As large landowners in southeast County Cork, Ireland, the Penn’s and the Farmar’s knew each other and continued their relationship into early 1700 Pennsylvania. The following is excerpted from the book Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh.
As early as 1677, William Penn was part of a group purchasing land in the western side of present New Jersey. Once the land was acquired, they immediately encouraged its settlement, particularly among English Quakers. Surprisingly, British Parliament and King Charles II granted Penn a charter in March 1681 as the sole proprietor of land that would become Pennsylvania. Historians have suggested that the British government, by granting the land to Penn, had hoped the troublesome Quakers would leave England. Some historians suggest that it was part of a debt repayment to his father Sir William Penn. Others suggest that, through his relationship with the Duke of York, it ensured James a friendly neighbor who was concurrently the proprietor of New York immediately to the north of “Penn’s Land.”
To build his new province, William began negotiating and purchasing tracts of land from the local Indians. Penn then immediately began an active promotion throughout Europe to market and resell his property. To attract settlers in large numbers to his new province, William wrote a glowing prospectus in various languages that promised religious freedom as well as other advantages about the new land in America. Within six months he had parceled out 300,000 acres to over 250 prospective sellers, mostly rich London Quakers. Eventually he attracted other persecuted minorities including Huguenots, Mennonites, Anabaptists, Catholics, Lutherans, and Jews from England, France, Holland, Germany, Finland, Wales, and Ireland.
One of his first customers was Major Jasper Farmar. Major Jasper had lived for many years upon his estate in Garranekinnefeake, or “Garron Kenny Fange” Parish, village of Midleton, County of Cork, Ireland. His brother, John Farmar, resided on his estate in the neighboring village of Youghal. William Penn’s father had been granted lands in County Cork, Ireland for his services during the English Civil War. With Sir Penn’s failing health, William was sent to manage the estate in 1666, and when Sir Penn died in 1670, young William, then twenty-six years old, inherited “Penn’s Castle” – over 5,000 acres across eight square miles of land near the present village of Shanagarry. The villages of Midleton, Youghal, and Shanagarry neighbor each other, and as large landowners in southeast County Cork, the Penn’s and Farmar’s knew each other.
As early as 29th day 10th month 1669, Penn writes in his diary…
“[29th day 10th month 1669] Major fformer & J.Bolese came to me. I had advise from F. din’d and sup’d at sh. I have perus’d Part of ye Jusu. Book.”[1]
[22nd day 11th month 1669] I mett Ger. ff’tz Ger’ld about ye windmill, we concluded on 44lb per An’o & what It shall be adjudg’d more worth by Farmer, & Gale. I paying quitrent.
[10th day 12th month 1669] we left youghall, & w. H. his daughter, R.C. & P.C. & ye rest of us Came to M. ffarmers, & thence to shangary, where we lay being Civilly treated.
[21st day 11 month 1669] I went & Coll Wallis to Coll. Phairs, about ye reference the land was returned 4s 3ds per acre. I paying quitrent. I abated 6d per Acre, & h’t was 3s 9d p Acre. we so agreed on all sides. He before C.Phair Beul ffarmer, Wallis &c: gave vp Inchs y’e hous not to touch & arrears of rent to pay. so we return’d home to C.Phairs ser’t 1s.
[1st day 12th month 1669]. M. ffarmer & M. woodly Came to C. Ceuls I. spoak to them. from thence we Went to Corke. J. Boles being with us. we meet with Coll. Phair. His wife. & seuerall of his ffamely.”[2]
Coincidentally, the Puritan immigration into America’s provinces came to an abrupt halt when Sir Oliver Cromwell came to power, since the primary reason to flee England, religious freedom, was removed. In an ironic twist of fate for a Royalist supporter, the restoration of the monarchy with Charles II in 1661 restored the “need” for immigration, and presumably from his acquaintance and conversations with Penn, provides Major Jasper with the seeds of thought to immigrate to Pennsylvania. Additionally, years earlier his great grandfather, George Fermor, had purchased shares in the Second Virginia Company Charter which funded the Jamestown, Virginia settlement as early as 1609 in which Major Jasper’s distant cousin, Thomas Farmer, had been living since 1616, although not much had been heard from him since 1632.[3]
Penn undoubtedly described Pennsylvania as being more beautiful and fertile than Ireland, with temperate weather, friendly Indians, plenty of wild game, and religious freedom – all overseen by a democratic government operating under a constitution where power was derived from the people.
