IMMIGRANT John Browne^{[1, 2]}

Est 1610 - Yes, date unknown

• Name	John Browne
  Title	IMMIGRANT
  Born	Est 1610	England
  Gender	Male
  Died	Yes, date unknown	Surry Co., Virginia Colony
  Person ID	I5486	My Reynolds Line
  Last Modified	20 Jun 2017

  
  

  Family	Temperance Bailey/Bayley,   b. Est 1618, Jamestown, James City, Virginia Colony ,   d. Abt 1651, Bremo, Henrico Co., Virginia Colony  (Age ~ 33 years)
  Married	Children of John Browne and Temperance Bailey John, Martha and Mary Browne
  Last Modified	4 Jan 2021
  Family ID	F2038	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Sources

  [S32] Find-A-Grave.com, http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=110334139. Cicily Reynolds, Bailey, Jordan, Farrar Birth: 1600, England Death: 1637, Henrico County, Virginia, USA Intellectual dishonesty frequently rears its ugly head in the case of the parentage of Cecily Jordan Farrar. Stating theory as fact doesn't make it so but it misleads the uninformed who will further propagate it. Ten year old Cecily _______ (absolutely no record of her maiden name, the names of her shipboard chaperones or the names of her parents or guardians in Virginia exists but there are many unprovable theories stated as fact) arrived from London at Jamestown aboard the "Swan" in late August 1610. The "Swan" was one of a fleet of three ships under command of Lord De La Warr (Thomas West) which along with the "Tryall" and the "Noah" carried 250 passengers and a year's worth of provisions for 400 colonists. The winter/ spring/summer of 1609/10 is known as the 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". This rescue fleet arrived in the nick of time to prevent the colony from being totally abandoned. The only surviving record of the passengers on the "Swan" is in the Virginia Muster of early 1624/25 taken 14 years after the voyage which lists "Sisley Jordan" and ten other persons. One can envision Cecily being a playmate of Pocahontas, who was about 5 years her senior and even possibly attending Pocahontas' wedding to John Rolfe in 1614. Circumstantial evidence indicates she married a man named Bailey at the age of about 16/17. There is no direct evidence Cecily married Bailey but a six year old Temperance Bailey is listed as living at Jordan's Journey in Charles City, 1623/24 (home of Samuel Jordan and his wife, Cicely) and is also listed there in the muster (1624/25) of William Farrar and the widowed Cicely Jordan. Since Temperance was a land owner at the age of three, it is evident that her father was dead and, as there is no record of a guardian to manage the estate, the probability is that she was the daughter of Cecily by a previous marriage. Thus, it is generally accepted that Cecily married Mr. Bailey (given name unknown) circa 1616 resulting in a child born in 1617 named Temperance Bailey. Mr. Bailey possibly died of malaria in 1619, making Cecily a widow for the first time and leaving his 200 acres to his 3 year old daughter, Temperance, making her a wealthy child. Her land was located adjacent to Samuel Jordan's land (see attached map for location of Temperance Bailey's land). As Temperance Bailey Browne (her first husband was John Browne), she later became the first wife of Richard Cocke and her descendants are well documented (see attached historical marker). Cecily was said to have introduced the art of flirting into Virginia; she was the original southern belle and no doubt enchanting and beautiful for she won the hearts of some of the colony's outstanding citizens. Secondly, she married Samuel Jordan, a much older (by 25 years) and richer man, in 1620. They were living at Beggar's Bush (later known as Jordan's Journey) the alliteratively named fortified home of Samuel Jordan in 1623 (see accompanying map for the location of Samuel Jordan's residence). This marriage produced two daughters, Mary (b. 1621) and Margaret (b. 1623 after her father's death), whose lineages can't be traced presently (see accompanying historical marker). Cecily met William Farrar as a refugee from his destroyed house after the Powhatan Indian surprise attack on 22 March 1622 (see map for approximate location of his plantation). He had fled to her husband's fortified house to save his life and that of the other survivors from his household. Fortunate circumstances prevented him from leaving this refuge before the death of his host, Samuel Jordan, in 1623. (A court on 7-8 Aug 1625, presided over by Governor Sir George Yardley and six other important colonists including Mr. William Farrar ordered "no planter shall remove from ye plantation whereupon he is seated, without penalty.... and to be returned to his former plantation only if the Governor and Council permit...."). In the very early period of the colony, the grief of a widow was of short duration, for a suitor usually stood at her doorstep almost as the funeral procession ended. The Rev. Greville Pooley (46 year old minister of Parish Fleur-Dieu Hundred, near Jordan's Journey) who oversaw the burial of her husband, Samuel Jordan, proposed marriage shortly (3-4 days) afterward. Cecily