Samuel Jordan
Encyclopedia
Samuel Jordan was an early settler and Ancient Planter
of colonial Jamestown
, and one of the first colonial legislators
Jordan traveled to Virginia in 1610, according to his 1620 patent:
On the tract of 388 acres mentioned in the patent ("...towards land of Temperance Baley, W. upon Capt. Woodlief..."), Samuel Jordan established a plantation known as "Jordan's Journey" (also known as "Beggar's Bush"). In 1622 Jordan acquired an additional 100 acre (0.404686 km²) on the north side of the James River by assignment (i.e. by purchase) from Mrs Mary Tue, sister and executrix of Lieutenant Richard Crouch.
, who in the patent quoted above is described as "an ancient planter...of nine years continuance", is shown in the 1625 census as age 24, having come to Virginia on the Swan in August 1610, at which time she would have been ten or eleven years old.
It appears that at the time of her marriage to Samuel Jordan (sometime before 1620, as shown by the wording of the patent quoted above), Cicely was a widow with a small daughter named Temperance Baley. There is no direct evidence of this first marriage, but Temperance Baley is mentioned as an adjoining landholder in Samuel Jordan's 1620 patent, and she appears in the census of 1625 aged seven, living at Jordans Journey in the Muster of Mr William Ferrar and Mrs Jordan. John F. Dorman concludes that she was probably a daughter of Cicely Jordan from a first marriage to a Baley.
In 1622, the local Indian tribes organized a surprise attack on the English colonists. During what became known as the Indian Massacre of 1622
, many men, women, and children were killed in a coordinated series of attacks led by Chief Opechancanough of the Powhatan Confederacy. After the attack, most of the outlying settlements were abandoned for the time being, and the inhabitants evacuated to safer locations. A limited number were kept as inhabited settlements, including "A Plantacione of Mr Samuell Jourdes" (presumably Jordan's Journey), Kecoughtan, Newport News, Southampton Hundred, Flowerdew Hundred, Shirley Hundred. At the time of the Feb 1623/4 census, 42 people were living at Jordan's Journey.
(a merchant and leading member of the Virginia Company). When Greville Pooley's offer of marriage was declined, he complained to the Court, in an action which has been called the New World's first breach-of-promise suit.
Pooley's suit was unsuccessful, and in 1625 Cicely Jordan and William Farrar married. The marriage produced three known children (Cicely, John, and William); son William inherited, and became the founder of the Virginia Farrars.
Today there are numerous descendants of Cicely Jordan Farrar, from her presumed first marriage (through the marriage of her daughter Temperance Baley to Richard Cocke,) and from her third marriage to William Farrar; but descendants of her daughters from her marriage to Samuel Jordan have not been traced, with the result that there are today no documented descendants of Samuel Jordan.
Ancient planter
"Ancient planter" was a term applied to colonists who migrated to the Colony of Virginia "before the coming away of Sir Thomas Dale" and who remained in the colony for at least three years. Under the terms of the "Instructions to Governor Yeardley" , these colonists received the first land grants...
of colonial Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia
Jamestown was a settlement in the Colony of Virginia. Established by the Virginia Company of London as "James Fort" on May 14, 1607 , it was the first permanent English settlement in what is now the United States, following several earlier failed attempts, including the Lost Colony of Roanoke...
, and one of the first colonial legislators
Jordan traveled to Virginia in 1610, according to his 1620 patent:
On the tract of 388 acres mentioned in the patent ("...towards land of Temperance Baley, W. upon Capt. Woodlief..."), Samuel Jordan established a plantation known as "Jordan's Journey" (also known as "Beggar's Bush"). In 1622 Jordan acquired an additional 100 acre (0.404686 km²) on the north side of the James River by assignment (i.e. by purchase) from Mrs Mary Tue, sister and executrix of Lieutenant Richard Crouch.
Wife and Children
Samuel Jordan's wife CicelyCicely Jordan Farrar
Cicely Jordan FarrarCicely Jordan Ferrar was an early settler and Ancient Planter of colonial Jamestown. She came to the colony as a child, in 1611. Nothing is known of her origins, or who she traveled with. She married three times, and died sometime after 1631.-First Marriage:Cicely Jordan...
, who in the patent quoted above is described as "an ancient planter...of nine years continuance", is shown in the 1625 census as age 24, having come to Virginia on the Swan in August 1610, at which time she would have been ten or eleven years old.
It appears that at the time of her marriage to Samuel Jordan (sometime before 1620, as shown by the wording of the patent quoted above), Cicely was a widow with a small daughter named Temperance Baley. There is no direct evidence of this first marriage, but Temperance Baley is mentioned as an adjoining landholder in Samuel Jordan's 1620 patent, and she appears in the census of 1625 aged seven, living at Jordans Journey in the Muster of Mr William Ferrar and Mrs Jordan. John F. Dorman concludes that she was probably a daughter of Cicely Jordan from a first marriage to a Baley.
In 1622, the local Indian tribes organized a surprise attack on the English colonists. During what became known as the Indian Massacre of 1622
Indian massacre of 1622
The Indian Massacre of 1622 occurred in the Colony of Virginia, in what now belongs to the United States of America, on Friday, March 22, 1622...
, many men, women, and children were killed in a coordinated series of attacks led by Chief Opechancanough of the Powhatan Confederacy. After the attack, most of the outlying settlements were abandoned for the time being, and the inhabitants evacuated to safer locations. A limited number were kept as inhabited settlements, including "A Plantacione of Mr Samuell Jourdes" (presumably Jordan's Journey), Kecoughtan, Newport News, Southampton Hundred, Flowerdew Hundred, Shirley Hundred. At the time of the Feb 1623/4 census, 42 people were living at Jordan's Journey.
Death; Widow's Remarriage
Samuel Jordan died by June 4, 1623 His widow became the target of pursuit of two men, one the Rev. Greville Pooley and the other William Farrar, a grand-nephew of Nicholas FerrarNicholas Ferrar
Nicholas Ferrar was an English scholar, courtier, businessman and man of religion. Ordained deacon in the Church of England, he retreated with his extended family to the manor of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire, where he lived the rest of his life.-Early life:Nicholas Ferrar was born in London,...
(a merchant and leading member of the Virginia Company). When Greville Pooley's offer of marriage was declined, he complained to the Court, in an action which has been called the New World's first breach-of-promise suit.
Pooley's suit was unsuccessful, and in 1625 Cicely Jordan and William Farrar married. The marriage produced three known children (Cicely, John, and William); son William inherited, and became the founder of the Virginia Farrars.
Today there are numerous descendants of Cicely Jordan Farrar, from her presumed first marriage (through the marriage of her daughter Temperance Baley to Richard Cocke,) and from her third marriage to William Farrar; but descendants of her daughters from her marriage to Samuel Jordan have not been traced, with the result that there are today no documented descendants of Samuel Jordan.