Major Jasper, dissatisfied with the turbulent political and financial condition of affairs by which he was surrounded, and through his friendship with Penn, was led to embark for a new life by taking up a “Plantation” in the new Province of Pennsylvania. But at the age of seventy-two, with a wife in her late forties, and at least seven children still living at home, it was a personal investment fraught with doubt. One has to wonder the emotional debate and discussions between Major Jasper, Mary, and their children.
In 1682, Major Jasper sent his 29-year-old son, Jasper Farmar, Jr., to make a voyage of investigation in “Penn’s Land.” Pleased at what he discovered, Jasper Jr., on behalf of himself, his father Major Jasper, and his brother Richard, took up, in two tracts, five thousand acres of land by a proprietary patent dated 31 January 1683.
“L. S.: William Penn, Proprietary and Governor of Pennsylvania and the Territories thereunto belonging. At the request of Jaspar Farmar, Junior, in the behalf of his father, Major Jaspar Farmar, his brother Richard and himself, that I would grant him to take up 5,000 acres of land, being of the lands by the Indians called Umbilicamence, fronting At one end upon the River Schuylkill. These are to will and require thee forthwith to survey or cause to be surveyed unto him the said five thousand acres in the aforementioned place where not already taken up, according to the method of townships appointed by me, and make return thereof unto my Secretary’s office. Given at Philadelphia the 3lst of the l0th month, 1683.
Wm. Penn.
For Thomas Holmes, Surveyor-General.”[4]
Every obligation Major Jasper had with his family who wished to remain in Ireland, including his son Samuel, had been settled in preparation for the trip. His oldest daughter Elizabeth had died in 1682, and his daughter Mary Webber, who did not make the trip, had married and received from her father a large dowry. In late August 1685, Major Jasper’s family, as well as the family of his son Jasper Jr., the family of his daughter Katherine Webb, and the servants of all three families, boarded the ship Bristol Merchant commanded by Captain John Stephens. By doing so, Major Jasper Farmar made a full life-changing decision backed by a strong financial commitment. The trip was extremely expensive. Not only were there the costs of the passage for all of his family and their servants, but there was also the added expense to ship all of the family belongings, including their furniture.
The weakness and loss of weight for the passengers aboard the Bristol Merchant left them vulnerable to diseases, and at the age of seventy-five, Major Jasper Farmar was especially vulnerable. Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, Mary Farmar buried her husband Major Jasper, her stepson Jasper Jr., her stepdaughter Katherine, and perhaps several others whose names have been lost in history. After a ten-week voyage across the Atlantic Ocean, the Bristol Merchant arrived into the port of Philadelphia, on 10th day 9th month 1685.[5]
“Madame Farmar” settled the land with her family in the fall of 1685, and the surroundings must have been like the Old World, all within eyesight of the neighboring “Manor of Springfield” – land located northwest of Madame Farmar that William Penn had gifted to his first wife, Gulielma Maria Springett in 1681. The entire Farmar plantation would soon become Whitemarsh Township within Montgomery County, and is so named today in the same boundary lines.
Lime was manufactured in Whitemarsh at a very early day, and probably earlier than at any other place in the province. In a letter from Dr. Nicholas More,[6] a physician from London, Chief Justice, and President of the Free Society of Traders, dated from his residence at Green Spring, in the manor of Moreland, 13 September 1686, to William Penn, then in England, that…
“Madame Farmar has found out as good limestone on the Schuylkill as any in the world, and is building with it; she offers to sell ten thousand bushels at sixpence the bushel upon her plantation, where are several considerable hills, and near to your manor of Springfield.”[7]
Madame Farmar was not only optimistic and energetic, but an astute and proven business woman, frequently mentioned with very great respect. James Logan writing to William Penn of Madame Farmer, says “she is a woman of great business ability, and tact.”
