Robert Farley (1760 - 1823)

Born 27 Apr 1760 in Ipswich, Essex, Province Massachusetts Bay

Ancestors

Husband of Susanna (Kendall) Farley — married 30 Nov 1786 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

Descendants

Died 20 Jul 1823 at age 63 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts, United States

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This profile is part of the Farley Name Study.

Biography

Robert was born on Apr 7 1760 in Ipswich, Essex Co., Massachusetts. He was the son of Michael Farley and Elizabeth Choate. He was most often referred to as Major Farley, but he was also a Sheriff.

At the age about 16 he went off to fight the British during the American Revolution. He joined the company of Captain Perkins of Topsfield as a private in a Regiment commanded by Col. Cogswell. He was at White Plains in New York at the time the American Army retreated to New Jersey. His first term was three months. In June 1777, he enlisted as Sargeant and was stationed in Rhode Island for six months. In 1780, he was a Quartermaster Sargeant in Col. Nathaniel Wade's Regiment at West Point, New York and was there when the British Major Andre was executed for helping Benedict Arnold. He later joined the sea service and was captured by the British who kept him on the notorious prison ship "Jersey", until the end of the war.

Robert Farley was one of the principal merchants of Ipswich and owned a number of merchant ships and fishing vessels. In his later life, a series of nautical tragedies compounded such that when he died intestate, his estate was insolvent.

He married Susanna Kendall, dau. of Ephraim Kendall and Susanna Perkins, 30 Nov 1786 at Ipswich. They had 12 children who reached adulthood and possibly two more who died young. Robert Kendall named one of his boats "Five Brothers" and another "Seven Sisters" to reflect his children.

He passed away on 20 Jul 1823 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts

Spouse & Children

Susanna Kendall (1767–1840), dau of Ephraim Kendall and Susanna Perkins, m. 30 Nov. 1786

Susanna Kendall Farley (1787–1818), m. 14 Mar 1810, John White Treadwell (1785-1857)

Lucy Rogers Farley (1789–1876), m(1) 4 Jun 1807, Wm. Dodge, III (1780-1826), m(2) 26 Mar 1835, Abraham Hammatt, Esq. (1781-1854)

Harriet Kendall Farley (1791–1852), m. 18 Oct 1819, John White Treadwell (1785-1857)

Sarah Phillips Farley (1792–1872), m(1) 16 Apr 1815, William Treadwell, Jr. (1791-1820), m(2) 12 Apr 1825, William Oakes, Esq

Caroline Farley (1797–1860), m. 29 Jun 1823, Joseph Lord (1798-1852)

Robert Farley (1800–1887), m(1) 21 Nov 1824, Frances Charlotte Prince (1803-1846), m(2) 30 Jan 1847, Anne Sumner Doane (1809-1874)

Elizabeth Ann Farley (1802–1865), m. 6 Nov 1823, George Washington Heard (1793-1863)

Eunice Whitney Farley (1804–1894), m. 12 Nov 1829, Samuel Stickney Farrington (1803-1872)

Joseph Kendall Farley (1806–1847), m. 5 Jun 1834, Mary Staniford Kimball (1808-1901)

Maynard Walter Farley (1808–1825)

Albert Gallatin Farley (1808–)

Gustavus Farley (1814–1897), M. 18 Jul 1843, Amelia N. Gardner (1823-)

Notes

Ipswich Vital Record Transcripts - Ipswich Births^[1]

FARLEY

Albert Gallatin, s. twin, Maj. Robert and Susanna, Mar. 15, 1808.

Caroline, d. Maj. Robert and Susanna, Oct. 15, 1797.

Elizabeth Ann, d. Maj. Robert and Susanna, July 20, 1802.

Eunice Whitney, d. Maj. Robert and Susanna, June 27, 1804.

Gustavus, s. Maj. Robert and Susanna, Feb. 12, 1814.

Harriet Kendall, d. Maj. Robert and Susanna, Jan. 30, 1791.

Joseph Kendall, s. Maj. Robert and Susanna, June 7, 1806.

Lucy Rogers, d. Maj. Robert and Susanna, June 8, 1789.

Maynard Walter, s. twin, Maj. Robert and Susanna, Mar. 15, 1808.

Robert, s. Lt. Michael, bp. Apr. 27, 1760

Robert, s. Maj. Robert and Susanna, Nov. 1, 1800.

Sarah Phillips, d. Maj. Robert and Susanna, Dec. 18, 1792.

Susan K., d. Maj. Robert and Susanna, July 4, 1787.

