With an observation of George Farmer, I enjoy a welcome recall to my Tyson Township, Stanly County roots. Ruminating on his interlaced connections to my family tree, like a morning glory vine with its daily snaking around and slowly weaving in and about the boughs till it meets its efflorescent goal, I realize I have not a datum on his origins. And neither does most others, it seems. I would be remiss if I didn't give a gander at the ipseity of George Farmer.
He seems an unattached thing, hovering in midair without connections, and without a childhood, it seems. Which isn't true, of course. He didn't drop into the vicinage of my Tyson families as a rootless plant, pulled up from a ghostlike garden and tossed aside along the Rocky River. The man lived, as all men do, and had two parents, and four grandparents, biologically, but perhaps with rocks in the river along the way. As is now, life's random occurrences and brevity can cause bends and breaks in the family tree, as he may have had, and almost certainly would in the 19th century.
Let me begin with what I know of George Farmer, his family and its connections to my family tree.
George T. Farmer married Sarah Elizabeth Watkins, daughter of Arnold Watkins, a Stanly County farmer with Anson County roots, and his wife Marina Wilkerson, around 1865, according to the 1900 census, as no marriage contract is found. Their first son, Joseph, was born around 1868.
In 1870, the young couple is shown with Joseph, age two, in Tyson Township, near West and Upchurch families.
In 1880, George and wife are living in Center township, and they are living right next to an Eli A. Farmer. He's also near John P Morton, several Blalock's and Benjamin Franklin Duke. The family connections are like a spider web!
Eli A. Farmer was 39 years old in this record, as was George T. Farmer. George certainly did not practice obfuscation of his origins. However, one might view the coincidence of two men with the same, not overly common in the area, surnames, and of the same age, and think "Brothers!". That was not the case. I already knew Eli A. Farmer or knew who his people were. They were not brothers. This does not mean that they were not related in some manner, but exactly how, I cannot speculate at this juncture.
I had come upon Thomas Farmer during the dead-end research of my ancestor John Falkner, a third Great Grandfather from Anson County. Thomas Farmer was born about 1805. He shows up in Anson County in the 1840, 1850 and 1860 census records, recorded in Sandy Point and Diamond Hill. His wife was named Winnie or Wincy, she was seen by both names. Born about 1813, Winnie disappears before 1870, the year that Thomas, and Eli, show up in Stanly County, in Center Township, or around Norwood. During that year, Thomas is living with his daughter, Ann, Eli, and two grandchildren, Thomas and Elizabeth. This does not mean Winnie was deceased. Thomas' death date is sometime after 1871, when he last appears in a document as living, and 1880, where he no longer appears, but his surviving children do. Thomas had close connections to the Carpenter family, both in Anson and Stanly. He had a few deed exchanges with John A. Lilly and Simeon Carpenter and contact with a Seabury Carpenter. One of his sons was named Seabury. It could possibly be that his wife was a Carpenter due to the close connections with that family. Just a though. He also partnered with a Martin T. Farmer, in an 1860 document in Anson County.
Martin is suspected to be his brother. Martin is also the one of the first names of his son, Seabury. Some have split these into two different sons, but Martin C. is shown in 1850, but no Seabury and Seabury in 1860, but no Martin, being born about the same year. As Seabury is also seen spelled with a "C" as in Cebury, it is my belief they were one in the same. Eli was the youngest son.
After my own research, I've determined that Thomas and Winnie were the parents of four children.
A) James H. A. Farmer, born around 1834. He is 16 in his parents' home in 1850, and marries Sarah "Sallie" Hildreth, daughter of Thomas Hildreth and Hispira Childress Hildreth before 1857. His son's obituary states that his father died in "the War between the States", but his wife is shown alone in 1860, and his two children are living with Thomas in 1870, so his year of death remains a mystery. More on them in a few.
