MATTHIAS FARNSWORTH

HIS LIFE AND DESCENDANTS

RICHARD FARNSWORTH was born in Eccles (Farnworth), Lancashire, England about 1584. He married 12 Jan 1608 at Eccles, Elizabethe Marshe, b. 1 Nov 1584 at Eccles, daughter of Jacobes and Alicia (Hey) Marshe. Matthias, a brother and three sisters are the only known children of Richard and Elizabeth. Therefor Matthias was probably not a brother of the early Farnsworth immigrants, Joseph and Thomas. The relationship between the three remains unknown. However, he may have been and very likely was related to Joseph of Dorchester; from the fact of his naming two of his sons "Joseph," he was certainly interested in the name.

The children of Richard and Elizabeth Farnsworth were:

1. Alizia, b. 25 Feb 1610 at Prestwick, Lancashire, England.
2. Jonathon, b. 2 Aug 1612 at Prestwick. " "
3. MATTHIAS, chr. 20 July 1615 at Eccles, Lancashire, England.
4. Mary, b. 8 Nov 1618 at Eccles. " "
5. Hester, b. 28 Oct 1621 at Eccles. " "

Matthias Farnworth, as his name was first written, and in early times in this country was usually pronounced "Farnoth," first appears at Lynn, MA, where he was a resident in 1657; that being the earliest date in which his name appears in the Lynn records. But he was probably resident there some years before. When he came to this country, how, or with what family, is unknown. But that he resided there, was a farmer, and had a farm near what is now Federal Street, on which he lived until 1660 or 1661, is very certain.

His first child, Joseph, as appears by the records there, was born 17 Nov 1657. He probably moved to Groton in 1660, though it is uncertain when the first actual settlement of Groton was made. The first petition is dated 16, 3 mo: 1656, but probably they were not fully established as a settlement until 1660. The records of the town commence in a very brief way in 1662, though it is very likely that some of the settlers had moved there two or three years earlier.

Matthias is first mentioned in the records of Groton at a town meeting held 27 Nov 1664:

"2ly it was this daye voated and granted yt Mathias ffarnworth shall haue fortey polle of land to be layd out agaynst his house next to James his Broke (James' Brook) for a building place puided (it) do not predgedese the hye way." And at the same meeting "Richard Blood William Lakin Mathias Ffarnworth James Knop and William Longley were chosen "emparsall" by the town, and John Laurence sen. to arbitrate a dispute, etc."

(See early Groton Records, by S. A. Green, p. 12)."

He had a child born in Lynn in 1660. He must have moved to Groton

soon after, as he had his house built and was a resident there, where he was recognized, and an acting citizen. It would be interesting to know what land he owned at Lynn, how long he occupied it, and when he disposed of it and moved to Groton, and also what children he had born in Lynn; but on all these points we have but very little information. The records are very brief, incomplete and obscure.

So far as we can learn from the records, we have the name of only one wife, Mary Farr, who was the daughter of George Farr of Lynn. He died 21 Jan 1689, leaving a will dated 15 Jan 1688-9, wherein he calls himself "about 77 years of age." His wife survived him many years, dying in 1717, and was probably much younger than he was. For as his daughter Elizabeth, who married James Robinson of Groton, was born in 1647, and his last child, Joseph, was born in 1678, if Mary Farr was the mother of all his children, she must have borne them during a period extending over thirty-one years; this is possible but hardly probable. The probabilities are that he had married and lost one wife before he married Mary Farr.

Possibly the reference in his will to some chance of difficulty which his eldest son, Matthias, Jr., might have with some of the rest of the family, may have had its origin in the jealousy of children by different mothers. George Farr, the father of his wife, Mary Farr, is named in the letter of instructions sent from the company in London to the officials at Salem, as a shipwright sent out by them in that business in 1629. He appears, however, to have given up shipbuilding very early, and to have engaged as a land owner in farming in Lynn, near the place where Matthias Farnsworth had land. He had several children who survived him, one of whom married Nicholas Hutchins, then of Lynn, but who, soon after the settlement of Groton, moved there, and purchased land adjoining to that owned by Matthias Farnsworth, and lived upon it.

