Read Ebook: The New England Historical & Genealogical Register Vol. 1 No. 1 January 1847 by Various Cogswell William Editor

Font size: 10 px 15 px 20 px 25 px 30 px 35 px

Background color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Text color: BlackWhiteGrayLight GrayDark GrayDim Gray

Apply/Save settings

Ebook has 391 lines and 66748 words, and 8 pages

There was scarcely a lovelier or more prominent trait in Mr. Farmer's character, than the ever fresh and affectionate interest which he took in the intellectual improvement and moral culture of the young. Having no family of his own to engage his kind and generous affections, a chief source of happiness to him seemed to be, to act the part of a father and teacher to all the youth who were about him. He encouraged lyceums and literary associations for mental improvement; often heard recitations in private; examined compositions written at his own suggestion; and directed the studies of such as applied to him. And such was his suavity of manners, his instructive conversation, and inexhaustible store of historical anecdote, that he scarcely ever failed to inspire his pupils and intimate acquaintances with a portion of his taste for literary and historical pursuits. Those who knew him respected him. Those who knew him intimately and were his friends, loved him. He was no dogmatist; never a violent partisan, although decided in his opinions, on whatever subject he expressed them. He possessed native delicacy and refinement of character. No harsh expressions fell from his lips or proceeded from his pen. He was nevertheless quick and sensitive to the distinctions between right and wrong, and steadily threw his influence into the scale of truth. His was a gentle spirit, seeking quiet and affection, like Cowper's, though without his vein of melancholy; and, though instinctively shrinking from vice, he was not disposed harshly to visit the offender. He had zeal, but it was the zeal of a catholic spirit, and of kind affections--the spirit of the Christian and gentleman, which respected the feelings of others, in whatever situation or circumstances of life.

All who were acquainted with Mr. Farmer, will respond to the affectionate and just tribute, which fell from the lips of the Rev. Mr. Bouton, on the occasion of his funeral: "We believe our departed friend and fellow-citizen possessed the spirit of a Christian. Owing to bodily weakness and infirmities, he could not attend public worship on the Sabbath, or be present at any public meeting. But we know he was a firm believer in the doctrines of Christianity; a regular contributor to the support of divine worship; an intelligent and frequent reader of the Holy Scriptures; and that he ever cherished and manifested the profoundest reverence for the institutions and ordinances of religion, and particularly a respect for Christian ministers of every denomination, whose conduct became their profession. His spirit and views were eminently catholic. He loved the good of every name, and cheerfully united with them in all approved efforts and measures for the advancement of truth and righteousness." He annually contributed to the Bible, Missionary, and other Charitable Societies; and no man living, perhaps, felt a deeper interest in the success of the great enterprises of Christian benevolence, than did Mr. Farmer.

His last sickness was short. Few of his friends were aware of his danger, till it was evident that he could not long survive. Many gladly offered their services to wait upon him, and watch around his dying-bed; but the privilege of this was reserved to a few early-chosen friends. He wanted to be still and tranquil. To a dear friend, who stood by him, to watch every motion and meet every wish, he expressed peace of mind, and consolation in the hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ. On the evening of the Sabbath before his decease, he desired the same friend to sing to him a favorite hymn, which she did. His reason remained unclouded to the last, and he gently fell asleep in death, at a few minutes past 6 o'clock, on Monday morning, the 13th of August, 1838, in the 49th year of his age.

Upon the plain white marble stone, marking the place where the mortal remains of Mr. Farmer lie, is the following inscription:

"John Farmer, born at Chelmsford, Mass., 22 June, 1789; Died in this town, 13 August, 1838; AEt. 49 years. Honored as a man; Distinguished as an Antiquarian and Scholar; Beloved as a friend; And revered as a Christian Philanthropist; And a lover of impartial liberty; His death has occasioned a void in Society, Which time will fail to supply; And the reason and fitness of which, As to time and manner, and attendant circumstances, Eternity alone can fully unfold."

FOOTNOTES:

Considering the character which the Register is to sustain, we have supposed that this number of the Work could commence with no article more interesting, than a Biographical Notice of Mr. Farmer. The Notice is principally an Abstract from a Memoir of him prepared by Jacob B. Moore, Esq., now residing at Washington, D. C.

We purposely omit a further notice of Mr. Farmer's ancestors, as a full account will appear in the genealogy of the Farmer Family, which he prepared and published, some years before his death. Having been remodelled and improved, it is inserted in this number of the Register.

These Memoirs of graduates at Harvard and Dartmouth Colleges were, agreeably to the desire of Mr. Farmer, placed in the hands of the Rev. Dr. Cogswell of Boston, for his disposal.

GENEALOGICAL MEMOIR OF THE FARMER FAMILY.

Remodelled and Prepared on a New Plan.

BY SAMUEL G. DRAKE, M. A.

