Residents of Jasper County who have served as Solicitor General of the Ocmulgee Circuit were:
Edward Young Hill1831-1834
George T. Bartlett1847-1851
William A. Lofton1855-1868
Fleming Jordan, Jr1868-1873
ELECTRIC LIGHT SYSTEM
Credit for the installation of the first electric light system in Jasper County must go to Mr. Bonner Jordan of Monticello, a man of much mechanical ingenuity and enterprise. The system consisted of a small generating plant located on the corner of Mill and South Streets having a wood burning, stationary steam boiler, steam engine, a belt driven dynamo, switchboard and a small distribution line which connected a few subscribers in the vicinity.
The Jasper County News proudly announced on January 10, 1901 that:
"The dynamo for the electric plant arrived and last Saturday night the electric lights were turned on. So far the patrons are all highly pleased. Mr. Bonner Jordan owns the plant, and if it proves successful, he will increase the capacity and furnish as many lights as needed."
BANKS
The first bank in Jasper County was organized on the 2nd day of April, 1892 and was named he Bank of Monticello. The directors were W. S. (Uncle Billy) Witham, of Atlanta, L.O. Benton, J. H. Kelly, A. H. Jordan, L. Benton, of Monticello, and R. S. Franklin and E. B. Smith of Jasper County.
On August 7, 1906, the Farmers Bank (now the Farmers National Bank) was organized with Messrs. E. H. Jordan, R. L. Davis, J.D. Harvey, W. F. Jordan, C. L. Henderson, J.A. Kelly, I.T. Kelly, D.N. Harvey and Sam Cohen being the petitioners for the charter.
INDUSTRIES
In October, 1899 Mr. Bonner Jordan sold his furniture store located in Monticello to his brother and went to Augusta, Georgia where he purchased a small manufacturing plant which produced bobbins and spools for textile mills. Two of his cousins, Charles H. Jordan and C. S. (Mote) Thompson became interested in the venture. A lot near the Monticello depot was purchased and a building was erected into which the machinery from Augusta was installed. A corporation charter was obtained with the name of the Southern Spool and Bobbin Manufacturing Company having a capital stock of $10,000 divided into 100 share of $100 par value each, and the company began business.
The first shipment of bobbins was made in February 1900 to a mill in Water Valley, Mississippi and another to Augusta, Georgia. The bobbins were made from unseasoned wood blocks and shrinkage in size of the finished product resulted in many rejects from dissatisfied customers. This was a serious manufacturing problem and by the end of the first year the company faced the prospect of financial failure. Mr. Bonner Jordan and Mr. "Mote" Thompson withdrew and directed their endeavors to other interests. Of the original trio, only Mr. Charles H. Jordan remained.
Several men in Macon became interested In the possibilities of the bobbin plant and a new company was organized in the fall of 1902, with a change of name to Georgia Spool and Bobbin Company of Macon, Georgia with Charles H. Jordan as General Manager. This company also met with financial difficulties and gave up at the end of 1905.
Mr. Charles H. Jordan returned to Monticello and with family backing started a new. The February 16, 1906 issue of the Monticello News stated:
"The Jordan Manufacturing Company has begun business in the building near the depot formerly occupied by the Spool and Bobbin Company and in addition to making bobbins, will carry on an extensive lumber business".
The technique of making bobbins was mastered and the business became a financial success. For over forty years, Mr. Jordan remained in control and accumulated a modest fortune from the operation of the business.
In 1929, Jordan Manufacturing Company became the Jordan Division of the U.S. Bobbin and Shuttle Company of Providence, Rhode Island, with Charles H. Jordan as vice-president and director and his son, Leland K. Jordan, Southern sales manager. The great depression of the thirties had its adverse effect upon the textile industry as it did upon everything else; so the U.S. Bobbin and Shuttle Company divested itself of the Jordan Division in 1939 and the Jordan family again came into complete possession of the property. In 1940, when at the age of 69 years, Charles H. Jordan turned over the business to his two sons: Leland K. Jordan and William Homer Jordan. In 1943, the Atlanta Belting company purchased the Monticello plant and changed the name to the Monticello Bobbin Company and have continuously operated the plant ever since. The industry has the distinction of being the only one in the South and of being the oldest now existing in Jasper County. It provides employment for approximately 45 persons.