Matthias made a power of attorney in a case pending in the court at Salem, to one Edward Richards, who was an early settler at Lynn, in which he calls him his "beloved brother." This Richards' wife's christian name was Ann, which, so far as any record goes, was not the name of any of George Farr's daughters. In what way he came to be "brother," perhaps "brother-in-law," to Matthias, is a question which, if ever answered, may throw some further light on the subject.

The first certain knowledge that we have of Matthias at Groton, is in the memorandum of the Rev. John Fisk of Chelmsford, who was a member of the Church Council held at Groton early in the year 1664, to consider certain dissensions which probably grew out of the settlement of Rev. Mr. Willard as the minister of the town. The Council consisted of Major Simon Willard and Rev. Joseph Rolandson of Lancaster, and Rev. John Fisk and John Webb of Chelmsford. This Council met at Groton, 10 May 1664. The record says:

"By reason of some uncomfortable differences that had been amongst

them as aboute Church Government, they had been hitherto hindered from goeing on with that worke of Christ, of coming into a Church way to enjoy all ordinances amongst them, they Had now resolved to lay down and bury all former differences amongst them, and had sent to the persons above mentioned to be as a council to them, to which they submitted themselves to them, to be directed according to the Rules of God's word," &c.

This dispute, by consent of the town, was first submitted to a committee of eleven persons, of whom Matthias Farnsworth was one. (The name is spelled in the record Mathias Fanmouth). The record says:

"These 11 (eleven) being called before the council presented themselves, and being Minded of the greatness of ye work they were now to attend about, and som other things as referring to their owne spiritual comfort and peace, and the honor of Christ and of ye gospel, were desired to go apart and consider amongst themselves if they could agree about a way of their satisfying themselves each in other as to the going on together in that work, and in case of agreement to come to us (the council) and make report of it, and of the way they had agreed upon, in case otherwise, to let the council understand wherein they disagreed, and the cause."

It is to be noticed that this was in the year 1664, soon after the restoration of Charles II, and when men's minds were very unsettled as to what constituted the Church, who should be entitled to admission into it, and what should be its government. England had striven with these questions for about a hundred years, and the great rebellion, with Cromwell at its head, that had been caused more by the ecclesiastical than by the political questions involved in it, had just been terminated.

And Matthias Farnsworth and his associates, who were just building their log houses and clearing away the forest so as to raise grain for feeding their families, while Indians were prowling like wolves around their settlement, were troubled with the same questions that had so long troubled their old homes. These were serious men, of prayerful habits, who were in earnest about these questions, as they thought they concerned the substance of religion. And we find his neighbors and the Council both looking to Matthias and his ten associates as proper persons to settle this matter for them. The first day the committee discussed the question together in vain. They tried twice without success. They adjourned to the next day, but at their first session they could not agree. On another attempt they did agree upon what should be required of members of the church, in very general terms, that appear eventually to have been the basis of the action in ecclesiastical matters of the church and the town. At any rate the Council adjourned after hearing the committee's report without expressing any very definite opinion upon it, a course perhaps to be commended for its prudence.

This first glimpse of Matthias shows him to have been a man fit, in the estimation of his neighbors, to consider and act for them on the highest questions, as they thought, in which they were concerned.

He was a member of the church, and no doubt brought up his children in the "fear of the Lord," as all of them became communicants of the church, --at least all his sons did so, and probably all his daughters.

The way the thoughts of the people who settled Groton were turned, is apparent from the fact that the whole subject of the first town meeting, held 23 June 1662, was to determine where the minister's house and the meeting-house should stand. All matters affecting only this world were allowed to wait.

The next view we get of him is at the town meeting 27 Nov 1664, and this is his first appearance in the town records as they now are. As those records are imperfect--some parts having been lost--and the doings of the town having been very imperfectly recorded, he may have been connected with the town matters before this time.

These records, and the fact that in May 1663-4, he had been made one of the committee for settling the terms of their church organization, show that he had both a house and residence in Groton at that time, and that he had been there long enough to have acquired such a respectable position in the judgment of his associates that they were ready to submit to him the consideration--both in religious and business matters--of those things which were of most consequence to them. It seems reasonable to conclude that he came to Groton with the earliest settlers in 1661-2.

