Tag: Rachel Ellis

A lot of family trees have the wife of Edward Farmar as “Rachel Astley.” It is uncertain as to how or when this information was presented and perpetuated as fact, but it may be in error.

Note:  The following has been excerpted and edited from the book Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh.

Edward Farmar was only fourteen years old when his mother, Madame Farmar, died in late 1686. Per her will, he was placed under the guardianship of Dr. Nicholas More, Esq., who at the age of forty-seven, was half the age of Edward’s late father. On 22 December 1670, and with her father Samuel’s consent, Dr. More married young Mary Hedge who was sixteen years his junior. They both had children about Edward’s age:  Samuel, Nicholas Jr., Mary, Sarah, and Rebecca.

The More family were Anglicans, as Nicholas had attended St. Gregory Church by St. Paul, London; Mary was from the parish of St. Catherine, Coleman, London. The family had sailed from London four years earlier on 21 September 1682 to Philadelphia, where soon after Nicholas’ arrival, he was chairman of the Pennsylvania Provincial Council in 1682, secretary to the Council in 1683, member and Speaker of the Assembly in 1684, and chief judge of the Provincial Court in 1684.

Within a few months after appointed Edward’s guardian, Nicholas More died in early 1687.[1] Dr. John Goodson, a Quaker, was chosen as Edward’s new guardian by 29 March 1687. He had a daughter, Sarah.

At the age of nineteen, Edward Farmar asked Sarah Goodson for her hand in marriage. His proposal created a matter of objection with John that was referred to a group of arbitrators consisting of two Quakers (John Delavall and Samuel Carpenter) and two non-Quakers selected by Edward (Andrew Robeson and ex-Quaker Robert Turner).[2] The minutes from those monthly meetings, including the women’s monthly meetings, documents that the dissension between Edward and John must have been so great as to last the span of six months, and in which other Friends became involved to reach a mutual agreement between them.

Despite the fact Edward was well-educated and soon to be a wealthy landowner, we may never know the reason why Sarah was not fond of Edward. Perhaps she saw him as a brother rather than a suiter. Perhaps he was too stubborn and persistent for her, as evidenced by the six month disagreement with her father.

Sarah subsequently married 25-year-old Samuel Cart of Abington Township, a merchant, on 12 April 1693. Seventeen years later in 1710, Edward Farmar and Samuel Cart were elected to represent Philadelphia County in the Provincial Assembly. Time may have healed Edward’s heart break and bitterness toward Sarah, or working with his former fiancé’s husband may have been awkward.

Based on the birth of their eldest son Samuel in 1695, we generally accept that Edward married Rachel ___ in 1694 at the age of twenty-two. Many family trees have Edward’s wife as “Rachel Astley,” with claims to her maiden name perpetuated with “user submitted data.”

The Astley-Farmar marriage may be due to an interpretation of a 06 July 1705 parish record in Highley, Shropshire, England. However, there is no record that Edward stepped down from his duties as judge and travelled back to England. It is also unlikely that a marriage in Philadelphia would be recorded in a Shropshire record as occurring ten years after the birth of their first child. Further, the neighboring parish records in Oldbury, Shropshire, England have numerous baptismal, marriage, and burial records for several Farmers, including the following:[3]

30 June 1706, Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Farmer, yeoman, & Rachell, baptized

31 August 1707, Ann, daughter of Edward Farmer & Rachell, baptized

22 May 1709, Thomas, son of Edward Farmer & Rachell, baptized

21 May 1710, Joanna, daughter of Ed: Farmer & Rachell, baptized

15 May 1712, Ed:, son of Edward Farmer & Rachell, baptized

13 September 1712, Rachell, wife of Edward Farmer, buried

21 February 1728, Edward Farmer, buried

It is most likely that a separate Edward Farmer married Rachel Astley in Highley, probably the church she attended, and later attended the church in Oldbury, probably Edward’s home town. Based on the dates, the presence of other Farmer family members, the difference between the Irish –ar and English –er spelling of the surname, and the fifteen mile distance between Highley and Oldbury, the consensus is that Edward Farmar, immigrant to Pennsylvania, did not marry Rachel Astley. This is further substantiated by numerous Astley’s in Shropshire, yet an inability to locate the Astley surname in the Philadelphia region until it first appears in the late 1700’s and early 1800’s.

Jim White in his book Boone Family to America, 1670-1720, Volume II (2009) has Edward’s marriage of 1697 in Chester County to Rachel Ellis, born in Tyddyn Y Garreg, Merioneth, Wales on 27^th day 1^st month 1675. [4] Her parents were Robert and Elin Ellis “Preachers of Righteousness” who immigrated to Pennsylvania in 1690.[5]

More research is required to determine the validity of White’s claim, which is difficult as the book does not disclose the source. Also, each of the children of Robert and Elin Ellis name their children with the same names, further compounded by the changing of the Ellis surname to “Roberts.”[6]

However, there is a lot of other evidence that connects the interactions of Rachel’s siblings and their descendants with the Farmar family and/or other families connected with the Farmar’s.

The last mention of Edward’s wife Rachel is 30 November 1731 for the sale of land to William Lowther of Abingdon Township.[7] It is unknown how or when she died or where she is buried, presumably at St. Thomas Episcopal Church. There is no record that indicates Edward remarried nor is there a wife mentioned in his will.

Philip Farmer is the author and publisher of “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh,” a 500-page, 155-year biographical history of the Farmer family’s immigration from Ireland into Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Harlan County, Kentucky. Complete with bibliography and footnotes that supports the research.

“Very well written and researched…” Ms. L. King

“I love your work… Very interesting!” Ms. B. H. Baker

“Amazing research!“ Ms. J. Shipley

“Wonderfully researched, well written… recommend it even if you’re not related to the Farmar’s…” Mr. D. Roark

[1] Mary Hedge More married John Holme of Philadelphia on 03 January 1687/8, his second marriage. Mary died intestate on 17 November 1694. By 1696, John Holme moved from Philadelphia to Monmouth River, Salem County, New Jersey before dying testate in 1704. (Cook, “Farmar of Ardevalaine,” p.96).

[2] Robert Turner is mentioned throughout the book as 1) a witness to the land transaction between Edward’s brother Richard Farmar to Thomas Webb and from Webb to his mother Madame Farmar; 2) his letter regarding Widow Katherine’s construction of a brick house on Second Street; 3) his letter to William Penn regarding the burning of limestone by Samuel Carpenter; 4) his letter regarding the building of new homes in Philadelphia; 5) In May 1682, Joseph Fisher and Robert Turner each purchase a 5,000 acre plantation from William Penn.

[3] Fletcher, Shropshire Parish Registers, Diocese of Hereford (vol. 16), p.22-23, 29.

[4] Browning, Welsh Settlement of Pennsylvania, p.518.

[5] White, Boone Family to America, 1670-1720, Volume II, p.86. While providing information regarding the Ellis family, no evidentiary proof within this source ties Rachel Ellis with Edward Farmar.

[6] Glenn, Welsh in the Merion Tract, p.284-285. All of the children of Robert Ellis took the surname Roberts when they arrived to America.

[7] Cook, “Farmer of Ardevelaine,” p.110.