A lot of family trees incorrectly have Rachel Astley as the wife of Edward Farmar. Is his wife Rachel Ellis/Roberts as other researchers suggest?
In an earlier post, it was related that the Astley surname first appears in the Philadelphia region around the late 1700’s and early 1800’s. Yet, on a July 1685 land deed between William Penn and the local Indians, appears the name of Will Asley. The purchased land becomes the land inherited by Edward.
Jim White in his book Boone Family to America, 1670-1720, Volume II (2009) has Edward’s wife as Rachel Ellis, the daughter of Robert and Elin Ellis who immigrated in 1690 from Tyddyn Y Garreg, Merioneth, Wales, to Philadelphia. More research was required to determine the validity of White’s claim, as the book cites a source with no mention of Edward.
Further, White’s book claims that John Farmer, Edward’s brother, is the “Quaker of Essex” who traveled throughout the America’s from 1711-1714. Julie Miller’s research of John Farmer’s diary shows White’s claim to be untrue.
That got me to thinking. Maybe White was wrong about Rachel Ellis? Maybe Edward Farmar’s wife is Rachel Asley? In writing the book Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh, did I perpetuate yet another erroneous mistake?
Could I prove the real identity of Edward’s wife?
Using publicly available books, I started a family tree for Rachel’s siblings, who all adopted the surname “Roberts.”
I then used my father’s autosomnal DNA results to find the name “Ellis” or “Roberts” in the family trees of 6-8 cousin matches. I had purchased an AncestryDNA kit as a Christmas gift for my father in 2017; his DNA results became an invaluable tool that proved Samuel Chase Early was his great grandfather.
It was a very tedious process of elimination for a LOT of family trees. Not only did the Ellis or Roberts surname have to appear as a direct ancestor in the cousin’s pedigree, but no other surname in my father’s pedigree had to appear in the cousin’s pedigree, or match with other surnames in the Ellis/Roberts’ pedigree.
Why? To rule out any other DNA possibilities. If a cousin descended from a Farmer, is it a match due to the Farmer DNA, or Ellis/Roberts DNA? If an ancestral Farmer married an Osborne, and the cousin’s ancestor married an Osborne, is it a match due to the Osborne DNA? This also means that some descendants of Robert Ellis were eliminated if they married into families common with my father’s pedigree.
I needed trees that ONLY share the Ellis/Roberts connection. And in doing so, could also irrefutably prove that Stephen Farmer was the great grandson of Edward Farmar.
This is not an easy task. A full pedigree will have 196 persons across seven generations. And of course, family trees have to be correct. This can be a problem when family lines abruptly stop with limited information, or when family lines have children associated with the wrong parent (e.g. a son as offspring to his step-mother). Trees with good documentation were sought and used.
Out of THOUSANDS of trees, below are eight possibilities that were considered as examples of the painstaking effort to prove the identity of Edward’s wife.
- The pedigree of R.M. and J.M., sharing 16-26 cm across one segment. 5ggp Jane Roberts (1750-1820), parents unknown, married James Maxwell (1745-1821). Common surnames? 5ggp William Long (1750-1770) who married Martha Davis (1754-1840).
- The pedigree of R.B., sharing 19-23 cm across one segment, and whose mother Roberts can be traced 11 generations to William Roberts (1630-1670), including those in Pennsylvania at the same time frame as Rachel Ellis. Common surnames? 7ggp Alexander Cummins (1736- ).
- The pedigree of S.M., sharing 14-22 cm across one segment. 4ggp Thomas Roberts (1790-1837). Common surnames? 9ggp Peter Krehbiel (1656- ) of Switzerland with name changes through the generations similar to Grabeel of Switzerland.
- The pedigree of C.C., sharing 14-16 cm across one segment. 8ggp Alice Roberts (1640-1704). Common surnames? 7ggp Thomas Worrel (1686-1732).
- The pedigree of M.W., sharing 13-15 cm across one segment. 7ggp Edward Ellis (1659- ). Common surnames? 5ggp Henry Gay (1704-1779), along with Thomas and Thompson.
- The pedigree of T.S., sharing 14-17 cm across one segment. 5ggp Adonijah Roberts (1755- ). Common surnames? None.
The search continues for the perfect tree, especially one that has a direct descendant of Robert and Ellin Ellis with no other surname matches. The pedigree of T.S. listed above is very promising, with further research needed into the identity of Adonijah Roberts.
For now, DNA results do suggest that the identity of Edward Farmar’s wife is Rachel Ellis.
Philip Farmer is the author and publisher of “Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh,” a 500-page, 155-year biographical history of the family immigration from Ireland into Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, and Harlan County, Kentucky. A sequel is currently in work.
“Very well written and researched…”
L. King
“I love your work… Very interesting!”
B. H. Baker
“Amazing research!”
J. Shipley
“Wonderfully researched, well written… recommend it even if you’re not related to the Farmar’s…”
D. Roark
“Excellent book! We highly recommend!”
E. Wolf
“Very informative and interesting. I could not put it down.”
E. Farley