The land granted to the proprietors of the town of Groton was shared among them in proportion to the amount contributed by each to the common fund. In this distribution the largest amount that was allowed to be assigned to one party was a "twenty acre right; though any proprietor was allowed to increase his proportion by purchase from others. The whole land was supposed to be appropriated. By this arrangement it came about that an "acre right" represented a claim to about forty-four acres, but the exact amount has never been determined. A sale of these rights was held valid when approved by the body of the proprietors.

Some of the proprietors, using their privilege, increased their rights beyond the "twenty acre" proportion, by purchase from others. Matthias was an original subscriber for a "twenty acre" right as allowed by the organization, and his several proportions were assigned him, or to his successors to the right, from time to time as divisions were made.

From Green's Early Records of Groton, p. 178-9, I extract the following:

The lands of Matthias Farnsworth:

1. Uplands. His houselot, ninty acres, more or lesse, lyeing on both sids the mill hye way, bounded on the north with the sidhill by James his brook, westerly partly with Justin Holden and partly with common land, south east with the mill hye way.

The other part of his land, on the east sid of the mill hye way, bounded with lands of Simon Stone on the north and east, and on all other poynts with the towne's common.

2. Sixe acres and a halfe, more or lesse, lyeing on Indian Hill, bounded west with the lands of Jonathan Morsse, and with the lands of John Cooper partly on the east and comon land, the countrey hye way runing thorow, north with Thomas Boyden, south with the ends of the other lots.

3. Eighteene acres, more or lesse, bounded west with the mill roade, southeasterly with the lands of Daniell Pearsse, and on all other poynts with the towne's comon.

4. Seauenty one acre, more or lesse, lyeing on the other side of the mill road, bounded east with the mill road, west and southerly with the medowes of the mill brook, and on all other poynts with the towne's comon.

1. His Medowes. In South Medow, fourteen acres, more or lesse, bounded southeast with the medow of William Longley, Sen., southeast with the medow of Daniell Pearse, and on all other poynts with the towne's common.

2. Sixe acres, more or lesse, neare the mille, bounded southeast with the medow of Simon Stone, southwest with Jonas Prescot, buting on the southeast with theire owne upland, and on the northeast with the medow of William Longley, Sen., and on all other poynts with the town's comon.

3. Fiue acres and a halfe, more or lesse, neare the mille, bounded south east with their owne upland, south west with Jonas Prescot, east with the medow of Richard Blood, and on all other poynts with the town's comon.

4. At Half Moone Medow, two acres and a halfe, more or lesse, runing up to John Barron, butting up on the pond, bounded southeast with the land of Benjamin Crispe, and on all other poynts with the town's comon.

Revised, compared, and confirmed by the Sellect men, according to the order of the towne. John Morsse, Clark, 13 Dec 1674

The brook forming so conspicuous a figure in the foregoing description as "James his brook," was probably so named in consequence of its being the well known hunting ground of an Indian called "Jeems" by the settlers, whose remains, tradition says, were found after his death by the brook, near the westerly edge of the land thus assigned to Matthias Farnsworth.

James' brook is said by Butler and others to have been so named from James Parker, who lived near it, before it entered Broad Meadow, on the Main Street. But the lower part of the brook, below the meadow a mile or more from James Parker's house, was first called by that name, as is well known, soon after the settlement was first made.

The first of the lots described was the one on which he had built his house, and lay on both sides of the road, just southerly and easterly from James' brook, where it crosses the road the second time from Groton Centre to Ayer. That and the next adjoining lot was probably in part on the other side of the brook. The last described lot was probably much farther south, in the present town of Harvard, and near the Prescott Mill. Perhaps it was the land on which his son Jonathan afterwards lived.

The house built on the first described lot, stood a little south-easterly of the bridge across the brook, about where H. Sawtell's house stood, as marked on the map of Groton in Butler's History of the town. It was a log house, as were the houses of all the early settlers. It was undoubtedly burned by the Indians when nearly the whole town was destroyed by them 13 Mar 1676. He afterwards rebuilt it, and it was standing until about the year 1820, when it was torn down to give place to modern improvements. The road near it was one of the earliest laid out in the town, and was made to connect Groton with Lancaster, then its nearest neighbor, and was the second Lancaster road, and is perhaps the one referred to in the town records in 1664, which Richard Blood and John Lakin were then engaged in laying out, although there must have been a path opened there as far as the crossing of the brook somewhat earlier.

