Cecily Jordan Farrar | |
---|---|
Born | c. 1600 England |
Died | after 1631 |
Spouses | Samuel Jordan, William Farrar |
Cecily Jordan Farrar was one of the earlier women settlers of colonial Jamestown, Virginia. She arrived in the colony as a child in 1610 and was established as one of the few female ancient planters by 1620. After her husband Samuel Jordan died in 1623, Cecily obtained oversight of his 450-acre plantation, Jordan's Journey. In the Jamestown Muster of 1624-1625, she is one of fewer than 10 women who are mentioned as a head of household, and the only woman listed as sharing the head of household with a man she was not married to. In the year of Samuel Jordan's death, she set off the first breach of promise lawsuit in English North America when she chose the marriage proposal of William Farrar, who was bonded to help settle her estate, over that of Greville Pooley, who claimed his proposal had already been accepted. In 1625, Cecily prevailed when Pooley withdrew his claim. Afterward, she married William Farrar.
Nothing is known of Cecily's life and background before she came to the New World. She was among the earlier women to arrive in Jamestown, Virginia. [1] When Cecily arrived onboard Swan in August 1611, [2] she was around 10 years old [note 1] and one of 20 women among the 260 passengers. [4] : 156 Her arrival was part of a series of transports that were intended to replenish Jamestown's population. [5] : 33–35 During the previous year's Starving Time, Jamestown had been reduced to only 60 people, and was saved from abandonment by the last-minute arrival of an earlier transport in June 1610 led by Lord De La Warr. [6]
Cecily's first years in the colony were during the first Anglo-Powhatan war, which resulted in the deaths of over 400 settlers and Powhatan people and only ended with John Rolfe's marriage to Pocahantas in 1614. [7] In 1618, the Great Charter enacted by the Virginia Company as instructions to Virginia's Governor George Yeardley established a grant for colonists who had lived in Virginia for at least three years and had paid their way to the colony through their own money or working off their debt for being transported. [8] : 98–109 The instructions called these colonists ancient planters, and each received a grant of 100 acres of land as their dividend for investing in the Virginia Company. She is identified as an ancient planter in a 1620 patent [9] and was one of the very few women that received this grant. [note 2]
By 1620, Cecily had married Samuel Jordan and was living at Jordan's Journey, [9] a 450 acre plantation on the James River. A year later, she gave birth to their daughter Mary. [3] Cecily and her family survived the Powhatan surprise attack in 1622 that initiated the Second Anglo-Powhatan War. Although nearly a third of all the colonists in Virginia were killed in this surprise attack, nobody was listed as among the slain at Jordan's Journey. [8] : 565–571 After the attack, Jordan's Journey provided a safe haven for survivors whose plantations were on the upper James River. [10]
Samuel Jordan died in early 1623, [4] : 563 when Cecily was pregnant with their daughter, Margaret. [11] Cecily was then authorized to settle her husband's estate, [5] : 434 and William Farrar, a colonist who had left his own land after the Powhatan attack and moved to Jordan's Journey, was bonded to help her. [12] : 8 During this time, Jordan's Journey prospered. [13]
About three or four days after Samuel Jordan's death, Reverend Greville Pooley claimed to have proposed marriage to Cecily and claimed she accepted. [14] However, she instead chose to contract herself to William Farrar before Governor Yeardley and the Council of Virginia, disavowing Pooley's claim. [15] As a result of Cecily's action, Pooley initiated the first breach of promise suit in English-speaking North America. [16] After two years of litigation, the case was resolved in Cecily's favor in 1625. Pooley discharged her from all contracts and bound himself to a £500 bond stating that he would never have any claims, rights or titles over her. [12] : 42
While the case was ongoing, Cecily and William Farrar both lived at Jordan's Journey and continued to work together, and both "Mr. William Ferrar and Mrs. Jordan" were named as the heads of the household in the Jamestown Muster of 1624/25. [note 3] [3] By May 1625 Cecily and Farrar were finally married, and they had three children together: Cecily, William, and John. [18] It is not known when Cecily died. [note 4] The last year she is mentioned is 1631 in the record of William Farrar's sale of his assets in England. [21]
In the Jamestown Muster of 1624-1625, the list of members of Cecily and William Farrar's household includes Temperance Baley (now spelled Bailey), who was listed as seven years old and born in Virginia. [3] Temperance is listed as receiving a patent for 100 acres in 1620 when she was about two or three years of age; she is also listed having 200 acres planted in 1625. [5] : 102 In addition, Samuel Jordan's 1620 patent lists her properties as adjoining his. [9] Based on this evidence, a number of researchers have concluded that Temperance may be Cecily's daughter from a previous husband named Baley. [22] [18] [23] [5] : 434 However, there is no direct documentation that she is Temperance's mother or that she had a husband before marrying Samuel Jordan. [2] In addition, Temperance's father has not been conclusively identified. [22]
Pocahontas was a Native American woman belonging to the Powhatan people, notable for her association with the colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia. She was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of a network of tributary tribes in the Tsenacommacah, encompassing the Tidewater region of what is today the U.S. state Virginia.
