A small estate held by widow Alice in Ipswich, which she sold 1652 after second marriage with
Solomon Martin of Gloucester, a ship-carpenter, who came over in same ship with the Farnums, but
thirteen years her junior, who lost his first wife in 1649. They came to Andover and her elder son
Thomas (2) Farnum sold lots in Ipswich after he came to Andover in 1654 and was trained to the
trade of tailor. Ralph (2) born 1633 [?not clear], died Jan. 8, 1693 [?not clear], aged fifty-nine,
married Elizabeth (2) Holt, Oct. 26, 1658, daughter of Nicholas Holt and Elizabeth Short, born in
Newbury, March 30, 1636, died in Andover, Oct. 14, 1710, aged seventy-three. John (3) born April 1,
1664, died 1729, age sixty-five, married Elizabeth (2) Parker, daughter of Nathan Parker and second
wife Mary (___), April 10, 1684; she died 1717, was born Jan. 20, 1663. John was a wheelwright, John
(4) wheelwright and deacon, born 1684, died 1762 at seventy-eight, married Joanna Barker, Feb. 10,
1710, daughter of Captain John Barker and Mary Stevens, born July 17, 1687, died 1785, age
ninety-eight.
John (5), captain French wars, first service at fifteen as a trooper, 1725, born April 1, 1711; died Oct.
21, 1786; married Sarah Frye, 1738, daughter of Samuel Frye and Sarah Osgood, born March 28,
1720, died 1816, aged ninety-six.
Simeon (6), born in Andover, 1756, one who married Elizabeth Johnson, and moved to Gorham, Me.
There are two candidates neither fully verified as marrying anybody.
John (1) Johnson came, 1635, with wife Susanna, maybe to New Haven awhile and in Pequoit Wars,
and later of Ipswich. He appeard in Andover in 1657, and was excused from military duty in 1659.
Susanna, born in 1611, died Sept. 12, 1683. As John distributed estate by deed before 1685, and
death not recorded, I cannot tell when he died. Lieutenant Thomas (2), born 1634, died Feb. 15,
1719; married Mary Holt, July 5, 1657, daughter of Nicholas Holt and Elizabeth Short, who died Nov.
15, 1700. James (3), sergeant, Feb. 4, 1672; died Oct. 14, 1748; married Elizabeth Farnum, widow of
Andrew (2) Peters; slain by Indians. She was born in 1662, daughter of Thomas (2) Farnum and
Elizabeth Seborne of Boston. Obadiah (4), 1699 to 1701 (record worn); died 1780, at eight-one;
married Hannah Osgood, daughter of Stepehn Osgood and Hannah Blanchard, Feb. 12, 1724; she
died March 12, 1729.
Jacob (5), born May 19, 1727; died in May 1803, at seventy-six; married Sarah Dolliver of Marblehead,
daughter of Captain Peter Dolliver, mariner, March 16, 1758. She died April, 1807, at sixty-eight.
Among the heirs were two girls. Sarah and Elizabeth baptized in South Church, Oct. 29, 1769, eligible
for Simeon by 1787, at eighteen. Brothers were Jacob, Phineas, Isaac, Joseph, David, Osgood and
Dollivir. The way to determine from will if then one was married, each heir received L1 apiece to
satisfy the law, and may have had gifts before then.
Another candidate was from Timothy (2), birth outside somewhere, died in Andover in 1688; married
Rebecca (2), daughter of John Aslebe and Rebecca Ayer, 1674. (Rebecca Ayer was daughter of John
Ayer 1 and Hannah Evered). A deposition in Essex Court files calls Timothy thirty, in 1665, so born
about 1635 (10:146 dockets).
Timothy (3), captain in 1731 of Indian wars and a representative in 1737 to 1768, and one of the early
proprietors of Concord, N. H., though non-resident, born March 25, 1679, will 1771, married Katherine
Sprague, Mary [May or March?] 3?, 1705, daughter of Phineas (2) Sprague and Sarah Hasse (Ralph 1)
Sprague (Lieutenant William Hasse); she born in Charlestown in 1681, died Feb. 22, 1758.
Samuel (4) Johnson, Colonel of Revolution and a captian of French wars, born March 23, 1713, died
Nov. 12, 1796, married Elizabeth Gage, April 22, 1742, born 1723, died Sept. 22, 1796. Bradford her
home. Graves in old North Yard. He had a daughter Elizabeth, second of the name in family record,
born Oct. 17, 1760.
If anyone knew age of Simeon’s wife at death the nine-year difference between the two rivals would
easily settle the matter. I favor this girl because she lived neighbor of Farnum’s people, and had,
rather oddly, an only sister Sarah (like the other girl), who married Dr. Nathan Bowman of Gorham
(sic), Me., in 1789, two years after Simeon had taken Elizabeth, though there is another Sarah in town
eligible for this match, who had a brother named William Bowman Johnson, but that don’t insure a
marriage in the family, as many young doctors came to Andover to study with our Dr. Kittredge. This
Elizabeth, born 1760, had brothers: Samuel, Phineas, Peter, Joshua, Timothy, Asa. Neither girl had
the grace to recall father or brothers in naming sons, so we can decide only by age or probate,
1796.
9115. 1. Farnham, Johnson. K. A. B., Feb. 18, 1907. Ralph Farnham, 1603, son of Ralph Farnham,
merchant tailor of some town near London in 1603. He was called Barber-Surgeon 1635, came with
wife Alice, aged twenty-eight, perhaps a second wife. He died in Ipswich or Boston about 1641,
nothing ever found of place or probate.
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Transcribed by Gloria ODOM
I do NOT understand most of this query! But, thought it might help someone with dates.