Cecily Farrar, Ancient Planter

Cicely Reynolds, born betw 1593 and 1604 in Dorset, England; died 1677 in Farrar's Island, Henrico Co., VA. She was also known as Sisley or Cesley Greene, Reynolds, Farrar, Jordan, Bayley, and Montague. She was awarded with the title of "Ancient Planter" of the Jamestown Colony in 1620

Parents: NOT Thomas Reynolds and Cicely Pippen (1593-?) . Note: "There is no proof whatsoever anywhere that Cecily Baley Jordan Farrar, Ancient Planter, was a Reynolds or connected to the Phippin family at all. I am descended from her through both her daughter, Temperance Cocke and her son, William Farrar. I have studied these families over 50 years. I am a Founder of Order of Descendants of Ancient Planters and it is very important to us to have the lines correct based on documentary evidence." Temperance Bailey and her ancestors Posted 15 February 2011.

Cecily was born in England about 1600. In June 1610, at age ten, Cecily sailed from the port of London aboard the "Swan" arriving at the Jamestown Colony in late August 1610. The "Swan" was one of a fleet of three ships belonging to Sir Thomas Gates, which along with the "Tryall" and the "Noah" carried 250 passengers and a years worth of provisions for 400 men.

She was on her own from the age of 11, and grew into the much-courted and many times married "Glamour Girl" of the Jamestown Colony. She had good friendships with women as well as men; and by the time she was 24 years old, due to the death of her husband Samuel Jordan, she owned outright a successful plantation, Jordan's Landing, one of only four to continue operation after the Indian Massacre of 1622. Both Samuel and Cicely earned the designation "Ancient Planter" by the London Company of Virginia.

Married:

1. 1618 to Thomas Bayley or Bailey, thought to be the son of Samuel Bailey; Thomas was a member of the Governor's Guard stationed at Jamestown. He died of illness and in accordance with the custom of the Colony, Cecily promptly remarried.
2. abt 1621 to Samuel Jordan (1590-1623) as his second wife.
3. on May 02, 1625 in Jamestown, VA to Commissioner William Farrar.

marriages sometimes listed to Peter Montague and Thomas Parker were discussed and not shown in the Geni tree. See below.

Children of Cicely Reynolds and Thomas Bailey:

1. Temperance Bailey, born 1617 in Charles City County, VA; died 1647 in Charles City County, VA. married Lieutenant Colonel Richard Cocke, Sr., born Bef. September 05, 1602 in Stottesdon, Shropshire, England; died October 04, 1665 in Bremo, Henrico, VA. He was the son of John Cocke and Elizabeth. It is thought that Temperance was named in honor of Temperance West, Lady Yardley, wife of Governor George Yardley.

Children of Cicely Reynolds and Samuel Jordan:

1. Mary Jordan, born 1621 in Jordan's Journey, VA
2. Margaret Jordon, born 1623 in Jordan's Journey, VA, after her father's death.

Children of William Farrar and Cicely Reynolds are:

1. Col. William Farrar II, born 1626 in Jamestown, VA; died February 11, 1677/78 in Henrico Co., VA; married Mary Williams 1656.
2. Cicely Farrar, born 1627 in Farrar's Island, Henrico Co., VA
3. Lt. Col. John Farrar, born 1631 in Farrar's Island, Henrico Co., VA; died March 1684/85 in Henrico Co., VA.

the quotable Miss Reynolds

Mr. Pooley maught thank himself for he might fared the better but for his own words." - Cecely Reynolds Baley Jordan Farrar, 1623

the invention of flirting in America

• from http://www.burningsettlerscabin.com/?tag=cicely-reynolds:

Cicely survived the Jamestown Massacre in 1622 by, as the story goes, standing firmly at her front door and refusing to move. The Powhatan Indians were impressed with her fortitude and beauty and let her live. That story seems a little far-fetched, but who knows?

Note: Records show that few lives were lost at Jordan's Journey during the Indian Massacre of 1622 -- Samuel Jordan's son was killed trying to warn neighbors -- and it was one of the four fortified plantations not abandoned after the massacre. In the dawn's darkness, William Farrer rowed as rapidly as he could from Farrer's Island to take refuge at Jordan's Journey. He was to stay at there for the next 6 years.

Within three or four days of Samuel Jordan’s death, Cicely agreed to become the wife of Rev. Greville Pooley. She was pregnant with Samuel Jordan’s child, so she asked that the engagement be kept secret. However, Rev. Pooley was so impressed that he had won Cicely’s hand that he spread the word. Not a good move, now a furious Cicely refused to go through with the wedding, causing the first "breach of contract" lawsuit in the Colonies. n.b. Quite wisely the Virginia House of Burgesses kicked the case over to London, and Cecily won.
Finally, at 59, Cicely Reynolds Bailey Jordan Farrar Montague married husband five, Thomas Parker. There were no children from this marriage, and Parker died three years later. Unfortunately, as was the case with many women, after this we lose records on Cicely. As a member of my mother’s family, I can surmise that, at this point, she had thick wavy white hair, a wry and dark sense of humor, and perfect grace.

Family Notes

• from: The Sister of Christopher Reynolds of Isle of Wight VA?, by Susan E. Clement and Sybil R. Taylor © 1992 Reynolds Family Association

From the evidence examined to date, it appears that the first American genealogical writer of Cecily and Christopher was J.R.B. Ray in 1901. (The North Carolina Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol II, No 4, Oct 1901. Repr Balto: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1979, pp135-136.) Unfortunately, Ray gave little in the way of sources for his information.