After the road had been opened for a few years to Lancaster, the town made an agreement with John Prescott to build a mill near where it crossed the Nonacoicus, sometimes called the "mill brook," within the present town of Harvard, to grind the people's grain, and saw their lumber, and so it soon came to be called "the mill hye way." In going from the first Groton meeting-house to Lancaster in those days, you would pass along on what is now the direct way to the bridge over the James brook, when you would come to what is now the Main Street, and would go along that street southerly, to near where Jonas Prescott used to live, then turn to the right, passing by "Prescott's blacksmith shop," and thence on, crossing the brook again, passing on the westerly side in the depression between the hills near the brook for about a mile, when you would come to a sharp turn of the brook to the west, where the road crosses the brook again. Then climbing up on the high land you would pursue your way southerly by the mill and on to Lancaster.

It was by the last named crossing of the brook where Matthias Farnsworth built his house. On his land there he made his clearing in the forest; from there he saw the Indians in 1676 burn the most of the town; from there he escaped with his family to Concord; to that place he returned two years later, 1678, and again began his venture in the wilderness; there he spent the later years of his life; there several of his children were born, and there he died.

The place selected by or assigned to him has much natural beauty. The land is high, and looked over to the west and south-west, the only way open, for to the north and east, directly behind him, lay the Indian Hills. As the country then was covered by an unbroken forest, it must have appeared very attractive. The westerly course of James brook, from there to the Nashua river, is through a depression between the higher lands to the north and south; and beyond the Nashua it opened into the valley to the north-west, through which the Squanacook runs, at the foot of the Shirley highlands into the Nashua, making a view of many miles of lovliness.

But at the end of this view and beyond these valleys you look over a beautiful rise on the left, up to the Wachusett mountain, and thence northerly along the range of blue mountains that run to the Monadnock in New Hampshire.

It would be interesting to know the kind of a life passed by Matthias and his family in that old log house. Far from the sea coast, far from markets, all the clothing and the food for the family was the product of the land they had cleared, and of their continued labor. All the cloth they wore was spun, woven and made up by the women; and the sheep that furnished the wool, and the flax that was made into linen, came from the farm. And amid so much toil, indoors and out, he and his wife Mary brought up to mature age and to be married a family of nine children, losing, so far as we know, only two. He was admitted as a freeman of the Colony, 16 May 1670.

In the year 1675, "King Philip's War" broke out between the Indians and the New England settlers, commencing 20 June at Swanzey, Bristol county, which was then in the Plymouth Colony, and soon spread so that many of the Massachusetts towns were attacked, many of the settlers killed, their property was destroyed and their houses and other buildings were burned. Rev. William Hubbard, in his "Narrative of the Indian Wars," says:

"2 Mar (1676) they assaulted Groton: the next day over night Major Willard with seventy horse came into town: forty foot also came to their relief from Watertown, but the Indians were all fled having first burnt all the houses in town save four that were garrisoned, the meeting house being the second house they fired. Soon after Captain Sill was sent with a small party of dragoons of eight files to fetch off the inhabitants of Groton, and what was left from the spoil of the enemy, having under his conduct sixty carts, being in depth from front to rear above two miles, when a party of Indians lying in ambush at a place of eminant advantage fired upon the front and mortally wounded two of the first carriers, who both died the next night.....

Soon after, this village was deserted, and destroyed by the enemy, yet it was a special providence that though the carts were guarded with so slender a convoy, yet there was not any considerable loss sustained."

The "next night" in the narrative is probably a misprint for "fortnight," as the final attack, when the settlers moved away, was two weeks after, 17 March.

It was probably on 17 Mar 1676 that Matthias, with his family in one of those "sixty carts," was on his way to Concord in that frightened procession, two miles in length. The Indians were around them, their homes were burned, the product of fifteen years' hard labor in the wilderness, except so much as they could take with them, had been abandoned. His wife Mary; his daughter Sarah, then about fourteen years old; his son Samuel, six years old; his daughter Abigail, nearly five years old; and his son Jonathan, an infant under a year old, were in the cart. That must have been a terrible time for him. He had with him perhaps--or more likely in the armed guard--his three elder sons. His daughter Mary had been sent, in anticipation of the danger, to her mother's relations at Lynn for safety. It is also likely that his son Joseph had been sent there somewhat earlier for the same reason, and it appears that he died there. What hardship and suffering Matthias and his family endured in that forced emigration, and in their residence at Concord, where they and all the rest of the Groton settlers stayed for two years, and how they lived during that time, we can only conjecture, it is not recorded. They stayed there until the immediate danger from Indian rifles and tomahawks was over, and they thought they could try their fortunes in the wilderness again.

