Before there was consistent spelling of names, you can't be sure how an ancestor's name might be spelled in official records because whoever is writing down the name is spelling it the way he or she is hearing it. Because of this (and the changing of accents?), a surname can change from generation to generation (and even for the same person during his or her lifetime).
My 4th great-grandmother, Judith Farrar, was born in 1773 as the oldest of ten children of David Farrow (Farrar) and Judith Stodder (Stoddard). Judith was probably born in Massachusetts, though I have not found her birth record (only in secondary sources). These names certainly make you wonder how the family pronounced the names.
 |
| David Farrow Jr. of Hingham + Judith Stodder of Sci[tuate] Jan. 28, 1773 Ancestry.com: Massachusetts Town and Vital Records, for Hingham |
Massachusetts Town and Vital marriage records (in both Hingham and Scituate) show David Farrow of Hingham marrying Judith Stodder of Scituate. However, I always look for Farrar and Farrow to search for Judith, her siblings and her father's line and I look for Stodder and Stoddard to search for Judith's mother's line.
A story found in A History of Buckfield, Oxford County, Maine, from the earliest explorations to the close of the year 1900, published in 1915 by The Journal Printshop of Lewiston, Maine, (found at Google Books), tells of the Farrar family arriving in Buckfield (in about 1789) and Judith meeting her husband, Thomas Lowell (who shot a bear). I blogged about this story at Local History of Buckfield, Maine.
Very soon after this meeting, Judith married Thomas in New Gloucester, Cumberland, Maine, on July 4, 1790. They settled in Buckfield, Oxford, Maine, where they had eight children. Sadly, her husband, Thomas, died in 1810 in Buckfield.
Soon after her husband's death, Judith moved with her children to Litchfield, Maine, about 30 miles east of Buckfield. The 1850 and 1860 U.S. Censuses show Judith Lowell living in Augusta, Maine, with her youngest daughter's family (Judith and William Sibley). She died there on October 31, 1861 and is buried in Wall Cemetery in Augusta, where her gravestone notes that she was the wife of Thomas Lowell. (See her FindAGrave memorial.) However, I have still not found where Thomas is buried.
I descend from the parents of Judith Farrar (Farrow) as follows:
David Farrow (Farrar) = Judith Stodder (Stoddard)
|
Judith Farrar (Farrow)
|
Reuben Lowell
|
Sarah Lowell
|
Lowell Copeland
|
Lowell Townsend Copeland
|
My mother
|
Me
I was just tracking down ancestors in a History of Buckfield, looking for the family of Rozalvo (Rosalvo) Crockett, who was the father of my great-grandmother, Alice Arminta Crockett, who married George Whitefield Haskell, Jr. from Newburyport, Massachusetts. Rosalvo Crockett is listed in the Haskell Family Database as having married Esther A. Farrar/Augusta E. Farrar (who I suspect is the same person), who was the daughter of America Farrar and Arminta Dean. America was the son of Philip Farrar, who was the son of David Farrar and Judith Stoddard (5th-great-grandparents). David had been a Revolutionary War soldier and had settled in Buckfield when it was still called Bucktown Plantation in 1788. Tracing it back to John Farrar (Farrow) from there that gives me three direct ancestors who sailed here from England in 1635. William Haskell came from Charleton Musgrove, Somerset and landed at Salem, Massachusetts (I don't know when his wife Mary Tybott came over from Wales), and John Farrar and his wife, Frances, who came from Hingham, England to Hingham, Massachusetts. One in Massachusetts Bay Colony and one in Plymouth Colony. I now know of three direct ancestors who were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. Caleb Haskell, Jr. from Newburyport was at Bunker Hill and went on Arnold's Expedition to Quebec (he wrote a diary about it that has been published and is often cited by authors of books on the Revolution). Dr. Azor Betts from New York was a Loyalist and was in the Queen's Rangers and left for New Brunswick, Canada after the war (he actually has a Wikipedia page and is mentioned in the National Archives - just Google "General Orders, 26 May 1776". They are both the grandfathers of George Whitefield Haskell, Senior through Caleb Haskell III and Fanny Matilda Betts (married in Canada barely two months after the end of the War of 1812). And now I can add David Farrar to that list. I also noticed the Gammon name in the book. My grandmother was Myra May Gammon (married Harold Haskell).
ReplyDelete-Les Haskell
Hello cousin and thank you for the comment! It looks like you know a bit more about our mutual Farrar ancestors than I do.
Delete