Ray appears to have found Cecily entrancing, and he wrote of the "Mysterious Cicely Jordan"

At or about the same time, if not on the same vessel, in the year 1611, a ten year old girl named Cicely Reynolds, and a comparatively young widower, who had left his small sons behind him in England, arrived at Jamestown in the Colony of Virginia.
The young widower was Samuel Jordan, who afterwards established a seat on the James River near its confluence with the Appomattox, which he called 'Jourdan's Jorney'. Almost contemporaneously with the coming of these two, but perhaps a year earlier, Sir Thomas Gates and his companions of the ill fated 'Sea Venture' had landed, among them being Capt. William Pierce."
"This was followed by Joane Pierce, the Captain's wife on the 'Blessing.' Capt. Pierce was a relative in some degree of the young girl Cicely Reynolds, and doubtless the advance arrival of Cicely was known to both Captain Pierce and his wife.
Besides, Samuel Jordan was a near-relative of Cicely and her mother's cousin, and still another cousin (of her mother) Silvester Jordan, came about the same time, so there was no lack of relatives to look after the ten year old child, whose mother, still living in Dorsetshire, for some reason had consented to her coming."
These sudden and swift transitions in the life of Cicely Reynolds were characteristic of one of such adventurous spirit as to undertake a long sea voyage into strange lands, even though accompanied by near relatives. She was ten years of age in 1611, and must have married her first husband ___ Bailey when but about 14 years old, as in 1623-4 her daughter Temperance was seven years of age. The Christian name of her first husband has not been found, but it is safe to say he was of the same family as the Samuel Bailey who is known to have married a grand-daughter of Capt. William Pierce, her relative.
The grandfather of Cicely Reynolds was Thomas Jordan, of Dorsetshire, England, grand daughter, the mother of Cicely married a Reynolds [sic]. Her mother's maiden name was Cicely Fitzpen or Phippen, and she was the daughter of Robert Phippen and his wife Cicely or Cicellie Jordan. Robert Phippen was the son of one Joseph Phippen, whose mother was Alice Pierce, and thus Ciceley Reynolds was related to Capt. William Pierce and his wife Joane. This last couple were the parents of Jane Pierce who married as his third wife another celebrated Virginia character -John Rolfe.

But to continue the story:

Samuel Jordan of Jordan's Jorney, became the second husband of this adventurous daughter of his first cousin Cicely Phippen.
"Twelve years later, her brother, Christopher Reynolds, arrived on the 'John and Francis' and may have discovered for the first time that his sister was then married to her second husband Samuel Jordan and the mistress of Jordan's Jorney, with a six year old daughter by her first husband, named Temperance Bailey..."

At their home on the James [River] he and his wife and their household survived the Indian uprising that occurred in 1622-23. But not long after that Samuel Jordan died.

Very shortly after the death of Samuel Jordan, of Jordan's Jorney, one of the legatees in the will of Abraham Persey, a certain Rev. Greville Pooly, vociferously "woed" the widow Cecily Jordan, who rejected his early advances on the ground that she was with child; but thereafter she married Capt. William Farrar, a prominent man of the Virginia Council. Thereupon the parson brought what has been called by Alexander Brown "the first breach of promise suit in America". The astute third husband, being a lawyer, succeeded in quashing the proceedings, and Parson Pooly went on his way. But the child was born.
Thus Cicely Reynolds had been married twice and was the mother of one child by each of her first two husbands. By Captain William Farrar, she became the mother of two sons Capt. William Farrar Jr and Lieut. Colonel John Farrar, of Henrico Co. [VA] who left no children and never married, so that the girl-emigrant thus became the ancestress of the numerous Farrars of VA, through her son William Farrar, Jr. Her third husband, Capt. (or Colonel) William Farrar died about 1635-6.
The history of 'Aunt Cecily' becomes obscured by the ascendancy of the Independents or Puritans. In that transition, the old plantation aristocracy of which she was a part lost power in the affairs of the Colony. But her original chaperon in America, Captain William Pierce (II) wound up on the winning team in that shuffle. So did her brother, Christopher Reynolds (III)." [23]

Discussion

• Researchers have Cecily marrying for a fourth time to Peter Montague. Peter left a wife, Cecily , in his will proved 1 July 1659 in Lancaster county, Virginia. It is felt that Peter's first wife was Cecily Mathews, the daughter of Anthony Matthews. Many researchers state that Cecily Farrar had five children by Peter Montague.
• After Peter's death, researchers say she married in 1660 Thomas Parker, who also left a wife Cecily. Thomas came in the Neptune with William Farrar in 1618 and on 23 January 1625 was at "College Land."
• Said to have given birth to Samuel Jordan's posthumous son named Richard Jordan. This seems unlikely as the Jamestown Muster of 1624 reports her with three children (in a household of 37): Temperance Bailey, Mary Jordan and Margaret Jordan (b. 1623). Therefore Margaret is most likely the child born after Samuel Jordan's death. There is no further record of Margaret so presume died young.
• Said to be the younger sister of Christopher Reynolds of Isle of Wight.
• She is variously listed as a Fludd, a Greene, and most interestingly, as a street orphan swept up and sent to the Jamestown Colony. However the name "Cecily" runs in the Phippen family, and the connections to the Bailey and Jordan families, carried over in Jamestown, seem firmly rooted in Dorset. The real question is why a mother allows / sends her 11 year old child on such an adventure to Jamestown. That Cecily prospered materially -- she was a wealthy woman in her own name by age 24 -- seems an unlikely motivation, even for a family of merchant / adventurers.