In the spring of 1678, at the call for the inhabitants of Groton to return, when some of the original settlers had given up their interest in the settlement, Matthias and his family, including his three oldest sons, who were then of age, went back to the old clearing in the forest, gathered together again such household stuff, farm tools and stock as they had been able to save, rebuilt their home and commenced anew the work of life, at the ashes of their old homestead.

But they must have carried on their work under a constant fear of the merciless Indians, who some sixteen years later again fell upon the exposed settlement and murdered many of the settlers.

Matthias filled many offices in the town, the most important being that of constable and selectman. The office of constable seems to have been singularly different in its duties from the office at the present, the principal duty then being the collection of rates or taxes for the settlement. The last time he held the office was in 1684, when he was 72 years old. But he lived so far from that part which came to be the centre of the town that very extended or long continued execution of the duties of town office must have been very difficult for him. He seems to have been one of those strong men who naturally draw others around them. Justinian Holden took land and built a house near him. Nicholas Hutchins, who married his wife's sister, sold out his property at Lynn and bought land adjoining to his on the south and settled upon it. Simon Stone, afterwards known as Deacon Stone, came from Watertown, bought land adjoining his, and married his daughter Sarah. And John Stone, brother to the Deacon, also came and bought land near by. These were the ancestors of numerous families whose descendants are scattered throughout the United States.

Matthias was not a learned man; none of the pioneers of Groton were; but he had as much education as the people of his time of the middle class usually had. It is shown that he signed his will with a mark. But his will was evidently made only a short time before his death, when he was doubtless disabled by sickness, for there are in existence records and returns made and signed by him, and as he filled the office of constable for several years, and was tax collector by virtue of his office, he must necessarily have been able to write sufficiently to keep accounts. It is to be hoped, however, that his orthography was not worse than that of some who kept the records of the town.

On 12 January 1688-9, probably feeling that his days were drawing to a close, he called to his assistance his friend Jonas Prescott, and dictated his will, which was probably written by Prescott, and is as follows:

Groton Jenewarey 15th, 1688-9 and in the 4 year of the Rain of King James the sacond I mathyas farnworth sen of groton in the county of midlsix in new ingland aged about 77 yers being wall considrat and of sound and parfit Judgment and understanding thanks be to God for it I being sensabl of my many frailtyes & unsartanty of my natueral lif and knowing what disadvantag many times hapens for want of a Right sating the hous in order being desiras to act and satl things that consarns me doe mak conshans and doe declare this prasent instrement to be my last will and tastement in manar and form as foloweth making void all formar wills ather by word or dead but first I Commit my soul to all myty God my Creater hoping I shal Rasave full pardon of all my sins throw Jasus Christ and I commit my bodey to the earth from whans it was taken to be beured in such deasant manar as my exsecters shall see meet and

1. first to the distrebiting my estat I doe give to my beloved wif so long as she lives a widow won third of my whol astat and the moveabls within the hous I doe lave to hur to

2. daspoe as shee pleases and sacondly I doe gave to my son mathyas farnworth for his full porshan that five akker Right which his deed spasefyes and a peese of madow called by the name of half moon madow and twanty akekers of land lying neer a plase called by the nam of Prascots olde mill and this to be counted to be his full porshan unlass he meets with malistation by any relations of his and if so then I will and give to my son mathyas my hom stall that I now dwell upon with hous and barn and that hom stall that my son mathyas now lives on to Raturn in seed thare of

3. and thirdly I give to my son John farnworth that five akar Right that his deed spasefyes and tan shilins more to be payed of the astat for his full porshan

4. fourthly I give to my son bangeman farnworth that part of my land lying on the out side of my hom stallfans at the lower end of the lot and twanty akekers at the plas near prescotts old mill and six akkers of madow lying at south madow and this for his porshan.

