Notes for Cecily Reynolds

Notes for Cecily Reynolds

!Information furnished about Cecily:
Your "Aunt Cecily and "Uncle Billy" on your web site comes from the book by Worth Ray and a Reynolds man who repeated information in his novel which has absolutely no documentation whatsoever. Cecily Jordan Farrar married only three times. She was a wealthy woman, the mistress of a huge amount of land in Henrico Co. VA. The Farrars were so prominent that if she had married again, some record would surely show it. Her death date is unknown. No one knows her parents nor do they know why she came to VA at age 10. Peter Montague's wife was named Cecily and that is all that is known of her. There were many Cecily's in VA who could have been his wife. Montague descendants should look for her background rather than hanging their hats on someone who definitely was not their ancestor. See Adventurers of Purse & Person (in most genealogical libraries) ed. by John F. Dorman, an eminent genealogist and put out by First Families of VA. This book gives all information that is known of Cecily and for which anyone has proof. No lineage society such as Jamestown Society, Ancient Planters, or Colonial Dames, etc. accepts any other marriages for Cecily except 1. A man probably named Baily, 2. Samuel Jordan and 3. William Farrar because they require proof of a genealogical line. When a book says that Mr. Baily died of malaria, the red flag goes up, because no one would know what he died of. There are practically no records, which mention what someone died of in those days. Historians know this.

!The rest of this information is from other sources:

Cecily married 5 times, her husbands dying of the many maladies of the time.

Her first husband was Thomas Bailey a young member of the Governor's Guard stationed at Jamestown. Thomas died of malaria shortly after the marriage. Cecily had a daughter Temperance Bailey from this union in 1616. As was the custom of the time it was an absolute necessity for the safety of the early female settlers to have a male protector. "For this reason we frequently find widows marrying in a few weeks or months following the death of their husbands." (N.C. Historical and Genealogical Register.)

Cecily promptly married her second husband Samuel Jordan (I), a cousin of her mother. He had been previously married in England, but after his first wife died, migrated to America in 1610 aboard the Sea Venture. He first settled at "Jordans Journey" near the confluence of the Appomattox and James Rivers. He later added large holdings on the south bank of the James at Jordan's Point, where he built a house called "Beggars Bush." "Cecily's second husband was a member of the initial House of Burgesses of the Colony where the first specific instance of genuine self-government emerged in the British Colonial Empire." ("Great Issues in American History--1584-1776" verSteeg & Hoffstadler.) As the Mayflower was unloading in New England back in 1620, another exciting development ocurred in the lives of Samuel and Cecily Jordan. They, along with all the surviving stockholders of the first Virginia Company, were honored with the label of "Ancient Planters". They were also given legal title to their lands and various immunities and privileges in connection with their use. These were the rewards they had earned by their perseverance in establishing the first permanent beachhead of English colonization on American soil. (This document still survives.) The next-door neighbors of the Jordans were as steeped in distinction as they now were. Captain John Woodlief to the north had already held the first American Thanksgiving Day in 1619 at Berkeley Plantation (Officially conceded in proclamations by U.S. Presidents--John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson.) John Rolfe (II) to the south had won and lost Pocahontas and was about to reap the treachery of his in-laws for his trouble. The Powhattan's tried to wipe out the entire English Colony in a concerted uprising on Good Friday, 1622. Fortunately for the Jordans, they received a forewarning of the plot in sufficient time to fortify "Beggar's Bush" against attack and save their buildings and most of the livestock. Not many months after this, Samuel Jordan passed away.

Cecily was promptly wooed by the local minister, a Reverend Grivelle Pooley. Then she discovered that she was to have another child by her late departed husband, Samuel Jordan. She thereupon terminated the Reverend's amorous pursuit. The Reverend reacted with spirit. Thus Cecily became the first person in America to be sued for breach of promise. Aunt Cecily hired William Farrar (I) to act as attorney. Reverend Pooley had a history of squabbles with his neighbors, some winding up in court. The Council concluded that because of who was involved, it was too hot to handle and referred the whole matter to England where it was quietly buried in the Royal Archives until the Reverend Pooley could find himself another bride. This he did in short order, thereby clearing the way for a dismissal of all litigation.

Cecily shortly married William Farrar her attorney who became one of the most influential members of Jamestown officaldom until his death in 1635.

Cecily then married Peter Montague, who was brought to America in 1621 as a headright of "Uncle Billy Pierce". They had seven children during their twenty-three years of marriage.

When Peter died in 1659, Cecily married Thomas Parker by whom there were no heirs. Beyond this point, the history of Aunt Cecily becomes obscure. Aunt Cecily Reynolds - Bailey - Jordan - Farrar - Montague - Parker, ended her days as a survivor, and as the mother of thirteen children by her first 4 husbands. Some of these children such as the last son of William and Cecily Farrar. William (II) went on to become the sire of the famous Farrar clan of Virginia.