donaldfarmer.ca

John Farmer was born on the 8th of March, 1813 at Whitechapel St Mary, England to parents James Farmer and Margaret Sanderson. He emigrated to Canada in 1828 at the age of 15. He was married twice and had a total of 16 children. He married Ann Gregg in 1843 and they had six children together before she died in 1864. He married his second wife, Julia Palmer in 1870 and they had 10 children together. He died on the 8th of February, 1901 and is buried at the St Anne Cemetery at Campobello, New Brunswick, Canada.

Parents

James Farmer

was born in 1780 in Whitechapel St Mary, England.

Margaret Sanderson

was born in 1778 in Whitechapel St Mary, England. Burial Date 27 Mar 1813 Burial Place St Mary, Whitechapel, England

Children

James Farmer 1806–1807
Mary Farmer 1810–1866
James Farmer 1810–
Thomas Farmer 1812–
John Farmer 1813–

Marriage to Anne Gregg 1821

Anne Gregg was born on the 5th of APR 1821 in Ombersley, Worcestershire, England to parents John and Mary Gregg (Grieg). She was Baptized 17 March 1822, Cheviot Street Presbyterian Church, Wooler. Ann was recorded as Agnes in the list of the Wooler settlers, but was baptized Ann and was known by that name in New Brunswick. She married 3 August 1843 John FARMER of Campobello, the collector of customs there. She died on the 10th of JUL 1864 and is buried at St Annes Church, Campobello, New Brunswick, Canada.

Anne - wife of - John Farmer - Died July 8th 1864 - Aged 44 years - "I know that my redeamer - liveth and that he shall - stand at the latter day - upon the earth"

Frances Owen - Died March 5 1865 Aged 20 years. "She was a dutiful affectionate - child and her life was - ineprouchable."

Francis Owen Farmer 1846–

George Meers (or Meres) Farmer 1850–1936

Edward Farmer 1851–

Edwin Farmer 1851–

William O Farmer 1851 (1849?)–

John Farmer 1855–

Marriage to Julia Palmer

John remarried 13 June 1870 to Julia PALMER of Campobello and had a second family. At the time of the marriage Julia already had two children and its not known if she had a first husband and there is speculation that these may be John’s children preceding their marriage.

Julia Hepzibeth Palmer was born 23 Dec 1829 in Regent Square Scotch Church, St Pancras, London, England and died 31 July 1914 at Campobello and is buried at St Annes Church.

Frederick Farmer 1863–

Spencer Palmer Farmer 1866–1942

Both Frederick and Spencer were born before the marriage. So it’s probably not likely that Spencer is not his. John just didn’t get married until he had 3 kids!

Steele Farmer 1867–

Neil Farmer 1868–

Gray Farmer 1870–1890

Sydney Farmer 1871–1942

Lancelot Farmer 1872–

Rowena (31 Oct 1873)

Mary (4 Feb 1877 died 1901)

Owen Tudor Farmer??

Deed page 119 John Batson Book W Page 233 Campobello. screenshots in media folder.

His life

John seems to have had many duties and held many titles during his years on Campobello island:

Collector of Customs
Magistrate
Surveyor of Roads
Constable
Justice of the Peace
lt militia
Bailiff he Petitioned the House of Assembly in 1874 to put the islands into a separate county.
Incorporated, among several others, the Campobello Hotel Company in 1871.
Incorporated the Campobello Mill Manufacturing and Shipbuilding company in 1874.
Was Deputy Treasurer, Fisheries in 1867
Incorporated the church with Admiral Owen (and his religion Episcopalian)

Family History

I have his red military sash when he was a Captain in the New Brunswick Militia and a large sterling silver soup ladle with the initials “JF” on it. That’s it. Census records show that he emigrated in 1836. All the stories I heard was that he came from Wales but Canadian census records indicate “English” and I cannot find any relevant records for John in Wales. I do understand that John inherited 1/4 of his parent’s estate and it took a shipload to bring over all of the furniture which he sold to support his lavish lifestyle and pay for parties for the naval officers when they were in town. He died broke (I have his will), left his bed clothes to Julia, and she lived with one of her children until she died in 1914. John was also a Justice of the peace, and was Admiral Owen’s agent in Campbello and apparently they were very close

My own info about John (that comes from my dad) says that John came from a fairly well to do family and was sent off to “the colonies” never to return for some “family disgrace” and became a “remittance man”, being regular sent a stipend from home to keep him away. He became an officer in the NB militia, Justice of the Peace (and one did not rise to those levels in those days without some kind of family influence) etc and when his mother died in England whereupon he inherited a quarter of the estate, (consistent with John having 3 other siblings) and it took a shipload to bring his share of the furniture over. That furniture was sold over the years to pay for a lavish lifestyle for John and many parties for his officer friends. He spent it all, and there was nothing left when he died. But much was lost in a home fire and I have one of the few items that survived, a sterling silver soup ladle with John’s’s initials engraved (probably 150 years old), plus his military sash. Half the island of Campobello was furnished with John’s furniture. LOL. John treated most of his children shabbily. In fact, my Grandfather, Spencer Palmer Farmer was put on a train to Winnipeg at the age of 15, given $50, and told to “go forth young man”.

The only child John took exception to was Rowena, who, at a young age, John took to New York to be educated at Columbia University (the only one) where she met and married a Dr Oscar Schloss who became the head of cardiac surgery. About 15 years ago, I found Rowena’s granddaughter in New York, a Joan Long who lived quite well on the upper east side, and had no children, was a bit of a recluse and quite aged at that time (probably dead now). I never met her and only spoke to her on the phone once.

My dad always believed that John claimed he came from a little town in Llangollen, Wales. But the various censuses state his birthplace was England – so a mystery. Perhaps he grew up there, or lived there. But there is no record of his birth there and which caused me no end of confusion. In one of the censuses, it states that John’s date of emigration to Canada was 1836 (age 23) which is consistent with the “family disgrace” theory. Your website where he leaves England at age 15 is the first I learned of that, so maybe he emigrated twice, or there are more holes to fill in. The Admiral Owens relationship is consistent. He is a photograph of the Owens given to John by them. These were expensive in those days and weren’t passed out willy nilly. Same for the original photos I have of him and Julia. They were expensive back then so John did indeed have money. I always wondered if there was a family connection with Admiral Owens somehow but have no evidence of such. ... David Farmer

1 John Farmer 1813 1901