52 in 52(At the Library): Cecily Jordan Farrar
Holy wow, today's blog is super interesting! The blog prompt is "At the Library" and this ancestor is perfect for that. You could go to any Library and search the Virginia Company, Jamestown, or the First American Colonies and I'd be willing to bet Cicely Jordan's name pops up somewhere. Between being one of the first off the ships to her legal misadventures to her status usually only awarded to men, Cicely Jordan is famous in her own right.
TECHNICALLY I'm not a direct ancestor, Cecily is the second wife of my 13th great grandfather, Captain Samuel Silas Jordan, of who I'm descended from his first wife Frances Anne Baker, who died in or shortly after childbirth in London in 1608. I would have blogged on Captain Samuel, but there are SO MANY conflicting accounts and so few actual records I refuse to propagate misinformation. Rather than spread rumor, I'll choose instead his much better known second wife Cecily, who was so interesting I just couldn't help myself but to choose her.
Cecily's parentage is not known, despite what many Ancestry trees want you to believe, there are NO known records of her birth or maiden name. The first time we know of her name being recorded is in August 1610, when she, at ten years old, was aboard the "Swan", an English ship sailing to the new settlement of the Virginia Colonies. The Swan, along with the "Tryall" and the "Noah" brought 250 passengers and a year's worth of provisions for 400 people to the dreadfully failing colony. 1609 in Virginia had been known as "The Starving Time," reducing the colony of Jamestown from 500 to roughly 60, those left being described as "a haggard remnant of men, women and children scarcely able to totter about the ruined village." The Jamestown settlers hadn't bothered to plant anything, and once their provisions ran out and the Powhatan Indiana refused to supply them (and why should they, due to a drought they were hungry themselves, and these settlers weren't exactly welcome guests) so they just sat and starved. The ship manifest is lost, but a muster taken roughly 14 years later exists, naming ten still surviving and still in Virginia from the trip of the original 250:
Richard Biggs (27 at sailing)
Thomas Boulding (26 at sailing)
John Fludd
Thomas Garnett (26 at sailing)
Cecily Jordan (10 at sailing)
Lt. Albiano Lupo (26 at sailing)
Thomas Stepney (21 at sailing)
John Taylor (20 at sailing)
Amyte Waine (16 at sailing)
Thomas Gates
Robart Wright (31 at sailing)
Cecily would have been through a lot in her early Jamestown years, the Anglo-Powhatan War resulted in the deaths of over 400 settlers, ending with John Rolfe's marriage to Pocahontas in 1614. Later, when Cecily is married to Captain Jordan, John Rolfe's property borders theirs, Cecily and Pocahontas would have absolutely known one another, and were only five years apart in age. In 1620, those early settlers who had either paid their own passage or had worked the fare off through indentured servitude received 100 acres of Virginia land as their dividend for investing in the Virginia Company. Cecily is one of a very small handful of women to receive this, and the title of "Ancient Planter."
The general consensus is that Cecily married a man with the last name of Baley around 1617. There's no marriage record, but in 1624 there's the record of a six year old Temperance Baley living with Cecily and then-husband Samuel. Yes, she could be a charge of some kind, maybe her parents died and Cecily for whatever reason took her in. Temperance is shown as a land owner at the age of three, so most certainly her father is dead and has willed his land to her, who must have been his only living descendant, making her quite a wealthy child at the time. Land can be left to the wife though, that's how Cecily gets hers later in life, so it makes me wonder why if Cecily was married to the father of Temperance why the land wouldn't have been transferred to her. The earliest land patent in Jamestown was given to a William Fairefax Feb 1620, Temperance's is next at Sept 20, 1620, followed by Samuel Jordan's on Dec 10 1620, so Mr. Bailey would have been an early settler indeed, whoever he was. A malaria epidemic swept through Jamestown in 1619, which is a likely cause of Mr. baley's death. I'm undecided as to whether or not I think they were married, but either way, Cecily is generally considered to be the mother of otherwise well-documented Temperance Baley.
In 1620 just as cecily was being granted her 100 acres, she marries Captain Samuel Silas Jordan, 22 years her senior and quite rich, owning 450 acres on the Jamestown River which was heavily fortified. This was called Beggar's Bush, and later Jordan's Journey. A year after their marriage Cecily had their daughter, Mary, and then another Margaret in 1623. Unfortunately, Margaret would be born after Samuel Jordan's death April 16th, 1623.