B) Lana Ann Farmer (aka Lancy, called Ann) was born sometime between 1828 and 1843. Her year of birth is shown twice as 1836, which I believe is the most accurate. Ann was an old maid and lived with her parents up until the 1870 census.
She became the second wife of Shelby Carpenter in 1875, and her age given in that document was 38. She had one child with Shelby, Julius Benjamin Carpenter.
In 1880, Lana Ann Farmer Carpenter is shown in Tyson Township with her 60-year-old husband, suffering from liver disease, and her 80-year-old mother, W. (Winnie) Farmer, suffering from old age. Lana doesn't live until 1900.
C) Thomas Martin Seabury Farmer was born about 1838. He is shown in both the 1850 and 1860 census records with this birth year and older than Eli in both. He enlisted in the Confederate Army at age 24, under the name Thomas S. Farmer and became a casualty of it.
| Name | Thomas S Farmer |
|---|---|
| Enlistment Age | 24 |
| Birth Date | abt 1838 |
| Birth Place | Anson County, North Carolina, USA |
| Enlistment Date | 29 Oct 1862 |
| Enlistment Place | Murfreesboro, Tennessee |
| Enlistment Rank | Private |
| Muster Date | 29 Oct 1862 |
| Muster Place | North Carolina |
| Muster Company | I |
| Muster Regiment | 60th Infantry |
| Muster Regiment Type | Infantry |
| Muster Information | Enlisted |
| Muster Out Date | 21 Nov 1862 |
| Muster Out Place | Murfreesboro, TN Hospl |
| Muster Out Information | died disease |
| Side of War | Confederacy |
| Survived War? | No |
| Occupation | Farmer |
| Title | North Carolina Troops 1861-65, A Roster |
D) Eli Armstead Farmer was born between 1840 and 1842 according to the 1850-1880 census record. His death records give his date of birth as August 10, 1834, but I believe this was exaggerated. He is shown as the youngest child in all the census records of his youth. He was the only child to live a long life, passing away on June 6, 1921. In the 1920 census, he was living on Cottonville Road in Center Township, and was buried at Cedar Grove UMC Church Cemetery.
He married Nancy J Morton, daughter of Armstead and Frances Wilkerson Morton, on November 5, 1871. They were the parents of seven children, Emma Farmer Duke, Charles Baxter Farmer, William Henry, Wincie Gertrude, Samuel Armstead, Thomas Cicero, and Walter Virgil.
Many family trees add two more, Thomas F. and Elizabeth, because they appear in his household in 1870, but those two were grandchildren, by his oldest son, James.
Sarah/ Susan Elizabeth Farmer lived with her mother in one census, and her grandfather in another, but died young and unmarried in 1873.
Thomas Crosson or Cason Farmer married Martha Kissiah Thompson, daughter of George W. and Mary Ann Morton Thompson in Albemarle, Stanly County. Both his marriage document, shown above.
And his death certificate, show his parents as James H. and Sallie Hildreth Farmer.
Thomas moved his family to High Point, in Guilford County, where he worked as a Shoemaker. He and Kessiah had three children. His son, James Seabury Farmer, became a respected minister. His obituary, shown above, states that he was born in Anson, moved to Stanly, and had spent the last 25 years in High Point. His father, named as James M. Farmer, was noted to have been killed in the Civil War. He could have separated from Sallie Hildreth Farmer before the War, as she is alone in 1860.
Thomas, the Carpenter
The elder Thomas Farmer, grandfather of the above Thomas, worked as a Carpenter. As I previously mentioned, he was shown in a deed, purchasing land together in Anson County with a Martin S. Farmer
 |
| 1840 Anson County |
In the 1840 census, above, Martin Farmer is listed third from top and Thomas Farmer is listed second from bottom, so they lived, for a time, in the same general vicinity.