was pregnant and one version of the story states she accepted on the conditions he wait until she delivered her baby and not brag publically about his good fortune by her acceptance of his proposal. He couldn't resist bragging, so being somewhat fickle, Cecily also accepted the marriage proposal of William Farrar. Pooley accused her of what became known as "Breach of Promise", the first such suit in the Americas. He laid his claim before the governor and council, "June 4, 1623 they examined witnesses Capt. Isaac and Mary Maddison and Serj. John Harris touching the supposed contract of marriage between Mr. Greville Pooley and Mrs. Cecily Jordan 3 or 4 days after her husband's death". It was too knotty a question for the Virginia court so they referred it to the Virginia Company's "Council in London" and on 24 Apr 1624 it was laid on their table, and after reading same, the court "entreated the Rev. Samuel Purchas to confer with some civilians, and advise what answer was fit to be returned in such a case". In the end, they declined to pass upon "so delicate a matter" but their indecisive response to the colony was made moot by Rev. Pooley giving up his claim and marrying someone else. Tragically, in 1629 he and his entire family were massacred by Indians. The career of the fascinating Cecily as a heart breaker caused the General Assembly to pass a law for the protection of Virginia bachelors, thus giving her a place in jurisprudence history. Ultimately, it was decided that a woman promising herself to two men at the same time was against ecclesiastical law and notification of promises must be given to the Council or the local parish. William Farrar (age 42) and Cecily (age 25) finally married on 02 May 1625 in Henrico County amid the scandal of William residing in her household during the settlement of the civil suit (Breach of Promise). As the cohabitation of an unmarried heterosexual couple was illegal, their living arrangements had attracted the attention of their neighbors and ultimately, the authorities. On 02 Jan 1625, Nathaniel Causey (then a resident of Jordan's Journey) testified that "he had never seen Mrs. Jordan and Mr. Farrar indulge in unfitting behavior but he had seen them kiss". Her marriage to William Farrar I produced three children; William II, John and Cicely. When William Farrar I died in 1637, Cecily was probably still alive but there is no record of her after 1631 when she is mentioned in a deed. If she survived her husband, one would think she was still a youthful, flirtatious woman. Many people assume she married for the fourth and fifth times but there is no proof that she did. Women of the era generally didn't have the option of staying unmarried after the deaths of their husbands unless they were wealthy as Cecily was. Again, many unproven assumptions abound about the final years of this fascinating woman's life including the theories that she had marriages to Peter Montague of Lancaster County, VA and Thomas Parker of Macclesfield, Isle of Wight Co., VA so the exact date of her death is an arbitrary figure. Marriages to either or both of these two men have been discounted by documentation and are not accepted by genealogists or hereditary societies. Cecily has the designation of "Ancient Planter" and through my efforts is now recognized and accepted for membership by the "Jamestowne Society" as also the wife of William Farrar I. Originally, they only recognized her as the wife of Samuel Jordan. Cecily also is accepted for membership in the prestigious "Order of Descendants of Ancient Planters". Cecily lived her final years on Farrar's Island, Henrico Co., VA and was probably buried there in a presently unknown grave (see attached map and sign). Sources: 1) "The Farrars" by William B. and Ethel Farrar, 1964, p14. 2) "John Pankey of Manakin Town, Virginia, and His Descendants", by George Edward Pankey, Vol. I, 1969, p418. 3) "The Farrar's Island Family" by Alvahn Holmes, 1972, pp122-124. 4) "Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5" by John Frederick Dorman, Vol. I, 4th Ed., 2004, pp927-928. 5) "Virginia Immigrants and Adventurers, 1607-1635" by Martha W. McCartney, 2007, pp433-434 6) "Plantagenet Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families" by Douglas Richardson, 2004, p303. 7) "Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families" by Douglas Richardson, 2005. p316. Bio by Gresham Farrar. Family links: Spouse: Samuel Jordan (1575 - 1623)* Children: Temperance Bailey Cocke (1617 - 1652)* John Farrar (1631 - 1685)* Created by: Gresham Farrar Record added: May 11, 2013 Find A Grave Memorial# 110334139 Temperance Bailey, d/o Cicely Reynolds and Mr. Bailey, Cicely's first husband, married first Mr. John Brown and then Richard Cocke. [S73] Deeds, http://www.ncgenweb.us/richmond/wallloupoole.pdf. ?John Williams & John Browne, 1200 acs., amongst diverse black water brs., in Low. Par. of Surry Co., 20 Apr 1685. Adj. Nicholas Sessums, Robert Savage, Charles Savage, Richard Lane, Mr. Casfeild, Joseph Wall, Richard Smith, & Richard Blow, &c. Trans. of 24 pers.?