William H Jordan (1860 or 1861–d after 1889) – Encyclopedia Virginia encyclopediavirginia.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from encyclopediavirginia.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Early Years
Green was born enslaved in Petersburg probably late in the 1830s. He was the son of Amos Green and Gracie Green. Little is known about his early life and he most likely gained his freedom at the end of the Civil War. The 1870 census recorded him as thirty-two years old and living in Petersburg with a woman name Susan Green, probably his wife. He reported to the enumerator that he worked in a tobacco factory, that he was literate, and that he held $150 in real estate property. The previous year he had acquired, with a woman named Rebecca Peniston, a lot on Rome Street. They worked together again in 1875, with Green acting as trustee for the remarried Rebecca Patterson and her children. He also co-owned at least two lots in the city, later purchasing one outright. Petersburg city directories in the mid-1870s listed Green as a grocer.