Robert Jordan

Robert Jordan was born about 1598 in Plymouth, Devon, England, immigrated 1619 (as a Bridewell immigrant), died 22 Mar 1622 in the Great Indian Massacre of 1622.

Parents: Samuel Jordan (1575-1623) and his first wife, whose name is not known.

• * The Robert Jordan that immigrated to Virginia as a Bridewell immigrant was unlikely to have been Samuel Jordan's son as the 'Bridewell immigrants' were 'street waifs' collected off the streets of London. That does not mean that the Robert Jordan who died in the 1622 massacre was not Samuel Jordan's son, only that the Bridewell immigrant theory is not the path of his immigration to the colony.

Notes

• Robert Jordan was killed during the Powhatan Massacre of 1622 at Berkeley Town and Hundred, which was on the north side of the James River across from Jordan’s Journey. About one third of Virginia colonists died in the Indian Massacre. He was 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.
• Believing the English intended to seize his domains, his [Opechancanough, brother of Powhatan, "King of Pamunkey "] patriotism impelled him to strike a blow. In an affray with a settler, an Indian leader was shot, and the wily emperor made it the occasion for inflaming the resentment of his people against the English. He visited the governor in war costume, bearing in his belt a glittering hatchet, and demanded some concessions for his incensed people. It was refused, and, forgetting himself for a moment, he snatched the hatchet from his belt and struck its keen blade into a log of the cabin, uttering a curse upon the English. Instantly recovering himself, he ,smiled, and said: " Pardon me, governor; I was thinking of that wicked Englishman (see ARGALL, SAMUEL) who stole my niece and struck me with his sword. I love the English who are the friends of Powhatan. Sooner will the skies fall than that my bond of friendship with the English shall be dissolved." Sir Francis warned the people that treachery was abroad. They did not believe it. They so trusted the Indians that they had taught them to hunt with fire-arms.
• A tempest suddenly burst upon them. On April 1, 1622, the Indians rushed from the forests upon all the remote settlements, at a preconcerted time, and in the space of an hour 350 men, women, and children were slain. At Henrico, the devoted Thorpe, who had been like a father to the children and the sick of the natives, was slain. Six members of the council and several of the wealthier inhabitants were made victims of the treachery.
• On the very morning of the massacre the Indians ate at the tables of those whom they intended to murder at noon. The people of Jamestown were saved by Chanco, a Christian Indian, who gave them timely warning, and enabled them to prepare for the attack. Those on remote plantations who survived beat back the Indians and fled to Jamestown. In the course of a few days eighty of the inhabited plantations were reduced to eight. A large part of the colony were saved, and these waged an exterminating war. They struck such fearful retaliating blows that the Indians were beaten back into the forest, and death and desolation were spread over the peninsula between the York and James rivers. The emperor fled to the land of the Pamunkeys, and by a show of cowardice lost much of his influence. The power of the confederacy was broken. Before the war there were 6,000 Indians within 60 miles of Jamestown; at its close there were, probably, not 1,000 within the territory of 8,000 square miles. The colony, too, was sadly injured in number and strength. A deadly hostility between the races continued for more than twenty years. Opechancanough lived, and had been nursing his wrath all that time, prudence alone restraining him from war. His malice remained keen, and his thirst for vengeance was terrible. (Sons of the South Website)

Links

• http://kahuna.clayton.edu/~csu11647/finalproject/1600s.html
• http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=grantpinn...
• http://margotwoodrough.com/p78.htm#i4194
• http://www.sonofthesouth.net/revolutionary-war/indians/opechancanou...

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Robert Jordan immigrated 1619 (as a Bridewell immigrant), died 22 Mar 1622 in the Great Indian Massacre of 1622.