William Jordan, of King & Queen County

Parents unidentified. Not the son of Samuel Jordan, of New Kent County & Elizabeth Raley.

Biography

https://jordans-journey.com/2021/08/31/jordan-family-roots-revisited/

THE JORDANS OF VIRGINIA’S MIDDLE PENINSULA

Robert Jordan and William Jordan were identified as living in the adjoining counties of Caroline and King and Queen Counties, Virginia, circa 1780. Based on genetic analyses of their known descendants, these men shared an almost identical DNA profile, and this indicates that they were either brothers or close cousins. William is believed to be our direct ancestor.

The Middle Peninsula

WILLIAM JORDAN

Evidence suggests that a William Jordan and family resided in Gloucester County, Virginia, from before 1760 until at least 1780, at which time they relocated in neighboring King and Queen County. Eliza(beth) LNU is believed to have been William’s wife. Williiam probably died in 1782. He and Eliza had several children. Their eldest known son, Robert, is our Halifax County Jordan family progenitor.

Discussion

https://www.geni.com/discussions/274428?msg=1675819

This man may never have existed:

"Robert Jordan son of Samuel Jordan was born in 1717. He was a baron and on account of his oath of loyalty to the King of England, it is said that he was a Loyalist in the Revolutionary War and persuaded his young son, Robert Jr., not to join the Revolutionist. His other two sons, William and Henry, were soldiers in the Revolutionary War and crossed the Delaware with Washington."

Source: Wirt Johnson Carrington, A History of Halifax County (Virginia) (Richmond, VA: 1924), p. 216 < AncestryImage >

This source posits a Robert Jordan born 1717 as father of the Robert Jordan of Halifax County, VA, born 1755 and assumes that the elder Robert's father was a William Jordan, somehow related to both Thomas Jordan the Quaker of Chuckatuck and a Samuel Jordan married to Elizabeth Fleming who died 1761 in Amelia County - in other words, an extremely confused account (see more detailed discussion at https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Jordan-2122).

The most recent research by a careful descendant of the younger Robert Jordan, of Halifax County, of Halifax County, including Y-DNA analysis, suggests that he may have been the son of a William Jordan, of King & Queen County of Gloucester and then King and Queen County, and that this William was not directly descended from Samuel Jordan of New Kent County or his father Thomas 'the Quaker' Jordan of Chuckatuck, but rather from a closely related line (see discussion at https://jordans-journey.com/2021/08/31/jordan-family-roots-revisited/).

Wrong parents

On 10 Dec 1703, Col. Samuel Jordan, Jr. was married to Elizabeth Raley, daughter of Col. Charles Fleming of New Kent County (Henrico Monthly Meeting of Friends: Record Book 1699-1757, p. 35; < AncestryImage >.

In his will of 2 October 1718, proved 11 June 1719, Samuel Jordan of New Kent County mentioned a wife Elizabeth (almost certainly the one he had married in 1703) and stated that he had five children then living, but unfortunately did not name them (two copies of the will are preserved in Library of Virginia, Richmond: Louisa County, Chancery Court Papers, File 1788-004 (Charles Jordan vs. Thomas Freeman), (https://www.lva.virginia.gov/chancery/case_detail.asp?CFN=109-1788-004, images 2-5 in case file).

They were:

1. Charles Jordan, of Goochland County, b. 1706. Married Hellenah.
2. Col. Samuel Jordan, Jr.
3. Matthew Jordan, I. Married Judith Ware.
4. unknown child (1) Jordan
5. unknown child (2) Jordan

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References

1. ”Children of Col. Samuel Jordan of New Kent County” (Geni discussion) 1/11/2024 at 3:57 PM.