In an interview with Reverend John J. Dickey on 05 May 1898, Felix Gilbert Farmer states:
“My grandfather, Stephen, was born on the New River, North Carolina… The Farmers are German not Dutch…”
Actually, Stephen was English.
Modern DNA and other genealogical research shows that Stephen was the great grandson of Edward Farmar. It also shows that Stephen was a distant relative of Thomas Farmer the Adventurer, who came to Jamestown, Virginia in 1616.
Edward was the youngest son of Major Jasper Farmar, an English officer serving and residing in Ireland.
So why would Felix think that his ancestors were German, and not Dutch?
It is highly likely that the German immigrants settling in the Appalachians were commonly referred to as “Dutch” due to the similarity in pronouncing Deutsch. However, this doesn’t explain why Felix would claim his heritage as German.
In 1685, Major Jasper and almost all of his family immigrated to Pennsylvania aboard the Bristol Merchant. The 5,000-acre tract that his father purchased comprises present Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County. Before 1854, Whitemarsh Township neighbored Germantown Township, Philadelphia County. The Frankfurt Land Company and thirteen families from Germany first settled this area in 1683, hence its name.
Within a year, most of Edward’s family had either died on the transatlantic voyage or soon after arriving into Philadelphia. Orphaned at the age of fourteen, Edward furthered his education in Pennsylvania. Edward would also work closely with Francis Daniel Pastorius, one of the early prominent settlers of Germantown.
With the neighboring Germantown and the increase in German immigration, more than a third of the local citizens would soon be speaking the Pennsylvania Dutch dialect, which sounds similar to German. As Edward’s sons and grandsons immigrated into North Carolina, Virginia, and Kentucky with the other settlers, it is highly likely that Stephen still had his Pennsylvania Dutch accent.
Find out more in the book Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh.