The Powhatan Indians led a surprise attack on Jamestown March 22, 1622. Thomas Jordan, a son from Samuel's first marriage, was killed in the attack. Surviving members of surrounding households fled to the fortified Jordan's Journey, and took refuge there. This was fortuitous if not straight-out planned for William Farrar, one of several who took residence up at Jordan's Journey, as he was smitten with Cecily. Luckily for him, Samuel Jordan passed while William Farrar was still residing there, (I do not know how Samuel died...would be interesting to know for sure!) and had made it so that he could not be evicted. Farrar was on a council of six men who were on a council with Governor George Yeardley, and passed a proclamation that "no planter shall remove from the plantation whereupon he is seated, without penalty, to be returned to his former plantation only if the Governor and Council permit." In other words, he's on the council, and until he and the other council members give a direct order for them to return to their own homes, Samuel Jordan was stuck with William Farrar in his home. If Jordan was sick and Farrar interested in Cecily, he just kept himself there until the deed was done.
Cecily must have been quite the woman, as William Farrar was not the only man waiting for her hand minutes after Jordan died. Reverend Greville Pooley, the 46 year old minister of Parish Fleur-Dieu Hundred not only oversaw the burial of Samuel Jordan, proposed marriage within the week. Cecily was still carrying Samuel's second daughter Margaret, and agreed to marry Pooley under the condition that he not announce the engagement until after Margaret's birth. The Reverend apparently couldn't help bragging about his newfound good fortune and Cecily promptly cancelled the engagement, accepting instead that of William Farrar (it probably didn't help his case that it was testified that Pooley asked Cicely to "fetch a dram of water" so that they could toast to their engagement, and Cicely asked a maid to do it, but Pooley told her "it would be by her hand or not at all.") Pooley accused Cecily of the first "Breach of Promise" suit in the Americas, and laid his claim before Governor Yeardley and the Council (and we all know who is seated on the council.) They interviewed two witnesses but couldn't come to a conclusion, so it was referred to the Virginia Company's "Council of London." The Council basically wanted no part in such a "delicate case" and told them to take care of the matter amongst the civilians, but the whole thing blew over when Pooley gave up his claim and married someone else. (Unfortunately, Pooley and his new family were all massacred by the Indians just four years later.) The whole debacle prompted the General Assembly to pass a law for the protection of Virginia bachelors, giving Cecily a place in history, however small.
Cecily married William Ferrar married May 2, 1625 in Henrico co, Virginia, after being involved in the legal suit for two years. During all that time they lived together at Jordan's Journey, with both being named as head of that household, which caused a bit of a second uproar as it was illegal for unwed men and women to co-habitate. They had three children together, William, Cecily, and John.
William passed away in 1637, unfortunately no one knows whether or not Cecily was still living. She still would have been a relatively young woman of only 37 at his passing, and women at that time, especially in a place like a new colony where there weren't a large number of women available for marriage, were only afforded 3 days to a week to grieve before being expected to take a new husband. But here's the kicker; Cecily would have been very wealthy indeed at that time, amassing the 450 acres of Samuel's plantation as well as William's, which would have been no less than 100 acres. There are many assumptions, but no one knows for sure what happened to Cecily; she is in no records past being mentioned in a deed in 1631 when William sold some of his assets in England. William Ferrar was posthumously awarded 2,000 acres of land in 1637, which became "Ferrars Island." Some genealogists claim she married at least once, if not twice more, but there is no proof of this. (Many claim a "Peter Montague" was husband #4, and he did marry a woman byt he name of Cicely in James City VA, but her maiden/last maiden name was Clark, 1604-1668, and this is certainly not our Cicely.) It seems for now, Cicely Jordan Farrar will remain a woman of mystery.
Going back to today's theme, there are many books to be found on Cicely Jordan. Her Finagrave.com obit (where I found a wealth of information) lists several, which I will list here, as well as the books most of our records come from.
The Records of the Virginia Company of London - edited by Susan Kingsbury
The Journals of the House of Burgess of Virginia - edited by H R McIlwaine
The Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia - edited by H R McIlwaine
The Farrars - William B. and Ethel Farrar
John Pankey of Manakin Town, Virginia, and His Descendants - George Edward Pankey
The Farrar's Island Family - Alvahn Holmes
Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5" - John Frederick Dorman
Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635 - Martha W. McCartney
Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families - Douglas Richardson
Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families - Douglas Richardson
How Cecily relates to me:
Cecily is the second wife of Captain Samuel S Jordan (1600-1644) my 13th gr grandfather
-Thomas Jordan (by Samuels 1st wife) (1634-1699) 12th gr grandfather
--Joshua Jordan (1681-1718) 11th gr grandfather
---Rachel Jordan (1703-1768) 10th gr grandmother
----Joshua White (1724-1784) 9th gr grandfather
-----Jacob White (1753-1802) 8th gr grandfather
------Docia Ann White (1783-1840) 7th gr grandmother
-------Rebecca Molen (1807-1887) 6th gr grandmother
--------Maranda Jane Bond (1830-1904) 5th gr grandmother
---------Lucinda Caroline Etter (1863-1915) 4th gr grandmother
----------Ella Mae Quarton (1885-1967) 3rd gr grandmother
-----------Ralph Andrew Weller (1909-1994) great grandfather
down to me!
