• General Notes

  NOTE:  Arrived on the "Swan", Sept. 1610, age 24.
  NOTE:
  CICELY REYNOLDS came to America in 1611 with her mother and brother. At the age of 14, she married THOMAS BAILEY. They had the one daughter, TEMPERANCE. Shortly after THOMAS BAILEY died, CICELY married SAMUEL JORDAN. These folks had one son, RICHARD, and, along with the PIERCE family, were survivors of the Jamestown Massacre of 1622. Not long after the Massacre, SAMUEL JORDAN died. In 1625, CICELY REYNOLDS BAILEY JORDAN married WILLIAM FARRAR. This couple had five children, and WILLIAM died in 1635. So, CICELY REYNOLDS BAILEY JORDAN FARRAR married PETER MONTAGUE. PETER had come to Jamestown in 1621 aboard the Charles at the age of 18. PETER and CICELY had seven children, and PETER died in 1660. Then, CICELY REYNOLDS BAILEY JORDAN FARRAR MONTAGUE married THOMAS PARKER. There were no children from this marriage, although PARKER was the father of at least 16 children by two former wives. PARKER died in 1663 in Isle of Wight, Virginia. We have no idea what happened to CICELY after that, except that she must have some family reunions.
  NOTE:
  Cecily emigrated, eight years earlier than her husband, in 1610 on the "Swan." The first Reynolds to reach the New World was an 11 year old
  girl named Cecily. Cecily arrived at the VA Colony in Jamestown Aug. 1610 aboard the Swan [1]. She came without her parents but under the
  auspices of several near relatives of Dorsetshire England.  [1] Hotten, Lists of Emigrants to American 1600-1700, p 209; Nugent
  Cavaliers and Pioneers, p XXX: "Her arrival was a year before 1611,the year that gave birth to the King James Version of the Holy
  Bible..."]
  The name "Cecily" was an hereditary one [2].
  [2] Ray, Index and Digest to Ray's NC Historical & Genealogical Register, p 135.
  The first Reynolds to reach the New World was an 11 year old girl named Cecily.
  There is a fascinating story which involves the romance of William Farrar and Cecily Reynolds, a story that caused the first breach of promise suit in Virginia. William's land at the James River was near that of Samuel Jordan and Jordan's wife Cecily. Samuel died in 1623, and William agreed to be executor of Samuel's will. A Reverend Greville Pooley asked the recent widow Cecily to marry him, and she agreed, but wanted a long engagement. Then, William asked her to marry
  him, and she said yes. The jilted Reverend was so angry that he sued wealthy Cecily for breach of promise. The case caused great hubbub in Virginia and in London. The Reverend ultimately withdrew his case, but had to post bond that he would never have any claim, right or title to Cecily or her property. The Virginia Assembly soon enacted a law that made it illegal for a woman to be engaged to more than one man at a time. Thus, Virginia's bachelors were protected. Incidentally, Cecily married at least three times.  I thought that was an amusing turn of phrase -- that Cecily Jordan had "distinguished herself greatly by introducing into the Colony the art of flirting."
  Julia Cherry Spruill, in her book "Women's Life and Work in the Southern Colonies," mentions this same case. She says:
  "In 1623 Virginia had an exciting breach-of-promise case featuring Mistress Cicely Jordan, a young and wealthy widow with variable affections. A few days after the death of Captain Samuel Jordan, the Reverend Greville Pooley, mindful of the desirability of his widow and fearful lest a rival precede him, presuaded his friend Captain Isaac Madison to broach for him a proposal of marriage. Madison, reluctant to "meddle in such business," nevertheless approached the widow and returned with the answer that she would as soon marry Pooley as anyone but intimating that she thought such haste not quite decent. Thus encouraged, Pooley visited her and secured a promise of marriage, but with the understanding that he would not reveal their engagement until she thought "the time fitting." But the parson, evidently too elated over his success to keep it t

Details of Cicely's family with Samuel JORDAN