=========================================

Notes on Cecily Reynolds
:

Cecily was born 1600 in England, and died Abt. 1662 in Charles City, Henrico Co. Virginia. She married (1) Unknown Bailey on Abt. 1616 in Henrico Co. Virginia. She married (2) Samuel Jordan on Bef. December 01, 1620 in Henrico Co. Virginia. She married (3) William Farrar on Bet. January 03, 1624/25 - May 02, 1625 in Charles City, Henrico, Co. Virginia, son of John Farrer and Cecily Kelke.

She was said to have introduced the art of flirting in Virginia... she was the original southern belle, and no doubt beautiful for she won the hearts of some of the colony's outstanding citizens. The fascinating Cecily earned her reputation as a heartbreaker and a place in history when she became the object of the first breach of promise suit in America. There is much myth and speculation, but few facts truly known about this often married elusive lady of whom so many today claim to be descendants. There has long been a mystery surrounding the little girl who arrived in Jamestown at the tender age of ten, and received the distinction of "Ancient Planter." Genealogists have long pondered the question, "Who was Cecily"? 



FACTS: Cecily was born in England about 1600. In June 1610, at age ten, Cecily sailed from the port of London aboard the "Swan" arriving at the Jamestown Colony in late August 1610. The "Swan" was one of a fleet of three ships belonging to Sir Thomas Gates, which along with the "Tryall" and the "Noah" carried 250 passengers and a years worth of provisions for 400 men. Fortunately for Cecily she arrived well supplied because the previous year 1609 had been known as that dreadful "starving time" when the infant colony was reduced from about 500 souls to "a haggard remnant of 60 all told, men, women and children scarcely able to totter about the ruined village". The only surviving record of the passengers on the "Swan" are Cecily "Sisley Jordan" and ten other persons named in the Virginia Muster of early 1624/25 taken 14 years after the voyage. 



Passengers from the Port of London on the Swan to Virginia, June - August 1610:


Biggs, Richard . . . . . . .Age 41 in Virginia Muster, January 22, 1624/5. 
Bouldinge, Thomas . . . Age 40 in Virginia Muster, February 7, 1624/5
 Fludd, John . . . . . . . . . See name in Virginia Muster, January 21, 1624/5
 Garnett, Thomas . . . . . Age 40 in Virginia Muster, February 7, 1624/5
 Jordan, Sisley . . . . . . . Age 24 in Virginia Muster, January 21, 1624/5. 
Lupo, Albiano (Lt.) . . . .Age 40 in Virginia Muster, February 7, 1624/5
 Stepney, Thomas . . . . .Age 35 in Virginia Muster, February 7, 1624/5
 Taylor, John . . . . . . . . Age 34 in Virginia Muster, February 7, 1624/5
 Waine, Amyte . . . . . . Age 30 in Virginia Muster, February 7, 1624/5 
Gates, Thomas (not Sir)..Age ? in Virginia Muster, January 21, 1624/5, arrived 1610, not 1609. 
Wright, Robart . . . . . . . Age 45 in Virginia Muster, February 4, 1624/5, arrived 1610, 1608.



FACT: It is not known for certain who Cecily's parents were, who brought her to Virginia, or who raised her in Virginia. 

MYTHS ABOUND: Some researchers have assumed her name was Greene because there was a Cecily Greene listed in "Hakluyt's List of Immigrants to Virginia" before 1624. The most popular myth of all is that she was Cecily Reynolds, daughter of Thomas Reynolds and Cecily Phippen (Fitzpen) and sister of Christopher Reynolds, arriving in America in 1610 with her mother and brother. Amazingly the Reynolds' daughter Cecily is listed in numerous Ancestral File and IGI records in the LDS Family Search files as born in 1575, 1586, 1594, 1595, 1600, 1601 & 1605 and all with absolutely no sources to support the dates given. Some alternately list her mother as Jane Phippen, a twin, rather than Cecily Phippen; some list any one of a combination of five supposed husbands, and Cecily's death dates also vary just as widely: 1610, 1620, 1637, 1656, 1659, Sept. 12, 1660, 1662 & 1677. The problem with the theory of Cecily being Thomas Reynolds and Cecily Phippen's daughter Cecily was that the most plausable records place her birth circa 1575-1586 with a death date as early as 1610-20, therefore she was about a generation older than our Cecily (born 1600) and died young. Another variation speculates that Cecily was the first "Reynolds" to reach America, arriving in 1610 with "Uncle Billy Pierce" actually her cousin, but he arrived on the Seaventure 1609-10 along with Samuel Jordan, of whom there is also speculation of a family connection. Christopher Reynolds arrived on the "John & Francis" in 1622. 



