Central High School Class of ‘69 Ladies have Family Ties to Murfreesboro History

July 1, 2019, by Carol White

Patricia Todd Nelson was born in 1951 to Charles and Margaret Todd of Second Avenue. She went to Campus School from first thru eighth grade, walking to school until her parents moved to Bellwood. Charles Todd was the owner of Todd Furniture once located at 309 East Main Street. He had bought the business from his parents, Herman and Rosa Todd (Pat’s grandparents) after returning from World War II.

Charles shared the significance of Miss Eliza Ransom’s school with Pat when he was in the hospital during the last years of his life. He attended the Training (Campus) School in his lower elementary grades and his middle elementary grades he attended the Ransom School, and then back to Campus to finish up his junior high/middle school years. During his tenure at Ransom School, he even skipped a few grades to his grandmother’s delight. Charles got to know C. B. Arnette at some point in his life, although C. B. was at least 5-6 years younger than he was. They both attended Miss Eliza’s school but at different times. Charles got to talk to C. B. on numerous occasions prior to their deaths about Murfreesboro, the Ransom school house, Todd Furniture or the Todd home that once stood at 309 East Main Street. One story Charles Todd shared before his death was the about the area of Murfree Springs prior to the Discovery Center and the Coca Cola plant. His grandfather or great grandfather owned Murfree Springs which had some little boats and picnic tables. People came from far and wide to enjoy the water and the caves of the area. Pat thinks the Depression stopped this business around 1929 but could be wrong about that time period. Charles also shared the story of the Cedar Bucket Factory during the last years of his life and he remembered it well.

Jennifer Jean (Jenny) Jordan was born in Murfreesboro and lived on Bell Street until her parents, E.J. (Ed) Jordan, Jr. and Velma Cox Jordan, and her brother, Jeff, moved to Moreland Lane, off Rucker Lane. She is the granddaughter of Sam and Della Layne Cox, of Manchester, and E.J. Jordan, Sr. and Brownie Dodson Jordan of Nashville. Her parents met when the Belle Meade Theater opened in Nashville. Velma, who was attending business college in Nashville, was the first box office girl, and Ed was a student at Vanderbilt University and the son of E. J. Jordan, Sr., the manager of the Belle Meade for many years. Jenny attended Campus School, Central High, and MTSU, earning a Master’s degree in English and becoming an English professor at a small community college in East Tennessee where she lives at present. Her father, Ed, was display and eventually assistant manager at Goldstein’s Department Store from 1947 until his death in 1972, and her mother, Velma, worked at the Rutherford County Election Commission, serving as Head Registrar before leaving to work for the Tennessee Department of Vocational Rehabilitation.

Jenny’s historical ties to middle Tennessee go back to 1795-96 when William and Sally Wood Jordan (her 4th great-grandparents) settled near Triune, Tennessee, with their 13 children. William, immigrating from Lunenburg County, Virginia, had received a Revolutionary War grant and purchased land from Major John Nelson. The county lines had not been established at the time, so the family shows up in both Rutherford and Williamson Counties. William’s children settled the land around the original log cabin, and the home eventually built on the site of William’s cabin by his descendants, the Newton Jordan house, is now on the National Register of Historic Places, as is the house where Jenny’s grandfather grew up, the James Scales House in nearby College Grove.

Many of the descendants of William and Sally eventually settled in Eagleville, Franklin, Murfreesboro, and Nashville. They served in the Civil War as both Confederate soldiers and, in at least one notable case, that of Mary Jackson Overall (daughter of Mira Jordan Overall), as a Rebel spy.

Edward Leland Jordan, a great-uncle, served as mayor of Murfreesboro for two years and was president of the First National Bank of Murfreesboro. He purchased the Jordan Hotel for two of his sons, Montford Fletcher Jordan and Leland Jordan, an attorney. Her brother, Jeff, continues to live in Murfreesboro and currently serves on the school board.

Aurelia Holden was born in 1951 to Rollie M. and Katherine Butler Holden and has deep roots in Rutherford County. Her paternal grandparents, Thomas F. and Fannie Hollowell Holden, lived in Salem. Thomas, with his oldest son Herbert, owned and operated a country store, T.F. Holden and Sons, where Rucker Lane runs into Old Salem Road.

Her maternal grandparents were John M. and Lillian Whitefield Butler. As a young man, John worked for Spain and Hudson, then partnered with George Howse in Howse and Butler, and later owned Butler Grocery Company, all busi-nesses located on the Square in Murfreesboro. Lillian grew up in Clarksville but had ties to Murfreesboro through her stepmother Helen Carney Whitefield.

Rollie graduated from Eagleville High School where he played basketball and, as a senior, coached the girls team. Lettering in basketball, he graduated from MTSU in 1933 and went to work teaching high school and coaching at the old Rock School in Smyrna and later at Chapel Hill. After service in WWII, he sold sporting goods throughout middle Tennessee.

Katherine started school at what was then Training School on MTSU’s campus and remembered their move to the newly constructed Training School building on Lytle Street. She graduated from Central High School in the same class as C.B. Arnette and attended MTSU before graduating from Randolph Macon Women’s College.

Rollie and Katherine married in 1946 and, in 1948, together with his brother and sister-in-law, Horace and Alberta Brown Holden, opened Holden Hardware on the Murfreesboro Square. Now owned by Rollie, Jr., Holden Hardware celebrated its 60th anniversary last year.

Aurelia graduated from Campus School, Murfreesboro Central High School and MTSU, returning later to MTSU for graduate studies in historic preservation. Her working career began in retail and finished in the nonprofit sector. She has been an active volunteer in a number of local organizations, including serving as president of the Rutherford County Historical Society. Growing up downtown, Aurelia well remembers walking to the Square, passing Todd Furniture, and always looking forward to viewing Goldstein’s gorgeous display windows created by Ed Jordan.

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