Madame Farmar died in late 1686, leaving her estate to her surviving 14-year-old son Edward Farmar. Beginning in the early 1690s, Edward began buying land and selling parcels of the original 5000 patent in 100- to 200-acre plots. The sales served two purposes, one of which was to raise money to cover his expenses, and the other was to satisfy one of the agreement terms when the land was purchased from William Penn. Penn had stipulated that the property was to be subdivided as it was never his intention to re-create a large feudal estate in America as existed in England and Ireland.
In a letter from William Penn to James Logan, Penn references Edward’s desire to confirm ownership of 100 acres in the Manor of Springfield and to sell him an additional 100 acres for £100, a request not satisfied until 1713.
London 28th 5 m 1702
“…pray quiet ed. Farmer, J. Growden, &c: till my son comes, unless I should have more time to [be] perticuler now, w’ch is doubtfull, the winde being faire, after long westerly winds… For the land, It is asking me so much mony out of my pocket. Nor will I let it goe for 4 or 500 acres, but to reduce his other pretentions, & give security for the overplus of the value, if any. And in case it ever was a part of the Mannor of Springfield, I can part with such a quantity. But more of this per my son; only tell ed. Farmer no body else, if not he, shall have a foot of the land requests of me. vale.”[8]
With all of the land buying and selling, Edward has not sold enough property in forty-four years to satisfy William Penn’s agreement with his father Major Jasper Farmar and his brother Jasper Farmar, Jr. as evidenced by the minutes of the Assembly on 11th day 12th month 1734/5:
“That the late Prop’r was pleased to Grant to his father and Uncles who were purchasers of the Tract of 5,000 Acres of Land since called White Marsh the Priviledge of two Fairs every Year and a Market once a Week to be kept on the said Tract of Land provided that within five years they should procure twenty familys to settle and dwell there, which he confesses was not complyed with…”[9]
Edward was commissioned as one of the Justices of the Peace for Philadelphia County on 02 September 1701, and again on 04 September 1704.[10] It was an office he would hold for twenty-six consecutive years to 1727, and again continuously from 1728 until his death in 1745 for a span of over forty years.
For Edward, the office gave him the opportunity to work with his 25-year-old nephew Thomas Farmar, the son of Edward’s brother Jasper Jr. and Widow Katherine, who had made the trip to Pennsylvania at the age of ten on the Bristol Merchant. Thomas was personally appointed by William Penn as the High Sheriff of Philadelphia City and County on 20 June 1700 and was appointed again in 1701.
Part of his duties was to act as a water bailiff with the power to execute all legal process against any person, ship, or goods upon the Delaware River. Believing that the commission infringed upon his authority, Governor Robert Quary of Carolina complained on 14 November 1700 to the Lords of the Admiralty and the responsibilities were removed from Thomas.[11] As High Sheriff, Thomas was to keep the peace and enforce the law, while his uncle Edward Farmar as Justice of the Peace would have tried the cases and meted the punishment to those Thomas arrested. Among his other duties was to collect taxes, a task he did not do well for fear of making himself unpopular with the citizens who did not like the levies. After Edward Shippen,[12] Nathan Stanbury, Isaac Norris, and William Carter made a complaint to the Council on 03 February 1702, the responsibility was then relegated to William Tonge who was appointed on recommendation of the Governor and Council as “under sheriff” to collect the taxes and do it promptly.[13] Additionally, John Furnis was also employed by William Penn in 1701 to collect the £2000 tax in the town, “after Thomas Farmer had failed to discharge his Duty therein.”[14]
Thomas held the office until he resigned his commission in August 1703 with a desire to move back to England as noted in the Council minutes.
“Thomas Farmar High Sheriff of the City and County of Philadelphia acquainted ye Board that having a design to transport himself to England he must crave leave to lay down his said office, and therefore requested the Board that another might be appointed.”[15]
Another Farmar-Penn connection occurs on 22 August 1751, when 27-year-old Lady Juliana Fermor, Edward’s third cousin-twice removed, marries 49-year-old Thomas Penn, the son of William Penn, in St. George’s Church in Hanover. A section has been included in the book Edward Farmar and the Sons of Whitemarsh.
