Samuel Jordan (abt. 1578 - bef. 1623)

Born about 1578 in Wiltshire, England

Husband of Unknown (Unknown) Jordan — married before 1595 in England

Husband of Cecily (Unknown) Farrar — married before 10 Dec 1620 in Charles City, Colony of Virginia [uncertain]

Descendants

Died before 19 Nov 1623 before about age 45 in Jordan's Journey, Charles City, Colony of Virginia

Problems/Questions Profile managers: T Stanton [send private message], MG Pitts [send private message], and US Southern Colonies Project WikiTree [send private message]

Samuel Jordan resided in the Southern Colonies in North America before 1776. Join: US Southern Colonies Project Discuss: southern_colonies

Biography

Samuel Jordan migrated from England to Colonial America.

Samuel Jordan was a Jamestown colonist.

Samuel Jordan arrived in Virginia in 1610.^[1][2] This is also documented by a 10 Dec 1620 patent for 450 acres in Charles City, "an ancient planter who had abode ten years complete in this colony."^[3][4][5]

Uncertainty surrounds the early life of Samuel Jordan. Archaeologists who excavated Jordan's Journey, Samuel's home, have speculated that one of the more elaborate graves adjacent to the main residence containing the remains of a man between 35 and 39 may be Samuel Jordan's. If this is the case, Jordan was most likely born c. 1584-1588.^[6]

It has been suggested by Alexander Brown that he was married more than once^[7] and other historians believe he had three sons born in England by a first wife: Robert, Samuel and Thomas.^[8][9] Genealogist John Dorman mentions neither Robert or Samuel but leaves the possibility that Thomas Jordan who arrived on the Diana in 1619 at age 18 is his son, though this lacks conclusive primary source documentation.^[4]

Samuel Jordan served as a Burgess for Charles City in the first Virginia Assembly of 1619.^[10][11] Under the Great Charter, Jordan was an ancient planter which entitled him to 100 acres.^[5]

The maiden name of Cecily, the wife he married in Virginia before 1620,^[5] remains unknown. She arrived Virginia August 1611^[12] and the Jamestown muster of 1625 when she was 24 places her age at marriage as about 18.^[13]

In 1620, Samuel Jordan received his patent for 450 acres which included 100 acres each for he and Cecily as ancient planters and 250 acres headright for the transport of five indentured servants (John Davis, Thomas Matterly, Alice Wade, Robert Marshall and Thomas Studd) to Virginia. His patent, today known as Jordan Point, Virginia, was then known as Jordan's Journey and his residence as Beggars Bush.^[5][7]

The Powhatan Confederacy launched a surprise attack in 1622 killing nearly a third of the colonists and triggering the Second Anglo-Powhatan War. Jordan's Journey then became a fortified stronghold which grew to a population of 42 in 1624^[14] and 56 a year later.^[13]

Samuel Jordan passed away before 16 February 1623/4 since he does not appear among those at Jordan's Journey in the list of inhabitants sent to the Virginia Company that month.^[14] Following his death Cecily became involved in a legal dispute. Three days following Samuel's death, Rev Greville Pooley proposed marriage. By June 1623 she had promised herself to William Farrar who lived at Jordan's Journey and was bonded to execute Samuel's will. Pooley brought suit claiming his proposal had been accepted. In 1625, Pooley dropped his claim against Cecily and she married William Farrar. Samuel's daughters inherited Jordan's Journey.^[15]

Samuel Jordan died after about April 1622 to about April 1623,^[13] and before 19 November 1623.^[16]

On 19 November 1623, the Court issued a warrant to Mr. Farrar to bring in the account of Mr. Jordan his estate by the last day of December 1623. The Court also issued another warrant to Mrs. Jordan, that Mr. Farrar put in security for the performance of her husband's Will.^[16]

Timeline

1619 First General Assembly

The first representative legislative assembly ever held within the limits of the present United States of America convened on 30 July 1619, at Jamestown, Virginia, and was in session until 4 August 1619.^{[17][18][19][20]}

Samuel Sharpe and Samuel Jordan served as Burgesses for the Charles City Incorporation.

