I recently became interested in my Jordan line. This line starts with my second great grandmother, Louisa Ellen Jordan (1827-1876), who married Joseph David Hurt (1822-1864) of Tennessee. Ellen’s parents were William Jordan (1792-1863) and Medy Boyd (1795-bef.1833). William’s parents were William Jordan (1748-1822) and Sarah “Sallie” Wood (1753-1843). This William was born in Virginia and served as a corporal in the Revolutionary War. After the war, he moved to Tennessee. William’s parents were Edward Jordan (1720-1791) and Elizabeth Washington (1720-1794) of Halifax and Lunenburg Counties, Virginia. Edward’s parents were William Jordan (?-1779) and Mary Stokes (1678-1789). William’s parents were Colonel Samuel Jordan (1679-1718) and Elizabeth Fleming (1687-1763). (This Fleming line supposedly goes back to the Kings of Scotland and on to Charlemagne. I have followed it back but don’t have much documentation for it.) Samuel’s parents were Thomas Jordan (1634-1699) and Margaret Brassieur (1642-1708). Thomas is the son of Major Thomas Jordan (1600-1685) and Lucy Corker (1604-1700). Thomas is supposed by many to be the son of Samuel Jordan (1578-1632), an early Jamestown settler.

The information here was given to me by a distant cousin and I don’t have any sources for anything beyond William Jordan and Medy Boyd. Because the idea that I had an ancestor at Jamestown intrigued me, I decided to ignore all the rules of genealogy (i.e., start with the known and work back) and jump straight in to some research on Samuel Jordan. I discovered that he has an exciting story. He sailed from England in 1609 on the Sea Venture but was shipwrecked on Bermuda. The survivors remained on the island through the winter, building two smaller ships and then sailing to Jamestown in spring of 1610. Samuel survived the disease and Indian attacks prevalent in the new colony and established a plantation along the James River called “Jordan’s Journey.” He died before 1623. Much more biographical information about him can be found on the web – just search for his name and pages and bios will come up. Unfortunately, they seem to repeat the same facts without providing much in the way of source material.

One of the most important questions to genealogists is how many children did Samuel have. Any number of children have been attributed to him, including my Thomas, above. However, there doesn’t seem to be any evidence of any children other than those by his second wife, Cicely. Samuel was married in England to a first wife whose name is unknown. She evidently died around 1609, just before he sailed. No children have been found from this marriage. Samuel married Cicely in 1620 and they had two daughters: Mary and Margery.

I hope to do some more work on this line and would like to start gathering primary source documents so I can make my own determination about the parentage of Thomas.

Update, 2018

I’ve come to understand that the line I’ve listed above is incorrect, and that my line of Jordans does NOT lead back to the “Ancient Planter,” Samuel Jordan (1578-1623), who came to Charles City, Virginia, in 1610, married Cicely, and established a plantation known as “Jordan’s Journey.” See Wikipedia for details.

See my Jordan pages for an updated lineage. My line of Jordans is composed of the Triune Jordans of Tennessee, including William Jordan, Sr., and Jr., along with Edward Jordan of Lunenburg County, Virginia, and Samuel Jordan (d. 1761) of Amelia County, Virginia. This line DIFFERS from the Samuel Jordan (1679-1718) of New Kent County who married Elizabeth Fleming. Those multitudes of you on Ancestry.com who have these ancestors in your trees must now update your info.