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At the close of the
Revolutionary War, a young man named Benjamin Farr with his wife and son
George, a lad of 2 or 3 years, moved from an English colonial settlement
in the state of Maryland and located at Fort Beard or Beards Block house,
as it was sometimes called, on or near the site of the little city of
Bardstown, now the Nelson county seat in Kentucky. This around 1780 or
1790. The land in this area and north of the Ohio River was still
wilderness.
It was necessary for an emigrant from Maryland,
with Kentucky as his objective point of location, to take a circuitous
route, bearing south and over the mountains of Tennessee, probably over
the trail blazed by Daniel Boone and his comrades. It was not long after
the Farrs settled in Kentucky and while they yet lived in the fort, that
their son, James was born (30 Nov 1789). This son, a sturdy Scotsman, was
destined to become the father and founder of this branch of the Farr
family. Fate had also decreed that he should become an orphan at a very
early age, by the death of his mother.
Benjamin, becoming discouraged over the loss of
his helpmate, decided to move back to his old home and friends in
Maryland. A neighbor in Kentucky, a Mrs. Tucker, knowing the circumstances
and realizing the difficulties that would be met in supplying a motherless
infant with the proper food and care while traveling through a sparsely
and sometimes wholly unsettled country, prevailed on the father to leave
the child with her until he was older and strong enough to stand the trip,
when, she proposed, that Benjamin might return for him. This the father
decided to do and, after leaving some household goods and other property
for the baby, in case anything happened to prevent his return, he and his
son, George set forth into the wilderness, leaving his son and his dream
of the new country behind.*
Neither father nor son was heard of again,
although James and his foster parents, the Tuckers, made inquiries in the
later years. In those years, Kentucky was known as the "dark and bloody
ground" and it was believed by his Kentucky friends, that a roving band of
savages had overtaken and massacred them.
Little more is known of the
story of James Farr's childhood days at the frontier settlement in
Kentucky. He was never enrolled in any school; he never learned the
letters of the alphabet.
* Another account of this story has Benjamin
leaving his 4 year old son , James, with the McCarty family, who were
living with the Thomas Curry family in Kentucky. (Burnett, Baker, Beaman,
and Related Families; Morgan County Library)
James Farr was the grandfather of Hannah
Farr, Absalom's wife.
He did, however, learn to read two words, his own name-
James Farr. And he memorized Biblical Scripture which was taught to him as
a child. He memorized it so well that he became a Minister of the Gospel
and was listed, along with his son Nathan, as ministers in the history of
the First Baptist Church of Martinsville
~ War of 1812
~
He served
his country in the War of 1812 and fought in the Battle of New Orleans
(Private, 13th Regiment of the Kentucky Militia). He slept on the ground
around New Orleans where the water was so near the top of the ground that
when he moved a shovel full of dirt, he had dug a well. He stood guard
where the water was to his knees. He was a great admirer of General Andrew
Jackson, as a commanding officer and sometimes met him on the road to the
city. Jackson always lifted his hat to his soldiers when he met them out
of camp.
The soldiers had to walk to the war
zone and then back home at the end of the war since there were no
railroads in that part of the country at that time. The monthly pay was
$8, which James took in a lump sum after his service ended. He was paid
$48. Later, he received from the Federal Government, a land warrant for 40
acres of vacant land of his choice, anywhere in the country. He chose a
plot or raw prairie near where Toledo, Illinois now stands, and later sold
it for $200.
~ Morgan County, Indiana
~
James married Catherine Curry in 1807
(7 Jul 1808). To this union were born nine children: Matilda, Malinda,
Jefferson, James, Daniel, William, Nathan, Sarah, and Juliann. All born in
Kentucky.
In 1823, James and his family moved
to Baker Twp., Morgan County, Indiana. Later he moved to Ray Twp., where
he owned 80 acres, part of which is the present town of Paragon. His farm
was located just west of Paragon where he built a house for his family. In
1850, he planted a cottonwood tree in front of the house. The house burned
down in 1934, and the tree blew down in a windstorm in 1970. The stump of
the tree, some 40 inches in diameter, is still visible.
James Farr died in Ray Twp., 14 Jul
1866. He is buried in the Samaria Cemetery in Ray Twp. next to his wife
and three of his children. The inscription on his headstone reads: 76
years, 7 months, 14 days.
Transcribed in part from a newspaper story,
the clipping of which is located in the Morgan County Library, Genealogy
Department. Other information taken from: Burnett, Baker, Beaman and
Related Families; Morgan County Library; Federal Census Records; personal
observation of memorials. JHR 15 May
2000 |