One Farmer descendant has Thomas being the son of a James Farmer, son of a Thomas Farmer. I've not done enough research, and will not, as it's not my direct family, to either agree or disagree with these findings. The snippet above speaks on this particular line, so it may be of interest to someone to delve into. What I can confirm is that there was an older James Farmer in early Anson County. He appears in the 1790 census with a family of six, and in the 1800 census with what could be interpreted as five daughters and six sons. In that same year, there are no other Farmers in Anson, but a Thomas in Iredell.
1900
George T. Farmer lived to see the 20th century. He's 60 and his wife, 59, here with their daughters, Nancy E., 21, Lila W. 19 and "Lizer" J. 14. A 16-year-old boy has been hired as a farm helper, too, named Pop Colson.
Looking for George T. Farmer in the 1850 census, I am incapable of doing so. However, I do find other Farmer family members in Stanly County that look like a scattered tribe.
Next, I find a 12-year-old Joseph Farmer living in another Thompson home. This is, of course, not the same Joseph in 1840. The home is headed by 25-year-old William Thompson, and looks like a young family with Mary, 20, and Susan, 2. There must be a strong Thompson connection to the Farmer family. William is probably closely related to Mary and George W. Thompson. A 9-year-old "Samuel" Morton is also boarding in the home. As I have an ancestor named Samuel Parsons Morton, I have looked at this child in the past and determined that this was Lemuel Morton, not Samuel, and he was the son of David Morton, Jr. and Nancy Reddin Morton. Unfortunately, Lemuel became a casualty of the Civil War.
Lastly, we have William Farmer, age 18, living near my ancestor, Calvin Lee, and amongst a grove of Blalock's, whose land bordered Calvin's. William, like Joseph, has also been taken in by a young family, headed by 27-year-old Jordan Blalock, who has a wife and infant daughter. They live near John Norwood, of the Norwood Brothers Store that the town would be named for. He had married into my family, at one point, by marrying the widow of Burwell Hudson. Albert Murray, son of my third Great Aunt, Mariah Murray, is boarding with John Norwood. In fact, Murray children are scattered over the entire neighborhood.
I find where William Farmer married just four years later, to Martha J. Phillips on February 10, 1854.
Mary Ann Farmer, age 18 above, soon married. She has a very interesting story which deserves its own post, but briefly, she became the second wife of a much old, and very interesting man from a prominent Chesterfield County, South Carolina man.
On November 2, 1851, she married the notorious Thomas Crawford Ellerbe. Born in 1785, he was a 66-year-old groom and she a 19-year-old bride. If that wasn't creepy enough, he had a shocking background on top of it all. His family was wealthy and had produced doctors, lawyers, statesmen, business leaders and Thomas. He had been previously married to Mary Cash, a member through her mother, of the wealthy and respected Boggan family of Anson County. Mary was fortunate, in that she was not dragged down by the weight of his past but was the beneficiary of his estate. Thomas died in Stanly County in early 1852. His 50 plus page estate file shows that he had establish himself well in around the Rocky River Springs area and Cottonville, having many locals who owed him money, before his demise. The file included properties in Chesterfield and Anson County as well. This left Mary Ann Farmer a young, and very eligible widow.
She was quickly charmed and swept up by John Francis McIntyre, my first cousin 5 times removed, son of my 4th Great Grandaunt, Elizabeth Murray McIntyre and Malachi Stokes McIntyre. They were married March 6, 1852, just four months after her first marriage.
Below is the death certificate of Jesse B. Carpenter showing his parents as Margaret Farmer and James Carpenter.
And above is Margarets Obituary.
Her death certificate states that she was born in Anson County, but the informant didn't know the names of her parents.
The 1860 grouping appeared to be a possible group of siblings, which included the younger of the 1850 group in the home of Mary Thompson. Time to find out more about her. Come to find out, Mary would pass away in 1854, just a few years after the census, leaving a very informative Probate file.
She was the widow of a William Thompson who died about 1840.