5. fiftly for my son samewall & Jonathan farnworth I doe give the Rast of my land and madow that is undisposed on lying at the old mill for thare porshan

and I give my daughter Robison won cow and to my daughter thacher I give twenty shilins and to my daughter Stoon won cow and twanty shilins and to my daughter abigall farnworth twalve pound for her porshan and as to the Rast of my eastat undasposed of I leave in the hand of my exsectters to daspose of to my wif or children as thay think to be most Rason I mak Chois of my son Mathyas farnworth with nathaniel lawrins sen and Jonas Prescott for exsackters this taken from his own mouth syned and sealed in the prasants of us

HIS
MATHYAS M FARNWORTH Sen.
MARK
NATHANNIL LAWRANCE.
JONAS PRESCOTT.
HIS
NICKLAS ?? HUCHINS.
MARK
also I give my loam and tacklins for waving to my son Mathyas farnworth Xbr.

17 1689 Charlestowne.

Nathanll Larrance & Jonas Prescott appearing in Court made oath yt they were present when Mathias ffarnworth Deced signed sealed and published this as his last will & Testament, and yt he was of sound judgment and of disposeing minde when he did ye same and yt they sett theire hands there to as witnesses with Nicholas Hutchins. as att. SAMLL. PHIPPS Cler

The inventory filed is as follows:

Imps. Wearing apparel	2 10 0
Bedding	4 15 0
Linen	1 02 0
Pewter	05 0
Brass and iron	16 0
Chests, chairs and tables	12 0
Meat and tubs	1 02 0
Books	12 0
Cyder and barrels	1 10 0
Yarn, linen and woolen	1 00 0
Loom and tacklin	2 00 0
Indian corn, thrashed an in ear tobacco	3 10 0
Rye, thrashed and unthrashed and barley	2 06 0
Oats thrashed	04 0
House and barn and homestall within fence	48 00 0
Homeland without fence	3 00 0
Outlands and uplands	2 10 0
Meadows	12 00 0
A very old horse	10 0
A yoke of oxen, small oxen	5 00 0
Four cows	7 00 0
Two young cattle	1 10 0
Eight sheep and lambs	1 10 0
A sow and pigs	1 10 0
A cart plow and furniture	1 08 0
Axes, hoes, betle and wedges, sieves, sickles, spade, trammel, tongs, old and impaired	15 0
Lumber	10 0
Debts due from the estate to several	1 19 10
Debts due to the estate from several	1 04 0
Also to the estate in hemp and flax	05 0
Hay in the barn	1 00 0

Feb 4 1688-9 at Groton, considered and appraised according to our best apprehension as witness our hands being desired thereto by the owners and parties herein concerned.

GERSHAM HOBART
MATHIAS FFARNWORTH JOHN PAGE
NATHANIEL LAWRENCE JAMES KNAP
JONAS PRESCOTT

Mary (Farr) Farnsworth

His wife survived him many years. She appears to have been a householder in 1692, when the garrisons were formed for the common defence. Probably she continued to keep house for many years at the old homestead. In the latter part of her life she seems to have made her home with her son Samuel, who perhaps took charge of the homestead before he moved to Lunenburg. She made her will, which is dated 5 Dec 1716, and was proved 7 Mar 1717, so that she must have died between those dates, but the exact time is not known.

Her will is as follows:

In the name of God Amen the fifth Day of December 1716: Mary ffarnworth widow of Mathias ffarnworth of Groaten in the Countey of middlsix in the provence of the masachusets bay in New England Deceased Beeing very sick and week in boddy but of Parfit mind and memory Thanks be given unto God for it: therefore calling unto minde the mortality of my bodey and knowing that is Appointed for all men once to Dye: Do make and ordain this my last will and testament, that is to say, principally, and first of all i Give and Recomend my soul into the hands of God that gave it: and my body I Recomend to the Earth to be buried in Decent Condition buiriall at the Discretion of my Executor nothing Doubting but at the General Resurrection I shall Reseaume the same again by the mighty pouer of God. And as touching such worldly Estate wheare with it hast plesed God to bless me in this life I give Demise and Dispose of the same in the following maner--And form: Imprimis: I give to my well beeloved son Benjamin ffarnworth sixteen pounds payd for him to Justinian holdin for land in the year 1688. And the year folowing one years bord which is ten pounds. And one acre of medow leying in the South medow which shall lie ajoyning to the six acors willed to him by his father Mathyas ffarnworth Deceased. Item I Give to my well Beloved son samuel ffarnworth whom I create constitute mak and ordain my sole Executor of this my last will and testament all and singular my Great Bible to gather with my household goods, Debts and moveable efects by him freely to bee posesed and injoyed. And I doe hear By uterly Disalow Revoke and Disanull all and Every other testaments wills legases and beequests And Executors by mee in aney ways beefore named written and Bequeathed Ratifying and Confirming this and now other to bee my last will and testement in witnes whereof I have here unto set my hand and seale the day and year Above written.

