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From: "Michael Ratcliffe (GEO-GAB)" <>
Subject: Samuel Jordan/S. Jourdan
Date: Mon, 6 Jan 1997 08:25:18 -0500 (EST)


Yes, I've also seen this story in _Aris Sonis Focisque: the Harrisons
of Skimino_ by Fairfax Harrison (the Harrisons of Skimino, York County,
VA were related to the Jordans by marriage). According to Fairfax
Harrison, Samuel Jordan was an early settler in Virginia, arriving at
Jamestown in 1610. Harrison writes, "One likes to think he was the
S. Jourdan who was of Sir George Somers's company in the Sea Venture,
cast away on the Bermudas in 1609, and who subsequently wrote 'A
Discovery of the Bermudas, Otherwise Called the Ile of Divels.'" This
work was published in London and supposedly provided some inspiration
for Shakespeare's play, "The Tempest." I have no idea whether this
is true, or whether Samuel Jordan is S. Jourdan. Samuel Jordan
obtained a plantation on the James River, which he called "Jordan's
Jorney"; his house, which he fortified, was called "Beggar's Bush."
His grandson, Thomas Jordan (1634-1699) became a Quaker in 1660.

Mike Ratcliffe


On Fri, 3 Jan 1997 wrote:

> Hello, Cousin!
>
> I also have the Whites, Toms, Jordans and Brashears, and I have a question
> that you may have the answer to. In a published genealogy it was stated that
> Samuel Jordan, the immigrant, came over on the Sea Venture, which shipwrecked
> on Bermuda in 1609.
>
> In the Bermuda Historical Quarterly, Vo. XX, Summer 1963, there is no mention
> of a Samuel Jordan, but instead a Silvester (or Silvanus) Jourdain (or
> Jourdan), of Lyme Regis, Dorset, England. There is no mention of a Samuel,
> even though only 1/3 of the approx. 150 people on board are mentioned by
> name.
>
> Do you have any information on this? I've seen the Samuel/Sea Venture
> mention in other places, but I wonder the same bad information isn't being
> passed around. I would love to see what everyone else has found.
>
> Carole Kucera
>

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