FARRAR, WEBB AND CLAY FAMILIES

  by Boots Farrar ( cewenzel@verizon.net )


 
There is no record of any Farrar's in the census of 1820. But I have discovered that a lot of folk missed being enumerated.. My great grandfather was born in Union Parish, LA in 1850, his father William Thomas Farrar lived in union parish (with his brothers and cousins) until 1855, but he was not enumerated although his brothers were. I've seen a transcription of Jasper Co Marriages which have a Thomas Farrow marrying Judith Webb, but that is a misspelling or transcription (it's a possibility that Thomas Jefferson Farrar was illiterate and didn't know how to spell 
his name, or the person who wrote it down in the ledger chose their own spelling) but I do know that it was Thomas Farrar and not Thomas Farrow because Louis Taunton (a descendant of Thomas And Judith...he is now deceased) has the family Bible which shows the marriage. Also his brother Henry Lansford Farrar married Salley (Sally Webb) in 1811, assuming that Sally was an older sister of Judith).

 
  The father of Henry Lansford Farrar and Thomas Jefferson Farrar was a Stephen David Farrar. Henry and Thomas were born in South Carolina , Stephen David Farrar was born either in 
North Carolina or Virginia . I found a Stephen D Farrar in the 1820 Census of Morgan Count, Capt Shaw's District, but this Stephen D. Farrar is too young to be the father of Thomas and Henry. There is also a Thomas Jefferson Farrow in Morgan County, Ga in Capt Farrows District in the 1820 Census, but he is too old to be my ancestor.

 
 

My Great Great Grandfather William Thomas Farrar, born 1816 in Jasper Co. Ga of a union between Thomas Jefferson Farrar/Farrow and Judith Webb (m. 1814). Named his sons Thomas Clay Farrar (b. Sep l, 1844), Andrew Bass Farrar (my ggrandfather named after his maternal grandfather) and William Henry Farrar.  His brother Henry Lansford Farrar married a Sally Farrar in 1811 in the same County. 
 
  I assume that the girls were sisters or cousins. The Farrars were born   in So Carolina, and migrated to Perry Co Alabama circa 1816-1818., after   stopping in Jasper Co. Ga. 

It now seems that there was a Thomas Clay (who died in 1823 in Jasper Co Ga, he shows in the 1820 Census living Monticello). Stephen David Farrar/Farrow died abt 1805 according to some 
genealogies, Stephen David Farrar Jr, born 1897 in South Carolina (is reflected in the 1820 Census for Morgan Co, Ga) married Ophelia Alsey KENNIFAX b: 1805 in Georgia, had a son he named Henry Clay Farrar born 1837 in Georgia.

Two sons of Stephen David Farrar/Farrow (Thomas Jefferson and Stephen D. Farrar, jr) had children that they named after a Clay. Thomas Clay Farrar and Henry Clay Farrar.
Was perhaps Thomas and Henry Clay ancestors of Judith Webb or an ancestor of Stephen David Farrar. 

As previously noted; Stephen David Farrar/Farrow named one of his sons George Young Farrar, again apparently after a family connection or God parent, because George Young shows up in the 1820 Census of Oglethorpe Co, and of course the record shows that he bought land from Edmond Bass in 1809 (now we have a Farrar-Young-Webb connection, and they all come together in the same time frame 1800-1820, in Georgia, and in neighboring counties, Oglethorpe, Jasper, Morgan, and Jones a Thomas Farrar, of the correct age, is in the 1820 Census in Jones Co, Ga).

As stated Judith Webb married Thomas Farrar/Farrow in Jasper Co. Ga in July 1814. I have records that show she was born in South Carolina . Perhaps the Webbs, Youngs, Farrar's all migrated together from South Carolina , just like the Farrar's, Bass and allied families migrated together in 1849 from Perry Co. Ala to Union Parish, La.

Life was harsh and dangerous and there were few if any loners, and families usually migrated together in wagon trains, pulled by oxen or mules. I can see these families migrating from Greenville , S.C.  to Ga circa 1800.. They would of course be the youngest sons, as the oldest son of each family would have already homesteaded and/or inherited the family homestead.

There is obviously a familial connection, as it is, at least in our family, a custom to honor ancestors or perhaps god parents by naming children. My grandfather William Thomas Farrar, Sr was named after his own grandfather, but only AFTER he died (circa 1881-1882, W T Farrar Sr was born 1883). Stephen David Farrar/Farrow named his eldest son John Sanders Farrar in honor of his mother's (Elizabeth Sanders) father John.

Evidently Stephen David Farrar did no fare well or get well established in S.C. because he migrated with his sons to Ga, and died in Oglethorpe Co in 1805, the year that Junior married Ophelia 
Kennifax.

I hope that this convergence of the Farrar/Farrow, Webb and Young families is of some help. I have an image of a group of families, in post revolution S.C. being overwhelmed with
new comers, and not having been well established themselves, selling out their homesteads and moving on to new territories, which is what Jasper and Oglethorpe Co were in 1800.
As you know Jasper Co was at the time, the frontier, butting up against Creek Indian Territory, in fact it wasn't even Jasper Co then, in fact it wasn't even a County until 1807, and then it was 
named Randolph . in 1805 Counties like Oglethorpe, Jackson, Greene, Hancock were the frontier. And evidently there were hostilities and many a murder between the Creeks and the settlers.

Frankly, it would have taken desperation for people to uproot themselves and endure the harsh migration and settle in near or 
amongst hostiles.

Just like the first settlers of Virginia a mix of debtors, indentured servants and younger sons of the well to do merchant class, such as my ancestor William Farrer (Ferrar), the Barrister of 
the Virginia Company who settled Henrico City , Farrar's Island, opposite Jamestown circa 1612.

Migrations were often by the younger sons of a family, although primogeniture had been overturned in Virginia , the custom remained through inheritance laws and wills. Where the Oldest son received the property, younger sons were prepared for life, by education and endowment and then expected to head out on their own and carve out their own life, except that over time a families inheritance would be watered down or fall by the wayside, through poor judgment and/or bad habits, till the point that a once wealthy family had been reduced in circumstances. And the family of planters became farmers and laborers. Such it seems is the case of many families, including my own.

At least dirt farming is an honest and honorable living, and a hard one, as most of my ancestors died in their 40's and 50's, until my great grandfather, Andrew Bass Farrar who died at age 81 and his son William Thomas Farrar Sr who died at age 89, but they had stopped migrating and had settled down in Ashley Co Arkansas. Evidently migration and setting up a new homestead took a terrible toll, as did giving birth, as most of my female ancestors died quite young (apparently giving birth) and give birth they did, to many children, until the 20th Century, my great grandmother Matury Jane Neal/Neel Farrar born 1859 died 1940, my grandmother Minnie Lucinda Whitehead Farrar born 1882 died 1976, but those are rarities, and again the families had stopped migrating by 1855. 

Evidently migration took a heavy toll, and reduced longevity.