Another fascinating speculation arises- going back some 50 years before Cecily's birth- The "will of John Yerdely of Myles Grene" of Audeley, Co. Stafford, England, dated in 1558 and proved in 1559, it names "Cicilye my wife" and "John GERNETT, my son in law", and the will of Ralph Yerdley of Audeley, Co. Stafford, gentleman, dated 1587 and proved in 1588 not only states that the testator's father was "William Yerdeley, gentleman" and that his brothers are John and George Yerdley, but he was also appointed as one of the executors of a "kinsman" named "William BOULTON" (Boulding?). --The significance of these names, besides "Cicilye" Yerdley, mentioned in these wills is that there were two men with the surnames- "Bouldinge" and "Garnett" who arrived on the Swan in 1610 along with Cecily and are listed in the 1624/25 Virginia Muster.

Sir George Yeardley was the son of Ralph Yardley, citizen and merchant tailor London; and Sir George Yeardley's brother was Ralph Yardley, "citizen and Apothecarie of London". Exactly what was the link between the Yerdley's of Staffordshire and the Yardley's or Yearle's of London is not known but it is likely that there was some tie of kinship between them both and the little girl "Sislye" who sailed for Virginia in the Swan in 1610. Two of her fellow passengers on that boat were Thomas Garnett, a servant of the famous Indian fighter Captain William Powell, and one Thomas Boulding (Bouldin), who was then twenty-six years old. Neither of them could have been Sislye's father, but the name Thomas Garnett is strangely reminiscent of "Thomas Gernett" who more than fifty years before was the son-in-law of John Yerdley and his wife "Cicilye", and there is a close resemblance between Thomas Boulding's name and that of Ralphe Yerdley's "kinsman" William Bouldin. Perhaps William Bouldin (Boulding), yeoman, who, together with his wife Mary, also came to Virginia in 1610 (whether in the Swan or on another ship) was Sislye's father, but nothing more is known of this couple from the day they came ashore. Not so, however with Thomas Boulding (Bouldin, Bolding, Bolden) "of Elizabeth Cittie Co., Yeoman and Ancient Planter:, and Thomas Garnett, for both of them gradually acquired tracts of land in Virginia and were apparently living side by side as late as 1635.



FURTHERMORE: Based on naming patterns and proximity Cecily seems to have had a close connection to Governor and Lady Yeardley - Temperance Flowerdew, who became Lady Yeardley, and arrived in Virginia in 1609 on the "Falcon" (her husband and Samuel Jordan were aboard the ill-fated Seaventure, presumed lost at sea, but joyfully to all arriving in May 1610). Temperance Flowerdew and Cecily may have been related or simply became friends. Whatever the connection Cecily's first child Temperance Bailey was believed to be the namesake of Temperance Flowerdew.

FACT: There is strong circumstancial evidence that Cecily, at about age 16, married her first husband and had daughter Temperance Bailey from this union about 1617, and was widowed before 1620. Even though solid proof is lacking it is generally accepted as fact that Cecily was the mother of Temperance Bailey based on the two Musters of Jordan's Journey of February 16, 1623 and January 21, 1624/5, land patents and deeds, and wills in the Cocke family into which Temperance Bailey married. Lineage societies accept the descendants of Temperance Bailey Cocke as proven. 
SPECULATION: Without stating any sources for the following details some researchers have written that Cecily's first husband was either John or Thomas Bailey, who came to Virginia in 1612 sponsored by William Pierce... he was a young member of the Governor's Guard stationed at Jamestown... He and Cecily were married in the home of William Pierce in Jamestown... The young couple lived at Bailey's Point, Bermuda Hundred... and Bailey died of malaria shortly after the marriage. There are no records to support these details, only the existence ot Temperance Bailey. 



CECILY AND SAMUEL JORDAN


As was the custom of the time it was an absolute necessity for the safety of the early female settlers to have a male protector. For this reason we frequently find widows marrying within a few weeks or months following the death of their husbands. Cecily 20, promptly married her much older neighbor Samuel Jordan 42, shortly before December 1620. Cecily was about a year younger than Samuel Jordan's eldest son. Samuel had been previously married in England with four known children, but after his first wife died he immigrated to America in 1609 aboard the "Seaventure" which was shipwrecked off Bermuda, not arriving in Virginia till May 1610. He was a member of the initial House of Burgesses of the Colony in 1619 where the first specific instance of genuine self-government emerged in the British Colonial Empire. 

Samuel and Cecily settled at "Beggar's Bush" later renamed "Jordans Journey" near the confluence of the Appomattox and James Rivers southside. One of Sir George Yeardley's first acts was to grant a patent of land at James City on Dec. 10, 1620 to Samuel Jordan of Charles City in Virginia. Gent. an ancient planter "who hath abode ten years Compleat in the Colony" and to "Cecily his wife an ancient planter also of nine years continuance." The land grants for being "Ancient Planters" were the rewards they had earned by their perseverance in establishing the first permanent beachhead of English colonization on American soil.

Samuel Jordan later added large holdings on the south bank of the James at Jordan's Point. On the point jutting out into the James River, Samuel and Cecily developed a large home plantation later renamed "Jordan's Journey," consisting of a palisaded fort enclosing 11 buildings. They were soon expanding their family too with the arrival of daughter Mary Jordan, born in 1621 or early 1622. 

