Jordan, William (1927 - )

Genre: Non-Fiction

Bill Jordan, a Maine native and resident of Portland, is noted for his expertise on Portland and Maine Civil War regimental history.

A University of Maine alumnus with undergraduate and graduate degrees in history, he taught for many years at Westbrook College, Portland (now part of the University of New England). His graduate thesis became the first three chapters of A History of Cape Elizabeth, published in 1965 (facsimile reprint 1987).

He is the creator of what is commonly called the Jordan Index, located in the Portland Room of the Portland Public Library. The index provides subject access to sixteen 18th- and 19th-century Portland area newspapers and was published in 1994 as Index to Portland Newspapers: 1785-1835.

Selected Bibliography

Portland-Related Titles

  • Episodes from the Unitarian Universalist Experience in Maine (1974)
  • The First Parish Church: Unitarian Universalist (1976)
  • Portland's Famed Weathercock 1788-1981 (1981)
  • Shaking the Family Tree: the Records of Portland's Eastern Cemetery (1981)
  • Burial Records, 1717-1962, of the Eastern Cemetery, Portland, Maine (1987)
  • Burial Records, 1811-1980, of the Western Cemetery in Portland, Maine (1987)

Civil War-Related Titles

  • Maine in the War of the Rebellion, 1861-1865: Check List and Bibliography (1962)
  • Maine at Gettysburg 1-3 July 1863 (1963)
  • Maine in the Civil War: a Bibliographical Guide (1976)
  • Red Diamond Regiment: the 17th Maine Infantry, 1862-1865 (1996)
  • The Civil War Journals of John Mead Gould, 1861-1866, edited by Jordan (1997)
  • Our Lady of Victories: a History of the Portland Soldiers and Sailors Monument (1998)

Other Titles

  • A Bibliography of Maine Bibliography (1952)
  • Damages in Maine, co-authored with Thomas J. Quinn (1991 also known as For the Plaintiff: Determining and Proving Damages; For the Defense: Limiting Damages in Maine and as Damages: For Plaintiff and Defense Attorneys in Maine)
  • Insurance Litigation in Maine (1992)
  • Personal Injury Litigation Practice in Maine (1992)