflicted by the flu, he became a recluse later in life. He died at age 84 on January 24, 1866. Ord was buried in the Lindemeyer family plot at Gloria Dei (Old Swedes’) churchyard. Not far from his grave is a simple monument over the tomb of his friend, Alexander Wilson.
The Ord House
The history of the Ord house at 784 South Front Street and the properties adjoining it illustrates the ebb and flow of property development in Southwark—from residential to commercial and back to residential again. Front and Second Streets have always been a mix of residential dwellings with ground-floor businesses opening onto the pavement. Front Street was known for wholesale businesses and Second Street for retail establishments.
The Ord house originally belonged to William Fleming, who also owned the houses at 786 and 788. They were constructed in 1763—at least, 1763 was visible on the wall of 784 in 1907—and all survived for the next 150 years. A deed dated October 18, 1764 shows that Fleming commissioned a survey for his property.
By 1785, a resurvey conducted by Gunning Bedford for Captain George Ord indicates that the property was in his possession at the time. We know that his son George was born and lived there until his death in 1866. An 1860 Hexamer map indicates that the house was made of brick or stone, was three stories tall, and had a shingled roof and roof deck. Two artworks made in 1861, when George junior still lived there, are consistent with this description and show more detail.
The August 1861 pencil drawing by James E. Taylor (1839-1901), from the Winterthur Museum collection, shows the dwelling and a long wall to the north, with a door to the old St. Philip Neri Church girl’s parochial school (778 South Front Street). The addition at the rear shows two rather tall chimneys, indicating that the kitchen was housed there, with the hint of another addition hidden by the tree. In fact, a new kitchen was built in 1785 and the old kitchen was converted to a dining room. At 786 is a business, with an awning that advertises “James Watson Porter Ale Cider Mineral Water Establishment.” Winterthur notes state that the building was possibly demolished in the 1940s or 1950s.
The 1860s watercolor by David Johnston Kennedy (c. 1816-1898), from the Historical Society of Pennsylvania (HSP) collection, shows a wider view of 784-790 South Front Street (minus the 786 building awning), the long wall to the north, and the tall chimneys at the rear additions. HSP notes: “Residence of Mr. George Ord, 784 South Front Street above Catharine. He was born in and died in this house on January 24, 1866, aged 84. At his decease, the family mansion was unchanged as he knew it in his boyhood: no change in the furniture or outside appearance… House built in 1763.”
A 1905 Hexamer map and a 1905 business directory show that 784 South Front was a Chinese laundry. The map also indicates that the building is in hazardous condition.
The deed trail runs cold until August 1922, when owners Hyman and Rosie Goldman sell the property to Charles R. Eggleston, a lawyer. A July 1929 deed indicates the owners as Charles F. and Mary L. Eggleston, presumably the heirs of Charles R. Eggleston. Either Charles senior or junior was an industrious real estate speculator, because Charles F. and Mary L. transfer a substantial parcel—now including 778, 780, 782, 784, and 786 South Front Street—to Elisabeth D. Eggleston.
In December 1942, Elisabeth sells all the properties to Joseph T. Scott. By July 1951, the properties were demolished to make room for J. Thomas Scott, Inc., an industrial supply business.
Sometime in 1960, a series of five condos were built on the site of Scott’s business. In December 1979, part or all of the property was sold to Whildins Way Developers, Inc.
SOURCES
American Philosophical Society. “George Ord Collection,” 2001. http://www.amphilsoc.org/mole/view?docId=ead/Mss.B.Or2-ead.xml
Stephens, Alexis and Dayton, Maria. “History of 784-6 South Front Street: Early Developments,” University of Pennsylvania, undated. http://www.brynmawr.edu/cities/archx/05-600/proj/p1/asmsd/New%20Site/web-content/784-6%20South%20Front.html
Rhoads, Samuel N. “George Ord,” Cassinia: Proceedings of the Delaware Valley Ornithological Club, number 12, pages 1-8, 1908.