Baby Mary Jordan probably had no memory of that fateful day of the vernal equinox, 22 March 1622, when the Great Indian Massacre fell on the colony like a thunderbolt from the sky. Powhattan's tribe tried to wipe out the entire English Colony in a concerted uprising on Good Friday. Fortunately for the Jordans they received a forewarning of the plot in sufficient time to fortify "Beggar's Bush" against attack. Early that morning Richard Pace had rowed with might and main three miles across the river from Paces Paines to Beggars Bush to warn Samuel Jordan of the impending blow. Without losing an instant, Samuel Jordan summoned his neighbours from far and near and gathered them all, men, women and children, within his home at Beggar's Bush, "where he fortified and lived in despight of the enemy." So resolutely was the place defended, that not a single life was lost there on that bloody day. They were also able to save their buildings and most of the livestock. The agony and terror of the women and children huddled together in the farthest corner of the little stronghold can only be imagined. The next day their neighbor Mr. William Farrar reached "Beggar's Bush" a few miles journey from his plantation on the Appomattox River. Ten victims had been slaughtered at his home and he himself had barely escaped to safety at the Jordan's where circumstances would force him and other survivors to remain for some time. About one third of Virginia colonists died during the Indian Massacre including Samuel's son Robert Jordan at Berkley Hundred in Charles City while trying to warn neighbors across the water of the impending Indian attack. In those days most people got around by boat and freely went from one side of the river to the other. 

Less than a year later in early 1623 Samuel Jordan passed away at the home he built later known as Jordan's Journey. Cecily was soon due to give birth to their second child. Samuel Jordan is known to have died prior to the February 16, 1623 census of Virginia colonists because his name is conspicuously missing from the list of inhabitants at Jordan's Journey and his and Cecily's second daughter Margaret had recently been born: 

From Persons of Quality: "A List of Names; of the Living in Virginia, February the 16, 1623"
"Living
At Jordan's Jorney
Sislye Jordan
Temperance Baylife
Mary Jordan
Margery Jordan
William Farrar" 
(37 more names follow the above listed.)



CECILY AND WILLIAM FARRAR


After Samuel Jordan died Cecily 23, was left with daughter Mary 2, her eldest daughter Temperance Bailey 6, and another child soon to be delivered. Reverend Greville Pooley, age 46, who had conducted Samuel Jordan's funeral service, proposed to Cecily only four days afterwards. She apparently consented, feeling the need for a protector, but subject to the engagement being kept secret due to the timeliness of Samuel's death and her pregnancy. However, Rev. Pooley "spread the word" of the engagement, and this so ired the young widow that she refused to go through with the wedding. Soon afterwards Cecily accepted another proposal of marriage and became engaged to William Farrar who had been living at Jordan's Journey since the massacre. Undaunted, the enraged Rev. Pooley brought suit for breach of promise to compel Cecily to marry him. When the Parson sued on June 14, 1623, he accused the lady of having jilted him and alleged that it was nothing short of "Skandelous" for Mr. Farrar, his rival, to be "in ordinary dyett in Mrs. Jordan's house and to frequent her Company alone." This was the celebrated case of its day. William Farrar, trained for the law in England and the executor of Samuel Jordan's estate, was enlisted by Cecily to represent her.

The Governor and Council could not bring themselves to decide the questions and continued the matter until November 27, 1623, then referred the case to the Council for Virginia in London, "desiring the resolution of the civil lawyers thereon and a speedy return thereof." But they declined to make a decision and returned it, saying they "knew not how to decide so nice a difference." Reverend Pooley was finally persuaded by the Reverend Samuel Purchase to drop the case. As a result on January 3, 1624/25, the Reverend Pooley signed an agreement freely acquitting Mrs. Jordan from her promises. Cecily then formally "contracted herself before the Governor and Council to Captain William Farrar." 

The Governor and Council of the Colony were so stirred by the extraordinary incident that they issued a solemn proclamation against a woman engaging herself to more than one man at a time. Passage of this law for the protection of Virginia bachelors gave Cecily a place in history. And there is not in Virginia any known record that this edict has ever been revoked.

That the first breach of promise case in this country was filed by a parson is commentary on the times. Although ministers were carefully selected, the salary was very small and Pooley can hardly be blamed for being alert to a chance to feather his nest. The small poplulation afforded little choice of a desirable mate, and insecurity and terror following the Great Massacre the year before would have led any widow to feel need for protection. Due to insecurity of plantation life throughout colonial times, widows often remarried soon after their husband's death, sometimes before settlement of his estate.



A rather dramatic version of events is recounted in the book "The Farrars" by William B. & Ethyl Farrar: 
CICILY FARRAR: Interesting accounts of Cicily Jordan Farrar are found whenever the genealogy of the Farrar family is given. Below are portions of two stories: 
(After the death of Samuel Jordan)... there was a rush for the hand of his beautiful young wife, led by the Rev. Greville Pooley. Jordan had been in his grave only a day when Pooley sent Capt. Isaac Madison to plead his suit. Cecily replied that she would as soon take Pooley as any other, but as she was pregnant, she would not engage herself she said, "until she was delivered." But the amorous Reverend could not wait, and came a few days later with Madison, telling her "he should contract himself to her" and spake these words: "I, Greville Pooley, take thee Sysley, to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold till death do us part and herto I plight thee my troth." Then, holding her by the hand he spake these words, "I, Sysley, take thee Greville, to my wedded husband, to have and to hold till death do us part." Cicily said nothing, but they drank to each other and kissed. Then, showing some delicacy about her condition and the situation she found herself in, she asked that it might not be revealed that she did so soon bestow her love after her husband's death. Pooley promised, but was soon boasting of his conquest, very impetuously for "Sysley" now engaged herself to William Farrar, a member of the Governor's Council. Enraged, Pooley brought suit for breach of promise. The case too much for the the authorities at Jamestown, who referred it to London. The jilted Pooley soon found solace in a bride, it appears, but met a tragic death in 1629, when Indians attacked his house, and slew him, his wife and all his family. (From "Behold Virginia" by G.F. Willison--1951)



