Nicholas Farrar (abt. 1592 - 1637)

Born about 22 Feb 1592 in Pinner, Middlesex, England

Ancestors

Died 4 Dec 1637 at about age 45 in Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, England

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Biography

'Co-founder of Little Gidding

Origin

Nicholas was born on 22 February 1592, son of Nicholas Farrar (d Feb 1638) who married c. 1575 to Mary Wodenoth/Woodnoth, daughter of Laurence Woodnoth, of Cheshire.^[1]

Children of Nicholas and Mary:^[1]

1. John, b 1590, d 1657
2. Erasmus, barrister d bef 1613
3. Nicholas, b 1593, d 1637
4. William, barrister em to VA, b 1593, d 1637
5. Richard, b 1596, living in 1638
6. Joyce, may have been living in 1613, certainly d bef 1620
7. Susannah, b 1581, d 1657; m John Collett

Properties and Positions

Nicholas was the founder of Little Gidding. He and his brother and sister founded a High Anglican religious society there.

Nicholas and his siblings removed to Huntingdonshire to start a religious colony.^[2]

Death and Legacy

Nicholas died on 2 Dec 1637 at Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, Cambridgeshire, England.

Research Notes

Archer in 2007 reports that Nicholas was the son of John Ferrar, skinner.^[3] Note: This seems to be in error. (?) Other sources report Nicholas was a son of Nicholas Farrar Mary Wodenoth.

Wikipedia, referencing Maycock, Alan Lawson (1938). Nicholas Ferrar of Little Gidding, states that he was " born in London,[3] the third son and fifth child (of six) of Nicholas Ferrar and his wife Mary (née Woodnoth)"

He is mentioned in Nicholas Ferrar: Two Lives ^[4]as "Nicholas a, bachelor, of a plain presence, but of able speech and parts; in childhood 'fair and of bright hair like his mother, in manhood, as his portraits shew, clear-complexioned." he appears to have been a polyglot, able to read and understand many languages.

He died "Monday, Dec. 4, 1637. at about five o'clock on the Lord's day, but to him an everlasting sabbath. He never rested that day, since God was truly known unto him until now ; God gave him therefore now an everlasting rest."^[5]

Buried at the St John Churchyard, Little Gidding^[6]

Research Note

Though many histories and pedigrees show William Ferrar Ferrar-94 as a son of Nicholas BMD dates suggest errors in the dates commonly given or else a missing generation. William would have had to have been born at an earlier date.

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1} Skipton, Horace Pitt Kennedy, (1907) The life and times of Nicholas Ferrar. London: A. R. Mowbray, HathiTrust.org (Page 24).
2. ↑ Thorndale, William, (1995) "Maids for Virginia in 1621, as Described in the Ferrar Papers." The Virginia Genealogist. American Ancestors.org (Vol 39, Page 243, citing p 244).
3. ↑ Archer I W, (2007) "Sir Thomas Smythe (c.1558-1625)." A lecture delivered at Skinners’ Hall, London, 26 November 2007.
4. ↑ Nicholas Ferrar: Two Lives, 1855 [1]
5. ↑ Nicholas Ferrar: Two Lives, 1855 [2]
6. ↑ "Find A Grave Index," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVV5-4NVJ : 13 December 2015), Nicholas Ferrar, 1637; Burial, Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire District, Cambridgeshire, England, St John Churchyard; citing record ID 30624970, Find a Grave, http://www.findagrave.com.

See also:

• "Farrar Family (Continued)." The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 7, no. 4 (1900): 432-34. http://www.jstor.org/stable/4242292.
• The / Limerick - Huntingdon / Ferrars / by one of them/ 1903 / Fifty copies only printed / No. .... for private circulation. At back Plymouth: / Underhill & Co., / Printers, / "The Frankfort Press." / 1903 [3]
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Ferrar
• Cambridge Alumni database.