ANCESTRY OF THE FARMER FAMILY
OF
FAIRFIELD, N.Y.
by Betsy Voorhees

Farmer Coat of Arms

Edward Farmer was born about 1639 in Ansley, Warwickshire, England, and died May 27, 1727 in Billerica, Middlesex County, MA. He married Mary Brown and is listed as Generation No. 1 in the Edward Farmer genealogy.

The third generation of some of his descendents are noted as the first Farmers to locate in Herkimer, NY and were children of William Farmer, b. Nov 15, 1719 in Billerica, Middlesex County, MA , died June 1775 in Battle of Bunker Hill. He married Ruth Willard June 2, 1745 in Harvard, Worcester County, MA.

The following children of William and Ruth moved to Herkimer County:

Henry Willard Farmer, b. February 7, 1753, Worcester, MA; d. February 16, 1813, Herkimer, NY

John Farmer, b. March 12, 1753, Harvard, Worcester Co., MA; d. before February 3, 1817, Herkimer, NY

Simon Farmer, b. August 2, 1757, Harvard, Worcester Co., MA; d. October 7, 1809, Herkimer, NY

All the above children can be found connected in old records when the Middleville Protestant Church was first formed.

Simon Farmer located on lands on Route 28N (also known as the Middleville Rd.) in Herkimer, on the west side of the highway. He had apple orchards on his farmlands and owned an apple distillery near the old County Home. There were also many butternut trees and many wild animals. His farm had bountiful supplies of fresh overflowing spring water flowing from the nearby hills surrounding his lands. Simon arrived at the time when this area was called a wilderness and the means of transportation was horse and buggy on unpaved trails or in the winter, horse drawn sleighs.

Today what used to be beautiful meadows and farmland on this property has become grown over with wild thorny bushes, thorn apple, sumac trees, nut trees, willow trees and other assorted trees and looks more like a return to the wilderness! In order to stroll through the hillside, one has to bring a hand sickle or other such means to swipe a path to the meadows. One recent surveyor in the area in 1999 finished his job recording the land and came back full of cuts and scratches that made him look as though he had been attacked by a wild animal - in reality it was actually an attack by wild thorny bushes.

The Farmer surname has become so widespread across the United States that Rootsweb has provided their own Farmer List for those interested in furthering research.

The above Farmer children later had many descendents throughout Herkimer County and some of them eventually branched out to other counties and states. Several Farmer families are buried in different cemeteries in Herkimer County.

Mr. Ira Farmer died in the City of Philadelphia, Jan. 27, 1845 at the age of 39. His grave is found at the Middleville Rural Cemetery, Middleville, NY. At left is a picture taken at the cemetery in Middleville of Ira's headstone, which is now deteriorating.

Back to Town of Fairfield Section