On the first day of the assembly, William was one of 16 representatives assigned to two committees, each with 8 members, to peruse two books containing the Great Charter and commission of priviledges, orders, and laws sent by Sir George Yeardley out of England. On 3 August, two additional books were read and referred to the same committees.

1620 Ancient Planter

"Ancient Planter. A colonist in Virginia by 1616, entitled to 100 acres of land provided he paid his own passage and had dwelt in the Colony for three years when application for land was made. In accordance with a predetermined policy of the Virginia Company, no individual assignments of land were made during the first seven years of the Colony's existence. The policy of granting patents for acreage to settlers was inaugurated during the latter part of the regime of Sir Thomas Dale, Governor, 1611–1616."^[21]

On 10 December 1620, George Yardley, Knight, Governor, and Captain General of Virginia, granted to "Samuel Jourdan of Charles Citty in Virg'a. Gent'. an ancient planter who hath abode ten years Compleat in this Colony" and "Cecily his wife an ancient planter also of nine years continuance", 450 acres total, 100 acres each, and the other 250 acres in recompence of his transportation out of England at his own charges of five servants (John Davies, 1617; Thomas Matterdy, indenture 8 October 1617; Robert Marshall, May 1619; Alice Wad, May 1619; Thomas Steed, July 1620); and maketh choice in 3 severall places: one house & 50 acs. called ___ilities Point in Charles hundred, bordering E. upon the gr. river, W. upon the main land, S. upon John Rolfe & N. upon land of Capt. John Wardeefe; 2ndly, 1 tenement containing 12 acs. etc., encompassed on the W. by Martins Hope, now in tenure of Capt. John Martin, Master of Ordinance; & 388 acs. in or near upon Sandys his hundred, towards land of Temperance Baley, W. upon Capt. Woodlief etc. This land was in the Territory of Great Weyonoke.^{[22][23][24][25]} (see map^[26])

• Beggars Bush, later named Jordan's Journey, 50 acres, 388 acres. (see map^[26]))
• Martin's Hundred, 12 acres. (see map^[26])

Children

Suggested by various historians/genealogists via an unknown first wife in England, unsourced here:

• Robert^[8][9]
• Samuel^[8][9]
• Thomas^[8][9][4]

or alternatively with a woman named Francis Baker (m. 1595, England; she d. 1608, England), unsourced here:

• Anne Maria Jordan, 1596–1630.
• Robert Jordan, 1598–1622.
• Thomas Jordan Sr., 1600–1684.
• Samuel Jordan, 1608–1644.

With Cecily (___):

• Mary - b 1621^[13]
• Margaret - b 1623^[13]

The Jamestown Muster of 1625 also includes a child named Temperance Baley (born c. 1618) in the household. Temperance, who was less than two years old at the time of Samuel and Cecily's marriage, had inherited her father's land, as the young girl is mentioned as an adjoining landholder in Samuel Jordan's 1620 patent. While she lived at the Jordan household, Temperance Baley's relationship to the Jordan family is not certain.

Research Notes

Often Conflated

Samuel Jordan (abt.1578-1623) is often conflated with Silvester Jourdain (abt.1565-abt.1650), who kept a day-to-day journal of the Sea Venture's time in Bermuda in 1609–1610.

Several historians including Boddie^[27] and many online genealogies conflate the two individuals.

See Sea Venture, sailed June 18, 1609.

Vital Statistics

Birth
It is unknown what the original source of the estimated birth of about 1586 is, but perhaps it comes from birth of first child in about 1598.

Death
Samuel was presumably still alive sometime between about April 1622 and about April 1623, based on the age of their daughter Margaret in the 1625 Muster:^[13]

• (21 January 1625 - 2 years - 9 months)=about April 1622.
• (21 January 1625 - 1 year - 9 months)=about April 1623.

