George Farley

George Farley was one of the first settlers of Shawshin, as Billerica was first known. He was early in Woburn, and there, on April 9, 1641, he married Christian Births; Henry Jefts, another Shawshin pioneer, married her sister, for, as Hazen put it, "they bore the unusual name of Births." A clothier by trade, Farley bought the north-west lot of the Dudley farm and built his house at its north end, where the Bedford road turns south from Charnstaffe Lane, near what was later called the Jaquith place. He was also one of the town's earliest Baptists, and a member of the Baptist church in Boston.

Farley signed the 1654 petition of the Shawshin settlers to the General Court and took a steady part in the young town's business. In 1659 he, Ralph Hill Sr. and Jonathan Danforth were the committee to hire workmen for the first meetinghouse, "thirty foote Longe and twenty and foure foot wide," with its roof covered in thatch, and that November he, Hill and John Parker ran the line between Billerica and Woburn with Woburn's committee. He was joined with Lt. William French and Danforth as commissioner for making the country rate, was chosen to the grand jury, and in 1661 bought, with the two Ralph Hills, father and son, the three-hundred-acre farm of Edward Oakes. In 1663 the town named him and Lt. French to treat with Ralph Hill Sr. "about half an acre for a buring place," the beginning of the Old South Burying Ground. He served several terms as selectman; Farmer's 1816 memoir credits him with seven years on the board. Before Billerica had a church of its own, the Rev. John Fiske of Chelmsford recorded extending church privileges to Farley and Hill.

His son Samuel, born in the last week of March 1654, is the subject of an old dispute over which child holds the distinction of the first birth in Billerica. For years the honor was credited to John Stearns, born in the second week of May 1654, but a careful comparison of town clerk John Parker's original 1657 birth record against town clerk Jonathan Danforth's later transcription of it reveals a transcription error by Danforth that made Farley's birth appear to come after Stearns's. Parker wrote that "Samuel ffarley, the son of George ffarley, and Christian, his wife, was borne in the last week of the 1th mo., 1654," and his 1658 return of all births to the county recorder listed Samuel Farley first of eleven, in order of date; in Danforth's copy the month became a 7. The earlier, original record makes clear that Samuel Farley, not Stearns, was actually born first, and Hazen wrote that the honor "has been accorded to John Stearns, erroneously."

The Farleys' other children included Caleb, born in 1645, who married Rebecca, daughter of Ralph Hill; Mary, who married John Sanders; and Mehitable, who died in 1673. Timothy Farley, probably also a son, was killed by the Indians at Quaboag (Brookfield) on August 2, 1675, and in King Philip's War George Farley's house was named in the town's garrison plan, "to entertain as it may be capable." In February 1692/3 George and Christian, "aged Grand ffather and Grand mother," gave the use of their estate to their grandson Caleb Farley Jr. and his wife Sarah, who agreed to come home and care for them for life. George Farley died December 27, 1693, and Christian on March 27, 1702. The homestead stayed in the family until 1728, when Ebenezer Farley gave it to his daughter Hannah and her husband Abraham Jaquith.

References

1. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 47: Farley family #1 (clothier, Baptist, marriage, death) and the first-birth argument
2. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), Genealogical Register p. 48: conclusion of the Samuel Farley vs. John Stearns first-birth argument
3. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 24: Farley's house at the north end of the Dudley farm, near the Jaquith place
4. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 27: Farley and Henry Jefts married sisters named Births
5. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 154: Farley on the committee to build the first meetinghouse, 1659
6. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 67: Farley and Lt. French to treat with Ralph Hill for the burying place, 1663
7. Hazen, History of Billerica (1883), p. 41: Oakes farm sold to George Farley and the Ralph Hills, 1661
8. Vital Records of Billerica (1908), births: Samuel, son of George and Christian Farley, last week of March 1654
9. Vital Records of Billerica (1908), deaths: George Farley Sr., Dec. 27, 1693; Christian, widow of George, Mar. 27, 1702
10. Farmer, Historical Memoir of Billerica (1816): George Farley, selectman seven years, died Dec. 27, 1693

Deed References Expand all

Recorded is Book/Page at the Middlesex North Registry of Deeds unless noted.