FarmerTHE FARMEn FAMILY
(Copled from the "Daughters of the American Revolution
Magazine", Febmary, 1922)
FARMER
••Thp fami!y of Farmer, name spelled various ways, is derived
;, n cne of the romp. pions of Will!am the Conqueror, and was at
:.-t earl, pv.lot: established in the Lordship of Somerton, Oxford-
.%h:re, En;;:and. Res.-ded at Caston-Neston about 1430.
Anne. claughter of Ric•h.ird Farmer. Esq.• married before 1345
'' "' mad :heir son. Sir Thomas ",.ucy, of Charlecote,
. 1...:1 :J Lucy. tl;.
Kr!�htac: Uy Onven ENzahrth 1"5, was the magistrate so famous
In the tints of Shake_peare.
Jj!:n. elder-: son of richard Farmer, wan n►ade !might of the
t'31net at 1Cesiminr4pr 1:.53. the tlay of the coronatior, o: Queen
S'nrr. !i: tier presence. under Cloth of State, by Earl
W' Arun!el. Cottn!ssioner for the crenxion, lie magiled ltnud,
eavrntc•r of Sir Xirbolas. Nnight.
)iii cl.!rst snn George. knighted 15S6, had the honor of enter.
tai:t: nc 1C4nc Jar.:es is: and his Queen at F.aston•lestnn 1:.03,
%+!1VL; His was p!eased to confer the honor Uf knighthow
::wn ::is vNes; fio.n. Sir liatton Fermur.
Sir Geoige married Mary. daurhte- of Thomas Curzon. Ile was
th•= rcrsnnal friend of Sir Philip : yc avy and was one of the few
!:tvi:e:l to w;;lk in, his funeral procession with the family.
Lord Xrlson _creed under Georg Farmer of the Royal Navy,
wh-, VOmm3nded lit: \!tiest> s shit: QVEMEC. G.7 Ushant. 1777, and
(-ngagcd a French frigate of greatly superior farce.
lt35. Major Jasper and Jasper Farmer. Jr., direct descendants of
G"erre Farmer, with their respectivefamilies, came to America and
nettled is 1'cunsylva.:ia."
. I
THE EARLY FA IMARS
TITE Hlli
E family of Farmar, we are informed in Cons'
Peerage, is derived from one of the Companions of, the
Conqueror, and was at. a very early period established
in the Lordship of Somerton, in Oxfordshire, England. The
name has been spelled in numerous ways, father and son, in the
olden times, seldom agreeing upor. the same orthography, and
there are some instances where one individual has his name
spelled in two or three ways, Fcrmour, Per-noi, Fartttar, and
Farmer being some of the styles, while frequently the double
F is used, as Thomas I''farmar or frarmar. We find some of this
various spelling on brasses and monuments in the old Somerton
Church, two of which are here transcribed.
A certain Will -Ani Fcrmour, who was a man of consider-
able importance in his day (whicls day began before the Co-
lumbian discovery of America), lies buried in a chapel on the
south side of the chance) of the Sonierton Church, under a
great raised monument of gray marble, whereon lie the figures
Of a gentleman and his wife, in 'brass, and bearing this in-
scription:
" here lyethe bari.d X11r. William Fcrmour, Esq., whych
as born of this Towne and patr.:jti cf this Churche, and also
Clarke of Uhe Crowne in the King's Lench, in Ding Henry
`the 7th and fang Henry the 9th Dayes, Whyche died the
20th Clay of 7i or in the Year of our Lord God aMCCCCCLII :
Antl also here lyeth :liistress l:lizabetb 1%miaour, his last
'N'yfie whych was the Daughter oZ- S' W. -Il' Norrysse Knight
-upon whose and all Christene Souls Ihu have mercy."
At Rome Church; Essex, was buried his first wife, with the
,following to tell the tale:
4 TROMM A21D ANNE SILLOPP TARMAb
" Here lyeth 'Katharine, the daughter of Sir William Pow -
let, Ii:nyght, wyfof William Fcrmour, Clarke of the Crown,'
who died -liay 26, the second of Henry the eighte."
Now, the above William Fermour left the greater part of a
large fortune by a will, which is of record, to his nephew who
lies buried in the same church of Somerton, and whose name
was Thomas Farmar.