REVEREND POOLEY'S FATE:
 Pooley continued as minister for Fleur-Dieu Hundred until his death in 1629, but he does not seem to have been a very peaceful parson, for he was brought into court twice, ironically by William Farrar, for trouble with settlers. At the March 1628 Court "Yt is thought fitt the Mr. ffarrar (then Councilor) at the next meeting of the Court do bring down Mr. Pooley and Edward Auborne to aunswer to such things as shall be objected against them." And on another occasion, after a disagreement with Captain Pawlett, he was brought into court to answer charges against him; however in this case Pawlett was required to apologize. Pooley married and had a family but they are said to have met a tragic death at the hands of the Indians. 

During the course of the lawsuit in which he successfully defended Cecily, William Farrar performed the duties of executor of Samuel Jordan's estate in 1623 (Jordan's will does not survive). At a Court held on November 19, 1623, and presided over by Sir Francis Wyatt, Governor, and Christopher Davison, Secretary, records indicate that a warrant was issued "to Mr. Farrar to bring in the account of Mr. Jordan his estate by the last day of December." Another warrant was issued to "Mrs. Jordan, that Mr. Farrer put in security for the performance of her husbands' will." An abstract of the orders were to be delivered to Sir George Yeardley. 



THE MUSTER OF THE INHABITANTS
OF JORDAN'S JOURNEY AND CHAPLAIN CHOICE
 TAKEN THE 21TH OF JANUARY 1624



THE MUSTER OF Mr WILLIAM FERRAR & Mrs JORDAN

WILLIAM FERRAR aged 31 yeares in the Neptune in August 1618. 
SISLEY JORDAN aged 24 yeres in the Swan in August 1610. 
MARY JORDAN her daughter aged 3 yeares }
MARGARETT JORDAN aged 1 yeare }borne heare
TEMPERANCE BALEY aged 7 yeares }

(There is a single bracket three lines high to the right of the three daughters names, then the words "borne heare" indicating all three girls born in Virginia. William Farrar's age listed as 31 is incorrect. He was ten years older.)

Below the family listing is a section listing "SERVANTS" followed by the names of ten males ages ranging from 16 to 26 years.

Following that is a list of food, livestock, ammunition and buildings at Jordan's Journey:

PROVISIONS: Corne, 200 bushells; Fish, 2 hundred.
ARMS AND MUNITION: Powder, 14 lb; Lead, 300 lb; Peeces fixt, 11; Coats of Male, 12.
CATTLE, SWINE ETC: Neat cattell young and old 16; Swine, 4; Poultrie, 20.
HOUSES AND BOATS: Houses, 5; Boats, 2. 

MYTH: Cecily is said by some researchers to have had three children with second husband Samuel Jordan. Two daughters- Mary and Margaret, and a son Richard Jordan who married his first cousin Elizabeth Reynolds, daughter of Christopher Reynolds (presuming Cecily was a Reynolds). 
FACT: There are no records showing that Cecily and Samuel Jordan had a son Richard. If he existed he must have died before the 1623 and 1624/25 musters of Jordan's Journey on which he is not listed. Cecily was widowed while in the late stages of her pregnancy with youngest daughter Margaret Jordan who would have been a newborn at the time of the 1623 census, and in the 1624/25 muster Margaret Jordan is shown to be "aged 1 years" as would be expected. There was no Richard Jordan, son of Cecily. 



William Farrar 42, and Mrs. Cecily Jordan 25, were married shortly before May 2, 1625. Cecily's third husband was the son of John Farrer the elder of Croxton, Ewood, and London, Esquire and Cecily Kelke. He was born into the wealthy landed gentry of Elizabethan England in 1583. The Farrar ancestral estate Ewood had been handed down in the distinguished Farrar family since 1471. William Farrar had arrived in Virginia in August 1618 aboard the "Neptune" and settled a few miles up the Appomattox River from Jordan's Journey. It isn't know if he'd been previously married. William Farrar acquired a ready-made family of females when he married the young, attractive, and wealthy widow Cecily; Mary Jordan 4, Margaret Jordan 2, and Temperance Bailey 8, were thereafter his step-daughters.

Since William Farrar and Cecily Jordan had married, his bond to administer Samuel Jordan's estate was ordered canceled: "At a Court, 2 May 1625, 'Yt is ordered yt Mr. William Farrar's bonde shall be cancelled as overseer of the Estate of Samuel Jordan dec'd."

