Only four signed paintings by Samuel Jordan are known and few biographical facts have been ascertained. The inscriptions on the verso of the National Gallery's painting Eaton Family Memorial (1955.11.9) indicate that he was born in 1803 or 1804 and resided in Boston at some time in his life. From a diary kept by Isaac Watts Merrill (1803-1878), we know of Jordan's sojourn in the spring of 1831 as a portrait painter in the Haverhill, Massachusetts - Plaistow, New Hampshire, vicinity. No other biographical information is known. [This is an edited version of the artist's biography published, or to be published, in the NGA Systematic Catalogue]