By the said Mary ffarnworth as her last will and testement in the presents of us the subscribers.

MARY FARNWORTH. (Seal.)
m
Her mark.
EPHRAIM SAWTELL
SAMUELL THATCHER
DANIEL FFARNWORTH

The will is apparently in the handwriting of Daniel Farnsworth, and the signature is the writing of Ephraim Sawtell. This will seems to have been made after consultation with the family. Deacon Daniel Farnsworth, son of John, and her grandson, was one of the witnesses, and Samuel Thatcher, husband of her daughter Mary, was another. He had probably come up from Watertown to visit her in her last sickness. Her mention of her "Great Bible," which she gives to her son Samuel, with whom she lived, as her last blessing, gives a view of her simple faith that should be appreciated by her descendants.

MATTHIAS FARNSWORTH

1--MATTHIAS FARNSWORTH, b. 20 July 1612, at Eccles, Lancastershire, Eng.; m. prob. as his second wife, Mary, daut. of George Farr of Lynn, MA. He was a weaver by occupation; freeman, 16 May 1670. He died 21 Jan 1688-9. She died 1717. The great probabilities are that his first three children were by his first wife, as his wife Mary, in her will, makes her first bequest to "my well beloved son Benjamin," which was prob. her first born living son at that time.

His children, being 2nd generation in America, are as follows:

1. Elizabeth, b. 1647, prob. in England, possibly in Lynn, MA;
m. 16 Jan 1667, James Robertson (or Robinson); he was b. 1632;
he d. 8 Dec 1720; she d. 22 Dec 1729, ae 82.
2. Matthias Jr., b. Jan 1649; m. 1681 Sarah Nutting, daughter of John and Sarah;

she b. 29 May 1663; he d. abt. 1693. She m. (2) 16 Dec 1698; John Stone;

he b. 23 Jul 1658, son of Simon and Mary (Whipple) Stone of Watertown, MA.
3. John, b. about 1651-2; m. 8 Dec 1686, Hannah Aldis of Dedham,
of Dedham, MA; she b. 4 Jul 1666. He d. 17 Oct 1729.
4. Benjamin, b. ca. 1655. He m. 1695, Mary Prescott, daughter of Jonas and Mary (Loker) Prescott;

she b. 3 Feb 1674. He d.15 Aug 1733.
5. Joseph, b. 6 Nov 1657, in Lynn, d. 31 Oct 1674, unmarrried
6. Mary, b. 11 Oct 1660, in Lynn, m. 11 Apr 1676, Samuel Thatcher of Watertown, MA; he b. 20 Oct 1648,

d. 21 Oct 1726. She d. 17 Aug 1725.
7. Sarah, b. about 1663-4, probably in Groton, MA; m. Simon Stone
of Watertown, and brother of John, who m. widow of Matthias Farnsworth, Jr.

She d. 16 Sep 1731; he d. 19 Dec 1741, age 85 years, 3 months, 11 days.
8. Samuel, b. 8 Oct 1669; m. 12 Dec 1706, Mary Whitcomb, wid. of Simon Willard. Samuel d. 1726-7.
9. Abigail, b. 17 Jan 1671; m. John Hutchins, her cousin, b. 3 Jun 1668.
10. Jonathan, b. 1 Jun 1675; m. 1698, Ruth Shattuck, b. 24 Jun 1668.
He d. 16 Jun 1748.
11. Joseph 2nd, b. 1677; d. 20 Feb 1687.

We will now follow the line of each of his children.