Thomas seems to have been a liberal -minded mss, who
endowed schools and (lid much other good with his fortune,
and, according to his will, which is still eitant, his executors
erected in the Chapel of Somerton Church, a raised monu-
ment of white marble, whereon lies his effigy in armor, and the
effigy of his wife, and around the verge is the following Latin
inscription:
Is Thomas Farmar, Armigero, viro animi magnitudine
contra Hostes bencficentia erga Doctos admirabili. Domino
hujus territorii benignissimo et Norae scholae Fundatori
optimo in perpetuani sui sur -eq. conjugis Brigittae faeminae
lectisshnae memoriam ex Testamento executores sui hoc monu-
mentum flentei erexerunt.
" Obiit vero anno Domini 112lesimo quingentisimo Octo-
gesimo die Augtlsti Octtro:'
Which in Engiish would read:
"To Thomas Farmar, Esq., a man magnanimous to his
enemies, admirably beneficent to learning, a kind master, and
the founder of the new school in perpetual memory' of him-
self and his wiie Bridget, a most Iearned woman, by authority
of his will this monument is erected by his weeping executor..;._
Ile died in the true year of our Lord, fifteen .hundred sad
eighty, the 8th day of August."
Thomas Fcrmour, and his wife Et: motto, the widow of-:
Henry Wcnman, and the daughter of •:lir. Ilervey *of Here-
fordshire, are the first of the name of -whom we have 4ny doh-..
mentary _evidence, according to Collins' Peern. - .Thewill•.
of the said Thomas is dated Sgptember 8,-1:85, and, among .
DAVIE CO. PUBLIC LIBRtAHO
MOCKSVrLL4 NO
TUE i:&DLY FARMARS 5 6 THOMAS AND ANNE DSI.LOPP FAn31AR
other things, he orders his body to be buried in the Chapel
of St. diary Magdelen in the Church of Whitney in Oxford-
sbira. It gives twenty pounds to the altar in the chancel of.
the Blessed Viro n 'Mary in that church --"For his tithes,
vlbjch be had forgotteD." To William, his son, the same Wil-
liem who became clerk of the Crown, and who lies buried at
So=erton Church, he gives 200 marks and all his lands in
Cogges, and Buford.
To Richard, his eldest son, and our ancestor, he gives
200 marks and all his lands in F ii'-inger and Langford. To
three el'.ildren of his Life Emmotte, by her first husband, he
gives " 100 3. each "—which would seem to indicate that he
was a generous and kindhearted man.
The " English Dictionary of N ational Biography" informs
ns that Richard Fermour engaged extensively in commerce
"of the staple of Calais," a:rassed a noble fortune, and set-
tled at Easton Neston, in Northamptonshire. He traded in
ail kinds of commodities, and is no mean scale, as will be seen
by the following statement, taken from vol. i. p. 472, of the
"1,e ers and Papers of Piing Henry VIII.," viz.:
s • " In 1513 he was granted by Margaret of Savoy; at the
request of Henry VIII., a passport enao:ing him to export duty..
free, the targe amount of 144,000 bushels of wheat"
In 1515 we find mention of the ship Cres.1, of which William
Fermour was owner, which " fine ship," laden with wool for,-
Italy,
oraItaly, was driven on the Zealand coast, and some of the
sailors were taken by Moorish pirates. We also find in these
:papers that in 1524 he was in Florence, Lnd of much assistance
to Sir John Clark, the r. -=t of Cardinal Wolsey, who was•`,
nego` -ting in I`.rly for the Cardinal's election to the Papacy._,.:
He pas a ze: lois Catholic, ani at the time of the Reforms
tion, are cre told in Burke's ' Peerage," his . err a possessions
"=cit -i the capidity of Momis Cromwell, Earl of Essex, the
V Ticar-G=er rl of Hurry :I=:, so- he confiscated the Vholp
;af. his large fortune, because of his having relieved his con'
r fessor, Nicholas Thaype, while in' the ,gaol of Buckingham_ F
The 'Job -like disposition and experiences of Mr. Richard
Fermour compels a lengthy quotation from Hall's " Life of
Henry the Eighth." Mr. Hall was a cotemporary of Lir.