TECHNICALLY I'm not a direct ancestor, Cecily is the second wife of my 13th great grandfather, Captain Samuel Silas Jordan, of who I'm descended from his first wife Frances Anne Baker, who died in or shortly after childbirth in London in 1608. I would have blogged on Captain Samuel, but there are SO MANY conflicting accounts and so few actual records I refuse to propagate misinformation. Rather than spread rumor, I'll choose instead his much better known second wife Cecily, who was so interesting I just couldn't help myself but to choose her.
Cecily's parentage is not known, despite what many Ancestry trees want you to believe, there are NO known records of her birth or maiden name. The first time we know of her name being recorded is in August 1610, when she, at ten years old, was aboard the "Swan", an English ship sailing to the new settlement of the Virginia Colonies. The Swan, along with the "Tryall" and the "Noah" brought 250 passengers and a year's worth of provisions for 400 people to the dreadfully failing colony. 1609 in Virginia had been known as "The Starving Time," reducing the colony of Jamestown from 500 to roughly 60, those left being described as "a haggard remnant of men, women and children scarcely able to totter about the ruined village." The Jamestown settlers hadn't bothered to plant anything, and once their provisions ran out and the Powhatan Indiana refused to supply them (and why should they, due to a drought they were hungry themselves, and these settlers weren't exactly welcome guests) so they just sat and starved. The ship manifest is lost, but a muster taken roughly 14 years later exists, naming ten still surviving and still in Virginia from the trip of the original 250:
Richard Biggs (27 at sailing)
Thomas Boulding (26 at sailing)
John Fludd
Thomas Garnett (26 at sailing)
Cecily Jordan (10 at sailing)
Lt. Albiano Lupo (26 at sailing)
Thomas Stepney (21 at sailing)
John Taylor (20 at sailing)
Amyte Waine (16 at sailing)
Thomas Gates
Robart Wright (31 at sailing)
Cecily would have been through a lot in her early Jamestown years, the Anglo-Powhatan War resulted in the deaths of over 400 settlers, ending with John Rolfe's marriage to Pocahontas in 1614. Later, when Cecily is married to Captain Jordan, John Rolfe's property borders theirs, Cecily and Pocahontas would have absolutely known one another, and were only five years apart in age. In 1620, those early settlers who had either paid their own passage or had worked the fare off through indentured servitude received 100 acres of Virginia land as their dividend for investing in the Virginia Company. Cecily is one of a very small handful of women to receive this, and the title of "Ancient Planter."
The general consensus is that Cecily married a man with the last name of Baley around 1617. There's no marriage record, but in 1624 there's the record of a six year old Temperance Baley living with Cecily and then-husband Samuel. Yes, she could be a charge of some kind, maybe her parents died and Cecily for whatever reason took her in. Temperance is shown as a land owner at the age of three, so most certainly her father is dead and has willed his land to her, who must have been his only living descendant, making her quite a wealthy child at the time. Land can be left to the wife though, that's how Cecily gets hers later in life, so it makes me wonder why if Cecily was married to the father of Temperance why the land wouldn't have been transferred to her. The earliest land patent in Jamestown was given to a William Fairefax Feb 1620, Temperance's is next at Sept 20, 1620, followed by Samuel Jordan's on Dec 10 1620, so Mr. Bailey would have been an early settler indeed, whoever he was. A malaria epidemic swept through Jamestown in 1619, which is a likely cause of Mr. baley's death. I'm undecided as to whether or not I think they were married, but either way, Cecily is generally considered to be the mother of otherwise well-documented Temperance Baley.
In 1620 just as cecily was being granted her 100 acres, she marries Captain Samuel Silas Jordan, 22 years her senior and quite rich, owning 450 acres on the Jamestown River which was heavily fortified. This was called Beggar's Bush, and later Jordan's Journey. A year after their marriage Cecily had their daughter, Mary, and then another Margaret in 1623. Unfortunately, Margaret would be born after Samuel Jordan's death April 16th, 1623.
The Powhatan Indians led a surprise attack on Jamestown March 22, 1622. Thomas Jordan, a son from Samuel's first marriage, was killed in the attack. Surviving members of surrounding households fled to the fortified Jordan's Journey, and took refuge there. This was fortuitous if not straight-out planned for William Farrar, one of several who took residence up at Jordan's Journey, as he was smitten with Cecily. Luckily for him, Samuel Jordan passed while William Farrar was still residing there, (I do not know how Samuel died...would be interesting to know for sure!) and had made it so that he could not be evicted. Farrar was on a council of six men who were on a council with Governor George Yeardley, and passed a proclamation that "no planter shall remove from the plantation whereupon he is seated, without penalty, to be returned to his former plantation only if the Governor and Council permit." In other words, he's on the council, and until he and the other council members give a direct order for them to return to their own homes, Samuel Jordan was stuck with William Farrar in his home. If Jordan was sick and Farrar interested in Cecily, he just kept himself there until the deed was done.