Stanly County Equity court, Spring term of 1859
Your petitioners further show that their ancestors the said Mary left as her ? heir at law Patsy Pritchard, Wm Farmer, R A Kendall and wife Sarah, John McIntyre & wife Mary Ann nee Farmer, George Farmer John Farmer Margaret Farmer Leon Farmer & Wesley Farmer the said ? Sarah & Mary Ann & also William Joe George John Margaret Leon & Wesley being the children of Nancy Farmer deceased who was one of the heirs at law of the said Mary decd...
Calvin Thompson, Mary A Thompson Robert D Thompson Nancy Thompson & Wincy Thompson the said (repetition of the above names) being infants & the heirs at Law of Elisha Thomson deceased and Thomas Thompson are the only heirs at law of the said Mary Thompson. They further show that from the large number of heirs and the small size of the tracts of land that it is impossible to divide the same by metes and boundaries without doing manifest injustice to your Petitioner..
Patsy Pritchard et all
The Petition of Patsy Pritchard, William Farmer R A Kendall & wife Sarah, John McIntyre & wife Mary Ann, Joe Farmer & George Farmer John Farmer Margaret Farmer Leon Farmer Wesley Farmer (the said George, John Margarett Leon & Wesley & next friend J F Kendall, Edmund Thompson.
Mary Thompson, maiden name unknown, had passed away at the age of 59, and the above records a dispute, (isn't there always a dispute among heirs?), even of her unsubstantial property, of her many heirs. Her children are named, as are the children of her two children who had predeceased her. Her son, Elisha, was alive in the 1850 census, but passed away before this 1859 event. His children were Calvin C. Thompson, Mary Abigail Thompson, Robert D. Thompson, Frances "Fanny" Thompson and Winey Tabitha Thompson. He had married Martha C. Duke. Her daughter, Nancy, had married Joseph Farmer. She had died between the birth of Wesley, who is shown as three in 1850, and the 1850 census taken in June. Her husband, Joseph Farner was also deceased. Two of the Farmer children were married, and shown named with their husbands, Sarah, who married Reuben A. Kendall and Mary Ann, who married John F. McIntyre, after her brief marriage to Thomas C. Ellerbe. The other farmer children were named as William, Joe, George, John, Margaret, Leon and Wesley, with George, John, Margaret, Leon and Wesley being under 21, which legally categorized them as infants. James F. Kendall had been named as the Guardian and 'next friend' of the minor Farmer children.
Mary, the widow of a William Thompson who died around 1840 or after, had also left living children including Patsy Thompson Pritchard, who had brought on the dispute, and Thomas Thompson, whom it was against, and also Edmund, James, George, William, and Alexander Thompson.
So, George Farmer had not fallen out of the sky. We was the son of Joseph and Nancy Thompson Farmer and the grandson of William and Mary Thompson. In the earliest inception of Stanly County, NC, Joseph Farmer the first was mentioned once and his wife, Nancy mentioned twice in the Court of Pleas and Quarters. In the May 1843 Session, Joseph Famer had conveyed property to the heirs of Thomas Steele and R. J. Steele. The deed was proved by John Thompson.
In May of 1849, James Harward was appointed the Administrator of Joseph Farmer. This gives us a fairly reasonable estimate of his year of death. Bondsmen were E. W. Davis and John Howell, my family.
In August of 1850, just 15 months later, Letters of Administration on the estate of Nancy Farmer were given to George W Thompson with Elisha Thompson and James S. Turner as securities.
Later, we will see in the Estate records of one of George T. Farmer's siblings, a share of the land of William Thompson, as an heir, comes into play.
He had a large family of siblings. They were:
1832) Mary Ann Farmer who married Thomas C. Ellerbe first, and John Francis McIntyre, second. Much of her story has been told previously in this post. She had a large family with her second husband, whom she raised in Tyson Township. Later in life, the couple migrated west, first stopping in Lauderdale County, Tennessee, and ending up in Roans Prairie, Grimes County, Texas, where Mary Ann died in 1900 and buried in the Old Oakland Cemetery there.
