Stephen Farrington (1705 - 1792)

Born 29 Jan 1705 in Andover, Massachusetts

Ancestors

Husband of Apphia (Bradley) Farrington — married 8 Aug 1732 in Concord, New Hampshire

Descendants

Died 5 Apr 1792 at age 87 in Hopkinton, New Hampshire, USA

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Biography

Pennycock, later called Rumford, and still later named Concord, was settled in 1721 by people from Haverhill and Andover. Stephen was in the new town by 1731 when he was listed as being the local tax collector and purchased land originally laid out to Daniel Rolfe, Thomas Blanchard and Nathaniel and Robert Pease.^[1]

"We the subscribers, Inhabitants of ye town of Rumford apprehending ourselves greatly exposed to Iminent Danger both from ye French and Indian Enemy and being in no capacity to make a proper stand in case of an attack from them, doe therefore constitute and appoint Col. Benjamin Rolfe as our delegate, requesting him in the sd capacity forthwith to repair to Portsmouth and to represent our deplorable case to his Excellency our Capt. General and ye general Assembly and to request of them on our behalf such aid both with respect of men and military stores as to their great wisdom may seem meet and which may be sufficient to enable us with ye divine blessing vigorously to repell all attempts of our said enemies against us... Stephen Farrington...14 June 1744".^[2]

Stephen was assigned to the garrison around the house of Timothy Walker Jr. and later to that of Jeremiah Stickney and Edward Abbott.

"On one occasion, in the time of the Indian troubles, Apphia, who like others of the Bradley race was, a fearless woman, went into the field where her husband and others had gone to mow and she found them reclining under a tree, after dinner, asleep, and their guns stacked near by. She took one of the guns, of the kind called Queen Anne's muskets, and discharged it very near them. The gun rebounded and nearly kicked her over. They sprung upon their feet with great consternation, supposing the Indians were upon them, when Mrs. Farrington, recovering also from the unexpected shot, laughingly signified that possibly they might receive a worse fire than that from a woman if found asleep again."^[3]

Stephen was elected tithingman in 1738, surveyor of highways in 1744 and in 1747 he signed a petition to build a garrison around the only grist mill in town.

Stephen's rate for the minister in May 1758 was £15/12/6.

Stephen built a very fine house before 1756 which was torn down in 1900 for the building of the Wanalancet Club. The interior was described in the "People and Patriot" of Concord in 1898: "There is a huge chimney in the center of the house which contains the flues of five large rooms, the low studded heavy walls and ceilings with the uneven and projecting beams, the chimney cupboards, high mantels, old fashioned latches, door buttons and hand made hinges, the narrow stairway with its two sharp turns and landings, and hand cut woodwork. In the southwest room on the ground floor, the whole east wall and especially around the mantel consists of hand cut paneling and fluting which is sufficiently handsome and well preserved to be removed entire and incorporated into any building however elegant. Somewhere about 1770 when John Stephens came from Charleston, Mass. he told his wife to select the house that she liked best and he would but it. After riding about the village this house was selected as being the hansomest in town. For years this old house with its three great elms and its rose bush before the door was one of the most beautiful in town."^[4]

When first built the cooking pots were hung on hooks fastened into a heavy wooden lug pole in the wide fireplace. One day, while heating a large quantity of water to scald hogs, the lug pole burned off and the water spilt endangering the children who were playing on the floor. This so alarmed the family that Stephen decided to have an iron crane. Having business in Portsmouth he purchased a bar of iron and brought it home where he made it into a crane. The date 1757 is marked on it and it was the first iron crane in the town. Before being placed in the chimney it was tested for strength by chaining it to a tree and suspending a barrel of water from it. The family used it for more than 90 years, in the later years as a boot jack. In 1853 the crane was given to the New Hampshire Historical Society.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ The Farrington Family- Olive Bell Daniels, Madison, WI, 1964- p. 46
2. ↑ The Farrington Family- Olive Bell Daniels, Madison, WI, 1964- p. 48
3. ↑ The History of Concord- Nathaniel Bouton, B.W. Sanborn, Concord, 1856-, p.180
4. ↑ The Farrington Family- Olive Bell Daniels, Madison, WI, 1964- p. 51
5. ↑ The Farrington Family- Olive Bell Daniels, Madison, WI, 1964- p. 52

• Death: "New Hampshire, U.S., Death and Burial Records Index, 1654-1949"
  FHL Film Number: 1001077
  Ancestry Record 2555 #102100 (accessed 19 December 2023)
  Stephen Farrington death 1792 in Concord, New Hampshire.