Cecily must have been quite the woman, as William Farrar was not the only man waiting for her hand minutes after Jordan died. Reverend Greville Pooley, the 46 year old minister of Parish Fleur-Dieu Hundred not only oversaw the burial of Samuel Jordan, proposed marriage within the week. Cecily was still carrying Samuel's second daughter Margaret, and agreed to marry Pooley under the condition that he not announce the engagement until after Margaret's birth. The Reverend apparently couldn't help bragging about his newfound good fortune and Cecily promptly cancelled the engagement, accepting instead that of William Farrar (it probably didn't help his case that it was testified that Pooley asked Cicely to "fetch a dram of water" so that they could toast to their engagement, and Cicely asked a maid to do it, but Pooley told her "it would be by her hand or not at all.") Pooley accused Cecily of the first "Breach of Promise" suit in the Americas, and laid his claim before Governor Yeardley and the Council (and we all know who is seated on the council.) They interviewed two witnesses but couldn't come to a conclusion, so it was referred to the Virginia Company's "Council of London." The Council basically wanted no part in such a "delicate case" and told them to take care of the matter amongst the civilians, but the whole thing blew over when Pooley gave up his claim and married someone else. (Unfortunately, Pooley and his new family were all massacred by the Indians just four years later.) The whole debacle prompted the General Assembly to pass a law for the protection of Virginia bachelors, giving Cecily a place in history, however small.
Cecily married William Ferrar married May 2, 1625 in Henrico co, Virginia, after being involved in the legal suit for two years. During all that time they lived together at Jordan's Journey, with both being named as head of that household, which caused a bit of a second uproar as it was illegal for unwed men and women to co-habitate. They had three children together, William, Cecily, and John.
William passed away in 1637, unfortunately no one knows whether or not Cecily was still living. She still would have been a relatively young woman of only 37 at his passing, and women at that time, especially in a place like a new colony where there weren't a large number of women available for marriage, were only afforded 3 days to a week to grieve before being expected to take a new husband. But here's the kicker; Cecily would have been very wealthy indeed at that time, amassing the 450 acres of Samuel's plantation as well as William's, which would have been no less than 100 acres. There are many assumptions, but no one knows for sure what happened to Cecily; she is in no records past being mentioned in a deed in 1631 when William sold some of his assets in England. William Ferrar was posthumously awarded 2,000 acres of land in 1637, which became "Ferrars Island." Some genealogists claim she married at least once, if not twice more, but there is no proof of this. (Many claim a "Peter Montague" was husband #4, and he did marry a woman byt he name of Cicely in James City VA, but her maiden/last maiden name was Clark, 1604-1668, and this is certainly not our Cicely.) It seems for now, Cicely Jordan Farrar will remain a woman of mystery.
Going back to today's theme, there are many books to be found on Cicely Jordan. Her Finagrave.com obit (where I found a wealth of information) lists several, which I will list here, as well as the books most of our records come from.
The Records of the Virginia Company of London - edited by Susan Kingsbury
The Journals of the House of Burgess of Virginia - edited by H R McIlwaine
The Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia - edited by H R McIlwaine
The Farrars - William B. and Ethel Farrar
John Pankey of Manakin Town, Virginia, and His Descendants - George Edward Pankey
The Farrar's Island Family - Alvahn Holmes
Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5" - John Frederick Dorman
Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635 - Martha W. McCartney
Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families - Douglas Richardson
Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families - Douglas Richardson
How Cecily relates to me:
Cecily is the second wife of Captain Samuel S Jordan (1600-1644) my 13th gr grandfather
-Thomas Jordan (by Samuels 1st wife) (1634-1699) 12th gr grandfather
--Joshua Jordan (1681-1718) 11th gr grandfather
---Rachel Jordan (1703-1768) 10th gr grandmother
----Joshua White (1724-1784) 9th gr grandfather
-----Jacob White (1753-1802) 8th gr grandfather
------Docia Ann White (1783-1840) 7th gr grandmother
-------Rebecca Molen (1807-1887) 6th gr grandmother
--------Maranda Jane Bond (1830-1904) 5th gr grandmother
---------Lucinda Caroline Etter (1863-1915) 4th gr grandmother
----------Ella Mae Quarton (1885-1967) 3rd gr grandmother
-----------Ralph Andrew Weller (1909-1994) great grandfather
down to me!
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