Sir George Yeardley was a planter and colonial governor of the colony of Virginia. He was also among the first slaveowners in Colonial America. A survivor of the Virginia Company of London's ill-fated Third Supply Mission, whose flagship, the Sea Venture, was shipwrecked on Bermuda for ten months from 1609 to 1610, he is best remembered for presiding over the initial session of the first representative legislative body in Virginia in 1619. With representatives from throughout the settled portion of the colony, the group became known as the House of Burgesses. It has met continuously since, and is known in modern times as the Virginia General Assembly. Yeardley died in 1627.
Sir Samuel Argall was an English adventurer and naval officer.
Samuel Jordan was an early settler and Ancient Planter of colonial Jamestown. He arrived in Virginia around 1610, and served as a Burgess in the first representative legislative session in North America. Jordan patented a plantation which he called "Beggar's Bush", which later became known as Jordan's Journey. It became a safe haven and stronghold for settlers during the Second Anglo-Powhatan War that ensued after the Powhatan surprise attack of 1622.
The Indian massacre of 1622 took place in the English colony of Virginia on 22 March 1622. English explorer John Smith, though he was not an eyewitness, wrote in his History of Virginia that warriors of the Powhatan "came unarmed into our houses with deer, turkeys, fish, fruits, and other provisions to sell us"; they then grabbed any tools or weapons available and killed all English settlers they found, including men, women, and children of all ages. Opechancanough, chief of the Powhatan Confederacy, led a coordinated series of surprise attacks that ended up killing a total of 347 people — a quarter of the population of the Colony of Virginia.
The City of Henrico is one of the oldest counties in the Colony of Virginia. It was one of four incorporations established in the colony by its proprietor, the Virginia Company. The City of Henrico, which included the settlement of Henricus, was the furthest incorporation upstream on the James River. In 1634, Henrico was reorganized under royal authority as the shire of Henrico, one of eight shires in the Crown Colony of Virginia, Later, it became known as Henrico County, Virginia.
Jordan Point is a small unincorporated community on the south bank of the James River in the northern portion of Prince George County, Virginia, United States. It is about 20 miles from Richmond and 30 miles upstream from Jamestown on the James River. It was the location of extensive archeological research between 1987 and 1993. This research provided substantial information about human existence in the area from the prehistoric to the late colonial eras. In particular, the research extensively studied the Jordan's Journey settlement that existed between 1620 and 1640 during early years of the Virginia colony.
Anne Burras was an early English settler in Virginia and an Ancient Planter. She was the first English woman to marry in the New World, and her daughter Virginia Laydon was the first child of English colonists to be born in the Jamestown colony. Anne Burras arrived in Jamestown on September 30, 1608, on the Mary and Margaret, the ship bringing the Second Supply. She came as a 14-year-old maid to Mrs. Thomas Forrest. In November or December 1608, Anne married John Laydon/Layton/Leyden. The Laydons had four daughters, Virginia, Alice, Katherine, and Margaret. All six members of the Laydon family were listed in the muster of February 1624/5. According to the muster, Anne was 30 years of age when the muster was taken. All four children are listed as born in Virginia; their ages are not given.
