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.

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.

Parents: 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.

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; died Abt. 1670 in Henrico County, VA; married (1) Arthur Bailey 1654 in Henrico County, VA; married (2) Christopher Foster Aft. 1658 in Virginia.
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; died 1703; married Henry Sherman, Sr.
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.

links

• http://www.reynoldsfamily.org/line17/chris_3.html
• http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/o/l/John-O-Solis/GENE2-0047.html
• http://www.poetsvisions.com/genealogy/farrar.htm
• http://biographiks.com/pleasant/cecely.htm

Other references

• 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

Footnotes

• [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

-------------------- It was also about 1619 (the exact date is not known) that Samuel married his second wife, Cicely Reynolds Jordan. Samuel had already fathered at least 2 and possibly 3 children that were older than his new wife. By Samuel, Cicely bore two more daughters:

1.            Mary Jordan, born Jordan’s Journey 1621 or 1622. 

2.            Margaret Jordan, born Jordan’s Journey 1623, after her father’s death. Cicely was also named an Ancient Planter in her own right by the Governor. Only five females are known to have held that distinguished title which she had received while still in her teens. 
 

Following Samuel's death, Cicely was the center of what became known as the colony’s "juiciest" scandal. It is said that not only are the details of this story true but in fact are recorded in detailed court transcripts dated 4 Jun 1623 on file at the National Archives in Washington DC. The widow Jordan was carrying Samuel’s last child. Considering the time and circumstances of frontier life, it was a normal and acceptable custom of the period that courtship of a widow could be started almost immediately following the funeral. Rev. Grivell (or Greville) Pooley was a minister of the nearby Flowerdew Hundred plantation church. In conversation several days after Samuel’s death, Cicely reportedly said words to the effect that "I would as soon marry Pooley as anyone else" but she would marry no one until she had delivered her child. Pooley took this as an acceptance of his suit and called personally on the widow. The minister, it was testified, suggested a "dram" [a toast of spirits?]. Cicely called a servant to fetch him one. The Rev. said, "I will have of your fetching or not at all". Cicely apparently acquiesced.

After drinking a toast, the parson is said to have taken the widow’s hand and declared words to the effect, "I, Grivell Pooley, take thee, Cicely, as my wedded wife, to have and to hold until death do us part . . . ." Still holding her hand, the preacher is said to have repeated the same vow again but substituting Cicely’s name as if she were saying the words. Cicely apparently did not protest. Witnesses testified they were uncertain that Cicely actually repeated the vows herself nor verbally acknowledged them in any way.

Reportedly additional toasts were proposed and, as "tittering" women servants later stated under oath, the couple did kiss after drinking from a single cup. Later Pooley could not resist boasting of his conquest over spirits at the local tavern, whereupon the angry lady is reported to have said that he would have "fared better if he had talked less". In time, Cicely let it be known that she had instead accepted the hand of another more worthy gentleman. The Rev. protested. The "tongues of gossip" wagged from one end of the colony to the other.

The Rev. instituted a lawsuit for Breach of Promise the first such for the new colonies. The Court and Council of State could not decide the case and referred it to London. During the interminable delay in reaching a settlement, the Rev. found solace elsewhere (he married another) and the matter ceased to be a sensation. Eventually London officially decreed that it was contrary to the ecclesiastical law for a woman to contract herself to "two several men" at the same time "whereby much trouble doth grow between parties of the government and cause Council of State much disquiet." For a third offense, the culprit was to undergo corporal punishment, or punishment by a fine. As Mrs. Jordan had not committed a third offense, the decree did not affect her directly in any way.