Within the first year of their marriage William Farrar was given a position of great responsibility when on March 4, 1625/6, Charles I appointed him a member of the King's Council, a position he probably held until just prior to his death in 1636. William and Cecily Farrar continued to reside at Jordan's Journey after their marriage. Records from the Minutes of the Council and General Court of Colonial Virginia 1622-1632 show that William Farrrar was living at Jordan's Journey as late as September 1626, and possibly until 1631/32. William and Cecily Farrar had three children together; the first two born prior to 1631. Their first was a girl named for her mother, Cecily, born about 1625/6. After becoming the mother of four girls there must have been excitement at the birth of Cecily's first son- William Farrar II in 1627. William II, as the first boy, was no doubt the long awaited little prince of the family. His godfather was Captain Thomas Pawlett, who had sailed to Virginia in the "Neptune" in 1618 with William Farrar. Son John was born about 1632 and may have been the only one of Cecily and William Farrar's children to be born at Farrar's Island. 

William Farrar's father died in 1628 and William returned to London in the summer of 1631 and sold his sizable inheritance to his brother, Henry Farrar of Berkshire, for £200 in a document dated September 6, 1631. Cecily and their children, Cecily and William, appear in the deed and relinquished their rights to his inheritance. It isn't known whether Cecily or the children accompanied William on the trip to England. 


FROM SALE OF WILLIAM FARRAR'S INHERITANCE: "September 6, 1631, indenture between William Farrar of London gent of the one part and Henry Farrer of Reading, Berkshire, Esquire, of the other part. Whereas John Farrer the elder of London Esquire, deceased, bequeathed to William Farrar and Cecily his wife and Cicely and William his children.."

The achievement for which Cecily's husband William Farrar is most remembered is the establishment of Farrar's Island, an estate their descendants would own for 100 years. It was located in what is now Henrico Co. Virginia on a bend in the James River at the former site of the city of Henricus, the second settlement of the colony. The estate consisted of 2000 acres, very large for its day, granted to William Farrar for the transportation of 40 settlers. It was not until after William Farrar's death in 1636, at the age of 54, that the patent for Farrar's Island was granted posthumously by King Charles I to his and Cecily's son William Farrar II on June 11, 1637. Presumedly thrice widowed Cecily Farrar continued to raise her six children at Farrar's Island. Daughter Temperance Bailey married Thomas Cocke in 1637. There are no known records of the fates of Mary and Margaret Jordan. Young Cecily Farrar is said to have married Isaac Hutchins and Henry Sherman, or Michael Turpin? William Farrar II inherited Farrar's Island at the age of ten and followed in his illustrious father's footsteps. Youngest son John Farrar held important offices in the colony, but never married or had offspring. The numerous Farrar descendants of William and Cecily all stem from the elder son, Col. William Farrar II. The name Cecily lived on in the Farrar family as several of her descendants were bestowed as her namesakes. 

MYTH: There is speculation that Cecily, widowed again by 1637 (at age 37), married a fourth and fifth time. There has, so far, been no proof of any later marriages for Cecily Bailey Jordan Farrar. She disappears from the records after 1637 and other women named "Cecily", of whom there were several in the colony, have been confused with her. 

From Elizabeth Tissot: Many have said, with no proof, that Cecily also married Peter Montague and Thomas Parker. This is FALSE. Cecily Montague was the relict of William Thompson I and had one son William Thompson II who married Ellen Montague, his step sister. Cecily Montague returned to England following the deaths of Peter Montague (in 1659) and her son, William Thompson II. Peter Montague's first wife was Elizabeth and she was mother of all his children. 
Source: "A Place in Time, Middlesex Co. VA 1650-1750", by Rutman, pp. 50, 96-98. This is a history of the County of Middlesex which relies on court records.

From- Daughters of The American Colonists, Member #14341 -Mrs.Louise Boone Ratliff: Her papers state Peter Montague, 1st married in 1633 Cecily Watkins -not Matthews, -not Farrar. Her lineage in Vol. 15 also says Peter Montague, 2nd married Elizabeth. 
Note: Additionally the marriage of Peter Montague to his Cecily was said to be in 1629 or 1633, both these dates predating the 1636 death of William Farrar, therefore making it impossible for Cecily Bailey Jordan Farrar to be the Cecily that Peter Montague married.
-Peter Montague, born 1603 in England, had come to Jamestown in 1618 aboard the "Charles" at the age of 18 as a headright of Billy Pierce. Peter Montague had six children - Peter, Margaret, William, Ellen, Elizabeth, and Ann with his first wife Elizabeth. He died in 1659 and named his wife Cecily (widow of Thompson) Montague in his will. Evidence shows she was not our Cecily Bailey Jordan Farrar.

-Thomas Parker, the immigrant, died in 1663 in Isle of Wight, Virginia. Parker family researchers are not sure which Thomas Parker of Isle of Wight, Virginia "is said to have married" the widow of a Peter Montague. The unnamed widow of a Peter Montague is mentioned in an Isle of Wight County deed transaction: On May 29, 1683 a patent was issued to Thomas Parker and James "Bagnall" for 470 acres, of which 50 acres granted to Peter Montague, and 40 acres for tranportation of a Negro Francisco. The patent stated that Thomas had married the widow of Peter Montague who had left two daughters Dorothy and Sarah and that Sarah had married James "Bageall." 
-Our Cecily Bailey Jordan Farrar would have been 83 years old at the time of this patent, and it has been proven she could not have been the survivng wife of immigrant Peter Montague. Therefore this record does not pertain to the generation of our Cecily or the immigrant Peter Montague who had a widow named Cecily, or to the immigrant Thomas Parker who died in 1663 long before the land patent mentioning the widow of Peter Montague. By all accounts Cecily is estimated to have died years before 1683. 