Susanna, d. Adj. Robert and Susanna, July 2, 1787.

Rev War Widows Pension - Robert Farley, Susannah K. Farley, Pension Number W.19251^[2] Declaration

On this the seventh day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty eight, personally appeared before me the Honorable Daniel A. White esquire, Judge of Probate for said County - Susannah K. Farley a resident of Ipswich in the county and state aforesaid aged sixty nine years, who, being first duly sworn, according to law, doth, on her oath, make the following declaration, in order to obtain the benefit of the provision made by the act of Congress passed July 7, 1838, entitled "An act granting half pay and pension to certain widows". That she is the widow of Robert Farley, late of said Ipswich, who was a private, Seargant and Quarter Master Seargant in the Revolutionary War. He was in 1776 a private in a company, Captain Perkins of Topsfield at White Plains in New York, attached to the Regiment commanded by Col. Cogswell at the time the American Army retreated to New Jersey - the term of his service was three months. In June 1777 he was first Seargant in Capt. (Cha Prince's?) Company Col. (Rogers?) Regiment of Infantry, stationed in the State of Rhode Island to the close of the campaign which was on the 31st day of December 1777 being six months. By a pay roll found among the papers of the late Col. Nathl. Wade of Ipswich it is ascertained that he was Quarter Master Seargant of his (Col. Wade's) Regiment in 1780 and that he served in that office three months and 13 days at West Point and other places in New York, and was at West Point at the time Major Andre was taken and executed as a spy. Subsequently he was in the sea service and was taken by the Chatham Ship of War and made prisoner on board the ship Jersey where he was detained suffering almost incredible hardships and cruelty, to the close of the war, a period of nine months. His contemporaries award him the praise of having been distinguished for his ardour and courage in his country's cause although he was but a youth of 16 or 17 years when he enlisted in the service. He preserved for many years (__?) of value from which documentary evidence could have been drawn in support of his widow's claim to the pension but they are lost; It is believed that the search in the Department of War will corroborate the above statements which will be supported by the affadavits of competent and respectable men of the place.

She further declares that she was married to the said Robert Farley on the 30th day of November A.D. 1786. That her husband, the aforesaid Robert Farley died on the 20th day of July A.D. 1823. That she was not married to him prior to his leaving the service but the marriage took place previous to the first day of January seventeen hundred and ninety four, viz. at the time of the above stated. - Susannah K. Farley

Affadavits from: David T. Kimball, Pastor of the First Church in Ipswich (re: marriage); Thomas Kimball, mariner of Ipswich, pensioner; Thomas Ross & Nathaniel Heard, both of Ipswich, pensioners.

Waters, Rev, Thomas Franklin, "Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony", Vol. II^[3]

Pg 603

Shipping & Sailors of 19th Century

In the Town of Ipswich, Major Robert Farley was the principal merchant and he owned, wholly or in part, quite a fleet, both of fishermen and the larger vessels, which carried the dried and salt fish and fish oil to the West Indies and to European ports. He married Susanna Kendall, daughter of the old sailor and merchant, Capt. Ephraim Kendall (1742-1811, m. Susanna Perkins, also father of Mary Kendall who married Capt. Moses Treadwell), on Nov. 30, 1786. The bride was only nineteen, but she became the mother of fourteen children and outlived her husband seventeen years, dying in 1840 in her seventy-third year. Major Farley named the brig "Susanna," built to his order in Ipswich in 1804, in her honor. She was a goodly craft for her day, with her two decks and 173 tons measurement. She was commanded by his nephew, Michael Farley, Jr., son of his brother Jabez, a young sailor of twenty-two years who was the master of the schooner "Dolphin", at Trinidad in March 1804...

...Major Robert Farley's five sons an seven daughters lived to mature age, two children only dying in early life. Following the fashion of the day, he named two of his ships, the "Five Brothers" and the "Seven Sisters".

Sources

1. ↑ Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Ipswich Vital Record Transcripts - Ipswich Births. Published on Ancestry.com. Image 132-134 of 1122.
2. ↑ Rev War Widows Pension - Robert Farley, Susannah K. Farley, Pension Number W.19251 Sea Service. NARA M804. Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files. Roll: 0953. Published at Fold3.com. Transcribed by [[Treadwell-833|Tim Treadwell], July 2019.
3. ↑ Waters, Rev, Thomas Franklin, "Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony", Vol. II, Ipswich Historical Society, Ipswich, Mass., 1917. Published Online at GoogleBooks

• Hammatt, Abraham. The Hammatt Papers (Ipswich Antiqurian Papers, 1880) No. 1, Page 6