Fermour. -
"The good old mar., when he was stript of all *he had, re-
tired to a village called Wapcnham, in sight of his former
Habitations, and lived in the parsonage house there, the
advowsons. of which had been in his gift, and the parson thereof
presented by him.
"There he passed several fears With a most consummate
piety and entire resignation, till 1530.
" In the time of hi: prosperity he had in his family accord-
ing to ti -c custom of the age, it servant, 'Will Somers,' who
by his witty or frothy discourse, past for a jester, and after-
wards served the King h'smsele in the same office or capacity.
This man, rcmember;ng with some gratitude his first mas-
ter, and having adr:ission to tine Bing at all times, and places,
especially when sick and melancholy, and toward his end, let
fall some lucky worts which awakened his conscience so as
at least to endeavour a restitution, and accordingly he gave
immediate orders about it, but being prevented by death, .it
was never effectually performed till the fourth year of Ed-
ward VI., by letters patent hearing that date; but so miser-
ably lopt and torn by the several grants and sales made by
the Crown during the aforesaid interval, that what he did
obtain was not one third of what he had before possessed."
Mr. Hall gives a list of the poor " lopt and tom" one-
third, as follows: `
" Those lands restored to him were the lordships and manors
of Towcestour, and Easton Neston, the advowsons of the rec-
tories
evtories of Cold-Higi:am and of the vicarage of Easton Neston,
the hundred of Wikaerslep,.with very great privileges thereto
belonging, and several houses in Cotton-Ead 'in the cocnty;
• of Northampton ; &.c lordship and manor •o:. OIDey St. Leger -
in the county,of 'Jen ord; the lgrdship and maaorpf Granuo�
i
THE EARLY FAnMA=
in the county of iVorcrster; the lordship and manor of Lu-
tcnhoe, and the hermitage lands in Lutcn and Runtisford
Farm in Iiuntisford in the counts of Bedford.
"Yet Bing Edward, to make some compensation granted
by' the same charter, to Richard Fermour and his heirs, Er►-
cral other lordships, a:anors, lurds and tenements, r'z.: 71 -he
IordsMps and manors of Corsecombe, Ilois:ocke, Nc•..'•.er•Stoke
and the advonsons of tate rectnry of Corsecombe in the cc=,
of Dorset; the manor of udfort in the cor.-:tr of Sa=er:et:
the house and scat of lair Lies 1:%!c!v d:ssoisc3 p-crr of
Sxnrcicrslcv ani divrrs woa3s anal lands th-rc!o
the manor of Ilio-in•11o.lr dad sever.►; i.,ndai is
in tl:e county of Vort!:s:rpton; t?:c i-znor of Ne -port Fay d
and the nd.oxcnn of the rve.ory end c!::: -e4 of Rawv i•W, is
the county of Essex, etc. Fn a.^. 044 ::�t but o 8-n-? e1
ptnsation for the Fres! Ioss he hew' tca:ei:.td.
" lie, therefore, being reposscs;ed of part of his estate,
and of borne ad.lition, as aforesaid, returned to his =&nor
house at Easton Nestor., where he departed this life on No-
vember the 17th, 1552. It is further remarkable, that hav-
ing some foreknowledge of his own death, he invited on tbat
very day, many of his friends and neighbors, and taking leave
Of them, retired to his devotions, and was found dead in that
posture, and afterwards buried on the north side of the ch=cel
of the parish Church of Easton Neston, under a gray marb!_
tomb."
He had married Anne, daughter of Sir William Brown,
Lord Rlayor of London.
lie was succeeded by his eldest son, John Te. -mor
Esq., who was made one of the "Knights or the Carpet s:
Westminster, Oct. 2'4 1533, the day of the Coro-r:icn cf
Quem :nary, in Her Majesty's presence, urthe Cloth of
State, by the Earl of Arundel, Commissioner Zrfothe occasion.."
Sir Jonn Fermor represented the county of North p'. .
'in two Parliaments, and was sl erX of that Shire is tBe 4th
and lith years of Queen 31ary's reign.. He
-daughter of Sir i�'ichoLs �'anx, Sat, Yard vi= of
CAME CO. PU.BUC UBRARY
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