He died certainly before 19 November 1623.^[16]

Disputed Parents

See g2g thread for a discussion of the detachment of the former father attached to this profile. [6 Nov 2019]

Cleanup Needed

See Previous profile text of Jordan-811.

Sources

1. ↑ “FamilySearch Catalog: Samuel Jordan ... — FamilySearch.Org,” n.d. https://www.familysearch.org/search/catalog/oclc/866684231.
2. ↑ “Samuel Jordan ... | WorldCat.Org,” 1978. https://www.worldcat.org/title/samuel-jordan/oclc/866684231.
3. ↑ Virginia County IV, p 554; Patent Book 8, p 125. Admitted to record 1690 by Richard Bland.
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2} Dorman, John F., Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia 1607-25, Families G-P
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3} Nugent, Nell Marion (1934). "Patent Book No. 2". Cavaliers and Pioneers, Abstracts of Land Grants 1623-1800. 1. Richmond, VA: Dietz Press. p. 226.
6. ↑ McLearen, Douglas C.; Mouer, L. Daniel; Boyd, Donna M.; Owsley, Douglas W.; Compton, Bertita (1993). Jordan's Journey: A Preliminary Report on the 1992 Excavations at Archaeological Sites 44PG302, 44PG303, and 44PG315
7. ↑ ^{7.0 7.1} Brown, Alexander (1890). The Genesis of the United States, Vol 2. II. Boston, MA Houghton, Mifflin. p. 933.
8. ↑ ^{8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3} Winslow, Ellen G. R. (1931). History of Perquimans County As Compiled from Records Found There and Elsewhere. Raleigh, NC: Edwards & Broughton. p. 367.
9. ↑ ^{9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3} Hale, Nathaniel C. (1948). Roots in Virginia: An Account of Captain Thomas Hale, Virginia Frontiersman, His descendants and Related Families. With Genealogies and Sketches of Hale, Saunders, Lucke, Claiborne, Lacy, Tobin and Contributing Ancestral Lines. Philadelphia, PA: George H. Buchanan.
10. ↑ Kingsbury, Susan Myra, ed. (1933). Records of the Virginia Company of London. 3. Washington DC: Government Printing Office. p 154
11. ↑ “Burgess Samuel Jordan b. Est 1575 Prob. England d. 1623 Jordan’s Journey, Jordan’s Point,  Henrico Co., Virginia Colony: The Reynolds Family,” n.d. https://reynoldspatova.org/getperson.php?personID=I5485&tree=reynolds1.
12. ↑ Southall, James P. C. (1942). "Cicely Jordan Farrar and Temperance Baley". The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. 50 (1). pp. 74–80. JSTOR 4245145
13. ↑ ^{13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5} Hotten, pp209-213; digital images, Archive.org (p209).
14. ↑ ^{14.0 14.1} Hotten, p171; digital images, Archive.org (p171).
15. ↑ McCartney, Martha W. (December 2011). Jordan's Point, Virginia: Archaeology in Perspective, Prehistoric to Modern Times. ISBN 9780615455402.
16. ↑ ^{16.0 16.1 16.2} McIlwaine, Minutes, p8; digital images, FamilySearch (p8).
17. ↑ "The First General Assembly," Jamestown Rediscovery: Historic Jamestowne (https://historicjamestowne.org/history/the-first-general-assembly/)
18. ↑ Colonial Records of Virginia. (Richmond, Virginia: R.F. Walker, Superintendent Public Printing, 1874), pp9-32, especially p9, p14, p24; digital images, Archive.org (title page).
19. ↑ McIlwaine, Journals, 1619–1658/59, especially pvii, pp1-16; digital images, Archive.org (title page).
20. ↑ Alexander Brown, The First Republic in America … (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1898), pp308-321, especially p314, p317; digital images, Archive.org (title page).
21. ↑ Dorman, Vol. 1, pxix.
22. ↑ Virginia Land Office Patents and Grants, Patents No.8, 1689–1694, pp125-126; digital images, Library of Virginia (p125, p126).
23. ↑ Kingsbury, Vol. 4, p554; digital images, Archive.org (p554).
24. ↑ The Edward Pleasants Valentine Papers (Richmond, Virginia: The Valentine Museum, 1927), Vol. 2, p715; digital images, FamilySearch (image 129).
25. ↑ Nugent, p226; digital images, Archive.org (p226).
26. ↑ ^{26.0 26.1 26.2} Hatch, pp32-33; digital copy of map, Gutenburg.org (pp32-33).
27. ↑ Boddie, John Bennett, Historical Southern Families, Vol XI:264-265, Clearfield, 1967