1834) Sarah Farmer who married Reuben A. Kendall. Reuben was a Civil War Casualty, passing away on Valentine's Day, 1865, at Point Lookout, Maryland. They had two sons, Thorton A. Kendall, born in 1859, died as a child, and John Atlas Kendall, born in 1863 , who married Mattie Treadway, lived a long life and raised a large family, including many sons. He settled in Rockingham, Richmond County and finally in Wadesboro. Sallie, as she was known, died sometime between the 1880 census and 1889, when her only living child married. Her son died in Wadesboro in 1930.
1836) William M. Farmer married Martha Jane Phillips on February 10, 1854, in Stanly County. They had one son, James Oliver Farmer, in 1861. William enlisted in the Confederate Army on March 25, 1862. He appears to have headed west to start a new life, or to escape the War, leaving his family abandoned. He married Amazia D. Kenneman in Williamson, Texas, on November21, 1862. She died in 1868, and he remarried Marjorie Rebecca Fail later that same years. She had been married once before. William Farmer died that same year at the age of 34, cause unknown. Possibly still Civil War related as a deserter, maybe not. His widow remarried for the third time to a Johnson, and had ten children, living till age 77.
1837) Joseph K. Farmer aka "Joe" who married Lucy Ann McSwain. One son, Joseph Alexander Farmer born Christmas Day, 1862. Joe had enlisted in the Confederate Army on August 8, 1862. He died of Typhoid Pneumonia on December 23, 1862 in Lynchburg, Virginia. He never met his son.
Some family trees have Joseph Alexander as the son of John A. Farmer, but it was Joe. There are two small estate records, "John W. Smith, admin. of Joseph Farmer vs James K Faremer et all 1873" and Lucy Ann Farmer's Petition for Dower in 1871, which mentions an only child named Joseph Farmer. The jury consisted of ME Blalock, John Genes, Will Lowder, B. L. Duke, and laid off the lands of Joseph K. Farmer deceased, being Lot No 7 in the lands of the Heirs of William Thompson, deceased. This was Joe's share of property in his grandparent's estate, William and Mary Thompson, after the death of his mother, Nancy Thompson Farmer. Litte Joseph was appointed a guardian, William R. McSwain, from his mother's family.
The 1871 suite was first heard in the August Term of Court, 1863 and described $100 in indebtedness', and Lucy Ann Farmer became the purchaser of her husband's land and her son's inheritance. The biggest mystery here is, who was 'James K Farmer'? The only James in the family line I can figure was James H. A. Farmer, son of Thomas, who may or may not have been the brother or some other kin of Joseph the first. He passed away in 1863 and so it could not have been him, and what claim would he or his children have on Joseph K's estate? I wonder if it was a mistake and the person and their 'et al', was not James, and maybe even not a Farmer. If anyone has any insight into this kerfuffle, let me know.
On September 26th, 1874, Lucy A. Farmer gave to Joseph A. Farmer, for motherly affection, property on the Rocky Rivier adjoining M. M. McSwain and others, known as the James Thompson lot.
It was signed by Guardian W. R. McSwain and Lucy A. McSwain, as Lucy had married her cousin, Charles John McSwain, by that time. They would have three children together. Could the lawsuit have been with James Thompson and not James K Farmer? There was not a James Farmer anywhere close, or with local roots, that could have fit Cinderella's shoe. Food for thought.
1840-41 John A Farmer enlisted on September 7, 1861, in Albemarle in Company K, 28th Infantry of the Confederate Army. He died in battle on December 13, 1862, at Fredericksburg, Virginia, at the age of 21. The two brothers, John and Joe, died within two weeks of each other, from different causes, one in battle and the other from one of the many illnesses the soldiers were prone to fall with.
1841- George T. Farmer was next in line. I won't extrapolate on him except to note he married Sarah Elizabeth "Bettie" Watkins and remained in Stanly County.