From what is said above it is thought the plan will be perfectly apparent on the most cursory perusal. The names of persons descended in the female line are printed in the ordinary Roman letter, to distinguish them from those of the male line, always printed in small capitals.

In preparing this memoir the reader must remember, that the author published it in 1828, and hence, that the present tense often used by him, has reference to the date of publication. We make this note to avoid too frequent interpolations in brackets. Mr. Farmer had printed in 1813, sundry Family Records of different branches of the family, and in 1824, he issued an Appendix to it. This with the other part made about 30 pages in 18mo. These contained a good deal not found in his last work. All three are here incorporated into a regular and continuous genealogy. The copies of the first two printed works which I have used, have many manuscript additions and corrections in the author's own hand. The title-page of the Memoir runs thus:

A GENEALOGICAL MEMOIR OF THE FAMILY BY THE NAME OF FARMER, WHO SETTLED AT BILLERICA, Ms. HINGHAM, FARMER & BROWN, PRINTERS, 1828.

To JEDIDIAH FARMER, The following Memoir of our Ancestors, collected from various authentic sources, and with considerable enquiry and investigation, is offered to you as a token of fraternal regard and affection, by your affectionate brother,

JOHN FARMER. Concord, N. H., January 28, 1828.

MEMOIR.

From Northamptonshire they seem to have spread over several of the contiguous counties before the middle of the sixteenth century; being found in Leicestershire as early as 1490, in Warwickshire in 1545, and in Shropshire at nearly the same period.

Sir William Dugdale, in his Antiquities of Warwickshire, mentions Richard Farmer and his wife, and John their son, and Maud his wife, to whom, and the heirs male of the said John, the place or parish of Merston-Boteler in that county, was granted by the King's Letters Patent, dated November 23, 1545. He also names Rev. Thomas Farmer, minister of the parish of Austrey in 1542, and Rev. John Farmer, incumbent of the church in Bagington, 1552, and Rev. Richard, of the parish of Ashowe.

R. Farmer, Esq., of Kennington Common, near London, informs me, that his ancestors as far back as he had been able to trace them, belonged to Oldbury, near Bridgenorth, in Shropshire, and that their names were Edward. Thomas Farmer, Esq., one of the Managers of the British and Foreign Bible Society, is of this family. Rev. Hugh Farmer, the learned author of the Dissertation on Miracles, and other theological works, was of Shropshire, and was born at a place called Isle Gate, belonging to a small hamlet almost surrounded by the river Severn, a few miles from Shrewsbury.

The branch of the family traced in the following pages was formerly seated in Leicestershire, on the borders of Warwickshire; and, about 1500, were living in the village of Ratcliffe-Cuiley, near Witherly. Of those who resided there at that period, I am unable to speak with any degree of certainty, having the advantage of no records, or family memorials. The late Rev. Richard Farmer, D. D., of Cambridge, England, made some collections of a genealogical nature, and from these it would seem, that the most remote ancestor, whom he had traced, was EDWARD, who is mentioned by Anthony Wood in his Athenae Oxonienses, and in his Fasti Oxonienses, as being the Chancellor of the Cathedral church in Salisbury, in 1531; which office he sustained until his death in 1538.

JOHN FARMER is the next ancestor of whom I have any account, and of whom I have nothing more than the fact found among Rev. Dr. Farmer's MSS., that he was living at Ansley in Warwickshire in 1604. Between him and Edward of Salisbury, there were probably two or three generations, whose names cannot be given with much confidence, although it is presumed from Guillim's Heraldry, that the name of one was Bartholomew.

There has been a considerable number of the name in England, and several of them of the Warwickshire branch of the family, who have been employed in public life, or have been known by their writings. The following list of them has been collected from various sources:

EDWARD. "In the year 1529, in the beginning of February, Edward Lee became Chancellor of the church of Salisbury by the resignation of Thomas Winter, and was succeeded in that dignity by EDWARD FARMER, in December, 1531."

GEORGE, Esq., who was Prothonotary of the Court of Common Pleas in 1663.

HATTON, who was Major of Prince Charles' regiment, and was killed by Culham Bridge, near Abingdon, Jan. 11, 1645.

HUGH, already mentioned, who was born 1714, died 1787, a. 73. Memoirs of his Life and Writings were published in 1805, by Michael Dodson, Esq., London, in an octavo volume of 160 pages.

JACOB, who published a "True Relation of the State of Ireland," London, 1642, octavo.

JAMES, who was minister of Leire, in Leicestershire, and was ejected in 1660.

JOHN, who was a madrigaler, and who published a work noticed by Dr. Rees, issued in 1591, London, octavo.

JOHN, Esq., who was Governor of the island of Barbadoes.

JOHN, who was a clergyman, and published twenty sermons. London, 1744, octavo.

JOHN, who published the "History of the Town and Abbey of Waltham in Essex, England." London, 1735, octavo.

JOHN, who was a surgeon, and published "Select Cases in Surgery, collected in St. Bartholomew's Hospital." 1757, in quarto.