Citation Sources:

• John Camden Hotten, The Original Lists of Persons of Quality; Emigrants; Religious Exiles; Political Rebels; Serving Men Sold for a Term of Years; Apprentices; Children Stolen; Maidens Pressed; and Others Who Went From Great Britain to the American Plantations 1600–1700. (New York, New York: J. W. Bouton, 1874); digital images, Archive.org (title page).
• H. R. McIlwaine, Journals of the House of Burgessess of Virginia, 1619–1658/59 (Richmond, Virginia: Library Board, Virginia State Library, 1915); digital images, Archive.org (title page).
• H. R. McIlwaine (editor), Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia, 1622–1632, 1670–1676, With Notes and Excerpts From Original Council and General Court Records, Into 1683, Now Lost (Richmond, Virginia: Library Board, Virginia State Library, 1924); digital images, FamilySearch (title page).

See also - for more information:

• Wikipedia: Samuel Jordan.
• Wikipedia: Cecily Jordan Farrar.
• Wikipedia: Ancient planter.
• Wikipedia: Jordan Point, Virginia.
• Wikipedia: Indian massacre of 1622.
• Wikipedia: Cecily Jordan v. Greville Pooley dispute.

See also:

• Wulfeck, Dorothy Ford, Marriages of Some Virginia Residents 1607–1800 (Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Baltimore, Maryland, 1986) Page: 69; Quote: Jordan, Thomas, b. 1600, England, son of Samuel, who came to Va., in 1609, m. Lucy Corker, dau. of Capt. William Corker of Surry Co., sis. of Susanna. They res. in Isle of Wight Co. Proven by will of William Corker, dated 1677, Surry Co.
  • The William and Mary Quarterly, v. 7, no. 1, p. 232; Quote: Footnote 5 continued from previous page: ... In the Surry records there is a deed (year 1688) of Lucy Jordan, wife of Mr. Thomas Jordan (the Isle of Wight man), conveying to Phillis Jordan that portion of land "which I hold in partnership with sister Susannah Branch and niece Eliz. Parsons, dau. and sole heir of sister Judith Clay, dece'd, which land descended unto said Susanna, Judith, and Lucy, as daus. and coheirs of Capt. William Corker, dece'd" (son of John Corker). Witness, James Jordan, Richard Washington. In 1685 Lt. Coll. Wm. Browne and Mr. James Jordan presented in Surry an inventory of goods of Mr. Thomas Jordan, dece'd. There is in Surry the nuncupative will of Capt. William Corker "made at the house of his dau. Judith Clay in y^e Isle of Wight Co." Feb. 26, 1675-6. Divides his estate between his wife and his three daus: Susanna (who m. George Branch, jr.), Judith Clay and Lucy Jordan; he confirms a gift to Elizabeth md. Capt. Robert Spencer, of Surry. ... The Jordans of Isle of Wight were leading Quakers.
  • A History of Halifax County Virginia, by Wirt Johnson Carrington, 1924, p. 215. Image Quote: Jordan (2) Thomas Jordan (son of Samuel), born 1600 in England, married Lucy Corker, daughter of Captain Corker of Surry County, Va. (He was burgess in 1629–1632, was a soldier with Yardley.)

See also - other family trees:

• Find A Grave: Memorial #101648160 for Samuel Jordan (1578–1623) (memorial only, no gravestone photo).