Jamestown, also Jamestowne, was the first settlement of the Virginia Colony, founded in 1607, and served as the capital of Virginia until 1699, when the seat of government was moved to Williamsburg. This article covers the history of the fort and town at Jamestown proper, as well as colony-wide trends resulting from and affecting the town during the time period in which it was the colonial capital of Virginia.
Temperance Flowerdew, Lady Yeardley was an early settler of the Jamestown Colony and a key member of the Flowerdew family, significant participants in the history of Jamestown. Temperance Flowerdew was wife of two Governors of Virginia, sister of another early colonist, aunt to a representative at the first General Assembly and "cousin-german" to the Secretary to the Colony.
William Powell, was an early Virginia colonist, landowner, militia officer and legislator. Considered an Ancient Planter for living in the Virginia colony during its first decade, he was one of two representatives from what became James City County, Virginia in the first Virginia House of Burgesses in 1619. His former plantation, now across the James River in Surry County, Virginia is now within Chippokes State Park.
The Cecily Jordan v. Greville Pooley dispute was the first known prosecution for breach of promise in colonial America and the first in which the defendant was a woman. This case was tried in the chambers of the Virginia Company, and never went to a civil court, for the plaintiff withdrew his complaint. The first successful case was Stretch v. Parker in 1639.
Richard Cocke (1597–1665) was a prominent colonial Virginia planter and politician. He established a political and social dynasty that firmly seated itself as among the most prominent in Virginia. Among his more prominent descendants are George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush, as well as professional baseball player Ryne Harper.
In May 1607, one hundred men and young boys were on an expedition where they arrived in what is now known as Virginia. This group were the first permanent English settlers in America. They named the colony of Jamestown, after the English King James. The site was chosen precisely for its location and beneficial factors. Jamestown was surrounded by water on three sides of the land; this made it easily accessible for ships to come and go. It was far enough inland, making it easier to defend from a possible Spanish attack. At the time, it was said that the men had to be able to create a living before any women could be a part of the colony.
William Farrar was a landowner and politician in colonial Virginia. He was a subscriber to the third charter of the Virginia Company who immigrated to the colony from England in 1618. After surviving the Jamestown massacre of 1622, he moved to Jordan's Journey. In the following year, Farrar became involved in North America's first breach of promise suit when he proposed to Cecily Jordan.
Samuel Sharpe, sometimes referred to as Samuel Sharp was an early Virginia colonist who settled in the area that became Charles City County, Virginia. He came to Virginia in 1610 with most of the passengers and crew of the Sea Venture as they made their way to the colony after 10 months in Bermuda. They had wrecked in a storm there and built two small boats to complete their journey to Jamestown. Along with Samuel Jordan, he represented Charles City as a burgess in the first general assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. He was a representative for Westover, an incorporation of Charles City, in the 1623/24 assembly and signed a letter along with several burgesses at the time of that assembly.
William Spence was an early Virginia colonist on Jamestown Island. He was member of the first assembly of the Virginia House of Burgesses in Jamestown, Virginia in 1619. Spence became an ensign in the local militia and is thus sometimes identified as Ensign William Spence or Ensign Spence. He was an early farmer on Jamestown Island, a tobacco taster and landowner at Archer's Hope. He, his wife and his young daughter, Sara, or Sarah, avoided the Indian massacre of 1622, but Spence and his wife were reported "lost" at the census of February 16, 1624.
William Spencer was an early Virginia colonist on Jamestown Island, who was an Ancient planter and a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses in Jamestown, Virginia for Mulberry Island in 1632/33.
William Sharpe was an early Virginia colonist, soldier, ancient planter, and Virginia Company shareholder who settled in the Bermuda Hundred area that became part of Charles City County, Virginia. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses in Jamestown, Virginia in 1629.
William Tucker settled in Jamestown of the Colony of Virginia in the early 17th century. He was a military commander. In May 1623, he offered a toast in a meeting with members of the Powhatan tribe. The wine that they had been given was a poisonous cocktail prepared by Dr. John Potts. It killed 200 Native Americans and another 50 were slain. He owned land with his brothers-in-law and was a member of the House of Burgesses, a commission of the peace, and was appointed to the Council.