It is thought Cecily Farrar died prior to 1676, probably about 1662, but she may have died much earlier. There is no conclusive proof. Perhaps because her son, Col. William Farrar II, wrote his will in 1676 and doesn't mention his mother in it may be the reason she is presumed deceased before 1676.

Cecily's name survives today on the historical marker in Smithfield, Virginia at the location of "Jordan's Journey," where she lived circa 1620-1631 on the estate of her second husband Samuel Jordan. The marker reads:
"SAMUEL JORDAN OF JORDAN'S JOURNEY
Prior to 1619, Native Americans occupied this prominent peninsula along the upper James River, now called Jordan's Point. Arriving in Jamestown by 1610, Samuel Jordan served in July 1619 in Jamestown as a burgess for Charles City in the New Word's oldest legislative assembly. A year later, he patented a 450 acre-tract here known first as Beggar's Bush and later as Jordan's Journey. He survived the massive Powhatan Indian attack of March 1622 here at his plantation, a palisaded fort that enclosed 11 buildings. He remained at Jordan's Journey with his wife, Cicely, and their daughters until his death in 1623."

Today there are impressive brick entrance gates to "Jordan On The James," a high-end residential development. On the pillar is a small insert "c. 1619." In the development there is a road called "Beggars Bush" and outside is "Jordan's Point Road." Nearby one can play golf at Jordan's Point Country Club. The location of Samuel and Cecily Jordan's house, which has perished, was where the base of the Benjamin Harrison Bridge is now that connects both sides of the river. The Jordan Point Yacht Haven is now located at their former home site.

Sources:
THE FARRAR'S ISLAND FAMILY AND ITS ENGLISH ANCESTRY by Alvahn Holmes 1972.



References

• http://www.reynoldsfamily.org/line17/chris_3.html
• http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/o/l/John-O-Solis/GENE2...
• http://www.poetsvisions.com/genealogy/farrar.htm
• http://biographiks.com/pleasant/cecely.htm
• Coldham, Peter Wilson, "The Complete Book of Emigrants" Baltimore, MD Genealogial Publishing Company 1988.
• Holmes, Alvahn, "The Farrar's Island Family and its English Ancestry", Baltimore, MD , Gateway Press Inc. 1977
• Nugent, Neil Marion, "Cavaliers and Pioneers" Baltimore, MD , Genealogical Publishing Company, 1983
• [23] For a capsule description of the transition that cast the parliament and the King of England at loggerheads during this period, see White, Concise History of England, pages 93-97.
• [497] According to the muster of the inhabdaitants of "Jorns Journey" Plantation taken the 21st of January 1624, Cecily Jordan was then aged 24 -- William Farrar (I) was 31, her daughter Temperance Baily was 7, Mary was 3 and Margaret was 1 -- so Richard apparently arrived late in the year 1624. Hotten, List of Emigrants to America - 1600-1700, pp209-210. -- Worth S. Ray
• ^ a b c d e f Dorman, John Frederick, Adventurers of Purse and Person, 4th ed., v1 pp926-929
• ^ "The Living and Dead in Virginia, Feb. 16, 1623" http://files.usgwarchives.net/va/jamestown/census/1623cens.txt
• ^ a b Nugent, Cavaliers and Pioneers, 226
• ^ a b Dorman, op.cit. p120
• ^ Virginia: the First Seventeen Years, Charles E. Hatch Jr, U. of VA Press, 1957, p67
• ^ In The Family, Sex and Marriage in England 1500-1800, Penguin, 1979, Lawrence Stone writes that "the critical change under consideration is that from distance, deference and patriarchy to what I have chosen to call Affective Individualism," -- a change Stone described as "the most important change in mentalite to have occurred in the Early Modern period, indeed possibly in the last thousand years of Western history." (Quoted in Safley, Thomas Max, untitled book review, The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 27, No. 3 (Autumn, 1996), pp. 895-898)
• ^ a b Kingsbury, Records of the Virginia Company of London, Vol. 4, pp218-220]
• ^ Safley, op.cit., p.895
• ^ "Minutes of the Council and General Court 1622-24 (Continued)", Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol. 19, No. 3 (Jul., 1911),pp231-232
• ^ Henrico Co. Minute Book 1710-14, p51
• ^ A court record of Sep 12 1660 mentions "Cicily Montague, widdow, & Peter Montague, her sonne in law [stepson], both Executors of the Last Will & Testamt. of Mr. Peter Montague, dec'd". Lancaster Co., VA Ct. Orders 1656-1666, p. 12.
• ^ Dorman, Adventurers of Purse and Person, 4th ed., v.2, p.653
• ^ Dorman, John Frederick, Adventurers of Purse and Person, 4th ed., v.2, p.653, n.15
• http://www.burningsettlerscabin.com/burningsettlerscabin/3781
• http://www.reynoldsfamily.org/line17/chris_31.php
• Beers, Donna. Thomas and Cicely Jordan Bailey Including Abraham and Peter Cocke Bailey: An Early Virginia Family. Warrensburg, Missouri: Donna Beers, 1998. Print.
• Reference: FamilySearch Family Tree - SmartCopy: Jan 13 2016, 19:38:38 UTC
• http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/a/y/Steven-Day-Mukilte...