[1] Penn, “William Penn’s Journal of His Second Visit to Ireland,” p.59.
[2] Penn, “William Penn’s Journal of His Second Visit to Ireland,” p.59, p.62, p.63, p.65. Penn’s use of the abbreviations “F.” or “ff.” may also reference Major Jasper, but have been omitted. References to “M. ffarmer” and other various spellings denotes Major Jasper, whereas the omission of “M.” may be to Jasper’s brother John.
[3] Farmer, “Thomas Farmer, Jamestown Adventurer: His History, Descendants, & Ancestors,” p.15-16. Major Jasper Farmar’s grandfather, George Fermor, and Thomas Farmer’s father, John Farmer of Cookham, were second cousins as both were the great grandchildren of Thomas Richards alias Fermor. It is highly questionable if Major Jasper (born 1610) knew Thomas Farmer (born 1593) as Major Jasper was age six when Thomas departed for Virginia in 1616. It is possible that during the return trips Thomas made to England, that he did meet Major Jasper, or news of Thomas’ stories in America from other relatives may have reached Major Jasper.
[4] Bean, History of Montgomery County, p.1139.
[5] Mann, “Fort Washington Historic Environs,” p.203 states “September 10, 1685” possibly due to a mistranslation between Julian and Gregorian calendars.
[6] Bean, History of Montgomery County, p.vii of Appendix. Nicholas More, a physician from London, arrived soon after William Penn, in 1682, and had conveyed to him by patent, 7th of Sixth Month, 1684, the manor of Moreland, containing nine thousand eight hundred and fifteen acres. About 1685 he commenced thereon the erection of buildings, where he lived and died, calling the place Green Spring.
[7] Bean, History of Montgomery County, p.1139; Hobson et al., Centennial Celebration of Montgomery County, p.53; Published in Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, vol. 4, p. 445.
[8] Dunn, et al., The Papers of William Penn, Volume 4: 1701-1718, p.179 & p.181. Joseph Growden claimed 14,000 acres between Poquessing Creek and Neshaminy Creek, but William Penn had agreed to a total of 10,000 acres if Growden could find his father’s deed, and only 5000 acres if not.
[9] Cook, “Farmar of Ardevalaine,” p.97. From the minutes of 11th day 12th month 1734/5.
[10] Reference Martin’s Bench and Bar of Philadelphia for additional dates and Justices.
[11] Dunn, et al., The Papers of William Penn, Volume 4: 1701-1718, p.75.
[12] Edward Shippen (1639-1712), a wealthy Quaker merchant, Mayor, Speaker of the Assembly, Chief Justice, and president of the Provincial Council. Born in Methley, Yorkshire, England, he removed to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1668 and then to Philadelphia in 1693-1694. His “Great House,” which was on Second Street, north of Spruce, and overlooked Dock Creek and the river beyond, was occupied for a time in 1699 by William Penn and his family during his second visit (Myers, Narratives of Early Pennsylvania, West New Jersey, and Delaware, 1630-1707, p.332).
[13] Browning, “Philadelphia Business Directory of 1703,” p.734; Scharf, History of Philadelphia, 1609-1884, p.180.
[14] Roach, Colonial Philadelphians, p.50. “John Furnis,barber in 1701, had arrived in October 1683 with his father Henry Furnis, and relatives most of whom, including John , were indentured to Robert Turner for four years. Henry took up on rent in 1685 a 50 by 100 foot lot at the northwest corner of Vine and Second Street “in the Governor’s Land adjoining the city;” here he, a sadler by trade, was taxed on an estate rated at £30 in 1693. In 1701, when John Furnis applied for the headland due his relatives, amounting in all to 350 acres, he [was appointed by Penn].”
[15] Minutes of the Provincial Council, vol. 2, p.66.
Philip Farmer is currently assisting families break down their genealogical brick walls and find information on their ancestors. He is also 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.
“Very well written and researched…”
Ms. L. King