PRISCILLA, whose Life was published in 1796, by her grandson, Charles Lloyd.

RICHARD, who was a Baptist minister, and who is noticed by Neal in his History of the Puritans.

RICHARD, who published a sermon on Luke xxi: 34. London, 1629, quarto.

RICHARD, D. D., who published "An Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare." London, 1766.

RALPH, who was minister of St. Nicholas in Somersetshire, and was ejected in 1660. He published the "Mysteries of Godliness and Ungodliness, discovered from the writings of the Quakers." London, 1655, quarto.

THOMAS, who was born August 20, 1771, nephew of Dr. Richard, Rector of Aspley-Guise in Bedfordshire.

THOMAS, who was a printer, and published a work called "Plain Truth, &c." London, 1763, quarto.

WILLIAM, who wrote an Almanac for Ireland, printed at Dublin, 1587, supposed to have been the first printed in that country.

WILLIAM, of Magdalen College, who was a Baronet, and was created Master of Arts in 1667.

JOHN,? of Ansley, who m. Isabella Barbage of Great Packington, in Warwickshire, is the first ancestor of whom I have the means of giving any account, supported by original documents and family memorials in my possession. Ansley, the place of his residence, is a small village in the northerly part of the county of Warwick, situated about ten miles from the city of Coventry, four from Atherstone, which borders on Leicestershire, and five from Nuneaton, a considerable market town, and has a population of 541. In this place, and near Ansley Hall, the seat of the Ludfords, he owned houses and lands, which passed to his posterity through several generations, and may still be owned by his descendants. Of his family I have procured some facts, which will be given. He died before the year 1669, and Isabella, his widow, came with some of her children to New England, a few years after this period, and m. Elder Thomas Wiswall of Cambridge Village, now Newton, who d. Dec. 6, 1683. She d. at Billerica, May 21, 1686, at an advanced age.

The children of this John Farmer were,

The house of EDWARD FARMER, was fortified as a garrison for a number of years. While occupied as such, the following incident occurred, which has been handed down by tradition in the family. During the Ten Years' Indian War, and probably about the year 1692, when the first depredations were committed in the town of Billerica, the Indians meditated an attack on this garrison. For some days they had been lurking in the neighborhood of it without being discovered. Early in the forenoon of a summer's day, the wife and daughter of Edward Farmer went into the field to gather peas or beans for dinner, being attended by several of her sons, who were young lads, as a guard to protect them. They had been out but a short time before Mrs. Farmer discovered that a number of Indians were concealed behind the fences, and so near that she could almost reach them. Had she given any alarm, they would probably have rushed from their lurking-places, seized the party and fled; although their object was to get possession of the garrison, which offered more plunder and a greater number of captives. But with admirable presence of mind, and without making known the discovery she had made, to her sons, who might, with more temerity than prudence, have attacked the Indians, she said, in a loud tone of voice, "Boys, guard us well to the garrison, and then you may come back and hunt Indians." The Indians, supposing they were not discovered, remained in their hiding-places, while the other party soon left the field for the garrison, which they reached in safety. Then the alarm was given, the people collected, and the Indians fled with precipitation. After the return of peace, the Indians declared, that had it not been for that "one white squaw," they should have effected their purpose.

Oliver Farmer, from whom we have digressed, resided on the paternal farm in Billerica, where he d., Feb. 23, 1761, a. 75. His widow m. 2ndly, Capt. James Lane, of Bedford, Ms., and d. there, Feb. 25, 1773, a. 75.

The following obituary notice of this gentleman appeared in the Boston Repertory of Aug. 10, 1804. "Died at Billerica, on the 4th inst., in the 71st year of his age, EDWARD FARMER, Esq., who many years represented that town in the General Court. He ever combatted the enemies to the Laws and Constitution of his Country, both foreign and domestic. He was a firm patriot in our Revolutionary war, and commanded a party of militia at the capture of Burgoyne, and cheerfully obeyed the call of Government, in the insurrection of 1786. On the 6th his body was carried to the meeting-house, preceded by a volunteer company completely uniformed, and followed by a long train of the citizens of Billerica and the towns adjacent. Appropriate hymns were sung, a suitable lesson was read from the scriptures, and after a well adapted prayer by the Rev. Dr. Cumings, his remains, as attended above, were escorted to the mansions of the dead, and deposited with his fathers, with military honors. He left a numerous family to bemoan his loss."

EDWARD,? who m. Sarah Brown, had,

DEAR SIR,--Having lately been to visit my relations at Leicester, my native place, I saw for the first time a letter from you, desiring an account of your Genealogy; and, being satisfied of our consanguinity, you will allow me to hope that you may cross the Atlantic, and visit this village, of which I am the Rector, and which is situated but little more than 40 miles from London, and near the Duke of Bedford's magnificent Park and Palace.

Share on: WhatsApp @Hash Facebook Tweet