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Paul Grimwood,The family of Farmer is of considerable antiquity in England. From manuscript still extant in the family archives in Canada there is recorded a will dated 9th of September 1485, and probated on the 8th November following, from which the lineage of this subject can be clearly traced. Then again there lies buried in a chapel, on the south side of the chancel of Somerton, a Mr. William Fermour and his lady. Under a great raised monument of grey marble, you will find the portraitures of a gentleman and his wife, in brass, and below the following inscription: "Here lyeth buried Mr. William Fermour Esqr. whych was Lord of this Town and patron of this church, and also clerk of the crown in the King's Bench in King Henry VIII dayes which dyed the 20th September in the year of our Lord God MCCCCCLII, and also here lyeth Mestres Elizabeth Fermour his wife which was the daughter of Sir William Norris Kt. upon whose and all christian souls jesus have mercy" William Farmer the sixth of Brockton and New House was born February 4th, 1794, baptized at Sutton Maddock, England, February 5th 1794, died at Brockton House, Ancaster Ont. Canada, March 7th 1880, aged 86 years. He was the father of twelve children, seven sons and five daughters, all of which lived to good ages. In fact, the last, being the youngest daughter, is still living in Victoria, B.C., and will be 92 years of age on the 24th of August, 1934. Seven of the children, five by his first wife, and two by his second wife, were born in England, and five were born at Farmer's Rapids on the Gatineau River, Quebec. He had great estates in England, of which he disposed and in the month of March 1834, having sold the greater part of his property, he commenced actual preparation for leaving the home the Farmer family had been born in, lived and died in for over two hundred and fifty years. This preparation being completed, William Farmer with his wife and seven children on the 6th of June 1834 left Brockton Court (the residence of his mother). the large stage coach which conveyed the family to Birkenhead, was drawn by four fine, grey horses, and left at nine o'clock in the morning for Birkenhead, arriving there at sundown. The vessel chartered by Mr. Farmer for his voyage out to Canada was the ship Kingston of Liverpool, under command of Captain Willis, a Yorkshire man, and his crew. The ship was 430 tons, had nine square sails, a cabin with berths, sitting room and a dining room on deck. It was fitted up very comfortably. Mr. Farmer engaged and brought with him a colony of ten families, a total of 45 souls, in addition to himself and his own family with general house servant, house-maid and nurse. The heads of these families included various journeymen and craftsmen, as well as lawyer and tutor. The name of each, and his wife, and the name of each member of his household is still in the Farmer family records [and added at the end of this record] Mr Farmer also brought valuable livestock. The famous dark-grey, mottled Clydesdale Stallion called Briton - 4 years old; a grey Clydesdale mare bought in Scotland, mother of the said stallion; an iron-grey mare; two Durham bulls; two Hereford bulls; six cows (Durham, Hereford and Highland Scotch); two Southdown rams; fourteen Southdown ewes; one Leicester ram; thirteen Leicester ewes, Scotch; one Berkshire boar; one Shropshire boar; nine sows; ten dogs (pointers and bull terriers and a fox terrier); and a number of game-cocks and hens. All the food and fresh water was adequately provided for by Mr. Farmer for this stock. On stormy days the horses and cattle were all suspended in strong, canvas slings and pulley-blocks to the beams of the decks above them. Not a single animal was lost on the sea voyage. The good ship Kingston sailed from Liverpool early morning June 18th 1834 (Waterloo Day), and arrived at Quebec, Friday August 8th, 1834, at sundown - after 51 days. The whole undertaking by one man was unique and was recorded in the Quebec Mercury and in the Montreal Gazette, the latter of date August 26th, 1834. The packages which Mr. Farmer brought from Shropshire to Canada would take much space to enumerate and would set antiquarian lovers agog were they recorded here, especially because so much is still in the family, as well as the invoices of that which was specially purchased for his Canadian home. Besides forty-two cases, all labelled and numbered, of household effects only, there were coils of ropes too, and implements, barrels, bags of barley, peas and wheat, several barrels of glass of all kinds for table use. There were five or six dozens of champagne glasses, besides dozens of wine glasses of different styles and sizes, finger bowls and decanters. Barrels of china contained no less than six Coalport dinner sets, two dozen meat dishes, vegetable dishes, gravy bowls, fruit and fancy dishes. six large beer pitchers, sugar bowls, cream pitchers, cups and saucers and etc.
Ancaster, Ontario, Canada
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[Adopted 11 Jun 2004. Last updated 24 Sep 2008 - 12:23 by Rosemary Lockie]