1843- Margaret E. Farmer married James C. Carpenter, son of Edmund Lilly Carpenter and wife, Martha Baucom Carpenter, on March 15, 1875.
They lived around Burnsville and Lanesboro in Anson County, before moving to Mecklenburg, where they remained. They were the parents of six children, with only four living until adulthood, Hattie, William, Jesse and James.
Margaret Farmer Carpenter passed away January 14, 1920, at the age of 77.
1845- Leon R. Farmer enlisted on the same date, September 7, 1861, in Company K, 28th NC Infantry, in Albemarle, as his older brothers. He was 16 years old. Leon fought for 3 years, he was imprisoned at Hanover Courthouse. He died of illness on May 1, 1864, in Virginia, at the age of 19.
1847- Lewis Farmer is only shown as a 13-year-old boy in the home of the elderly Susan Easley, probably as hired help.
He is in the right location and age range to have been a child of Joseph and Nancy Farmer; however, he is not in the list of Mary Thompsons heirs. He is not seen anywhere else, so must have died before 1859.
He was placed in the guardianship of J. F. Kendall, after the death of his grandmother, Mary and apprenticed with a Wagoner, Alexander Yates, and learned the skills of a "Cooper". He is shown above in the 1870 census in Laurel Hill, Richmond County, North Carolina. By 1880, they have moved to Wadesboro, and now have two children, Margaret and Mattie. By 1890, Wesely had moved his family north, to Baltimore, Maryland, where Wesley made a career of selling Fertilizer. The 1900 census indicated they had been the parents of 10 children, with 5 living and the 1910 census recorded that they had 13 children with five living. Margaret and Mattie were not part of the five living. Mattie had died in 1885. The other known children were Clyde, Lida, Mary, Nannie, Naomi, Holly and Ruth. Wesley and his wife both died in 1932, within two months of each other, he in January and she in March. They were buried at the Willow Oak Cemetery in Washington, DC.
Besides the two brothers, William and Joseph, who had one son each, both named Joseph.
In his younger days, George T. Farmer was having problems with debt. He indentured much of his crop and livestock to W. E. Blalock.
In 1851, when George was 20, Benjamin L. Duke was allowed $12 by the County for keeping him up for four months, supposedly until he turned 21.
Later, George must have been having some medical issues, because he was a pauper, and M. J Waddle was allowed $11.25 for treating him. These dates were before he married. He seems to have recovered.
Joseph Farmer- The First
So now that we know George and his siblings were the children of Joseph Farmer and Nancy Thompson Farmer, what can we learn about Joseph?
In the Court records, James Harward was appointed administrator of Joseph Farmer. He entered into bond with E. W. Davis and John Howell.
The Estate Settlement was in 1857, although Joseph had long passed away. There was no Will.
The only probate files found in Stanly County for the Farmer family was that of George T. in 1905, and the two related to his brother, Joseph K. who died in the Civil War.
Joseph Farmer had been named in a land record that was a who's who of his neighborhood and in-laws. The road that Arnold Watckins had been appointed overseer of stretched from the Anson line to Center, later renamed Norwood.
Also, during the 1840's, Joseph Farmer and Mary Farmer, his daughter Mary, I am guessing, were among the witnesses in a case of Forcible Trespass against William Mills. Other witnesses were Robert Lanier, Matthew Waddill and James Harward. James Harward is also named in the road record and became the administrator of his estate. I believe they must have been pretty close friends.
In conclusion, if I wished to doggedly pursue this theory, which I don't, I would look for leads on Joseph Farmer being the son of James, perhaps, and the brother of Thomas and Martin, probably. But this is who George T. Farmer was, son of Joseph Farmer and Nancy Thompson and brother to Mary Ann, Sarah, Margaret, William, Joseph K., John A., Lewis, Leon, and Wesley. He hadn't fallen from the sky.
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