Nicholas Ferrar (1544 - 1620)

Born 1544 in London, Middlesex, England

Descendants

Died 1620 at about age 76 in London, Middlesex England

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Biography

Nicholas Ferrar (spelling of London) was a skinner and gent of London; Deputy of the Virginia Company of London

Nicholas Farrar was born in 1544/5 (75 years old in 1619/20) at Harford [Hertford].^[1]

Nicholas was the son of John Farrar or Ferrar of Hertford.^[2] John Farrar of the town of Hertford was taxed on £60/6/8 in 1570.^[2] Administration of the goods of John Ferrar of Hertford was granted to his widow, Mary Unknown, on 13 August 1590.^[2]

The books of the Skinners' Company record Nicholas Ferrar, son of John Ferrar of the town of Hertford, was apprenticed to John Harvey, skinner and merchant adventurer, at Michaelmas, 1564; took up his freedom in December 1574; became a member of the company and was a master in 1613.^[2]

Nicholas married Mary Woodenoth^[2] in 1580 at London, London, England.^[3][4] Mary was the daughter of Lawrance Wodenote, Lord of Shavington, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of John Roepe [Rope} of Stapely, Esq.^[5]

Nicholas and Mary were the parents of:

1. John Farrar;^[1]
2. a daughter married to John Collett,^[1] who were the parents of:
   1. Mary Collett, who Nicholas had brought up from her cradle;^[1]
3. Nicholas Farrar;^[1]
4. Richard Farrar

Nicholas was a leading member of the Virginia Company, purchasing on 1 June 1608, from William Allen of London, Esq, for £20, a chamber for the meetings of that company.^[2] In 1624, his son Nicholas wrote a critical account of the efforts of Thomas Smythe. The treatise argued that Smythe was unfit to continue in any role of management for the fledgling Virginia Colony.^{[citation needed]}

In May 1624, the Charter of the Virginia Company was rescinded.

When "Nicholas Farrar, citizen and skinner of London" made his will on 23 March 1619 (now 1620), he was aged "three score and fifteen" and living in a house purchased from William Allen at St Sythe's Lane, St Bennett Sherehogge parish, London.^[1] In his will, Nicholas left bequests to:^[1]

• the recently founded college in Virginia "for the conversion of infidels' children unto Christian religion" which was to educate ten children, and the company of Virginia was to receive £300 towards this end, which was to be spent with the advice and consent of Sir Edwin Sandys, treasurer of the Virginia Company, and Nicholas' son, John Farrar
• Sir Thomas Middleton, his sometime partner;
• his good friends: Hugh Middleton; Richard Wyche; Robert Bateman; Thomas Shepherd; and Mrs Anna Middleton, widow;
• his cousin, Mary Stead;
• his daughter Farrar;
• his son, John Collett, John's wife, and their daughter, Mary Collett who was to receive £500 when she married or turned 21 and £30 yearly for her maintenance, while the Collett's other children were to receive £20 when they married or turned 21;
• his wife, Mary Farrar;
• his grandchild, Nicholas Farrar;
• his son, Nicholas Farrar; who was to have his father's house the Bell in Hertford after his mother's death;
• his son, Richard Farrar;

Nicholas Farrar's will proved at London on 4 April 1620.^[1]

Note: The will of Henrie Ferror, names John Feror of Averods as a witness https://archive.org/details/farrerandsomevar00farr/page/32/mode/2up?id=pk9HAQAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA19&q=%22henrie+ferror%22. Ferror is an occupational name and it's spelling was subject to the interpretation of the scrivener and the translator, depending on class and regional accent, and there is no Feror, only Ferrors. And Henry (Henrie) had distributed his estate to his heirs before he made the will, which only mentions his wife and daughter Agnes). This John Ferror of Averods would be his brother as John Ferror of Elphaborough (Elfaborough) hall is his son.With that in mind,the grandson of Henry,John Ferrar-24, bought land in Hertford, named Great Amwell which he left to his son William Farrar-393 https://archive.org/details/farrerandsomevar00farr/page/126/mode/2up?id=pk9HAQAAMAAJ&hl=en&pg=GBS.PA19&q=amwell

Research Notes

In 1892, portraits of Nicholas Ferrar, the elder, and his wife, Mary Woodenoth, by Janssen, hung in the Master's Lodge of Magdolen College, Cambridge.^[2]

Parents: A user generated family tree says Nicholas' parents married in 1568, at Hertford, Hertfordshire, England.^[6] This is not correct as Nicholas states in his will, made in March 1620, that he was 75 years old, therefore his parents married in or before 1544.^[1]

Hertford: Some sources state this Harford/Hertford is in Yorkshire^[6] while others believe it is in Hertfordshire.^[2] There is a place called Hartforth, also known at times as Herfort and Hertford, in Gilling Parish, in the Wapentake of Gilling West, North Riding of Yorkshire, England.^[7]

Wife: The article on the Farrar Family in volume VII of The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography says Nicholas' wife, Mary, was the daughter of George Woodnoth of Shavinton, Cheshire, and gives a condensed version of the pedigree of the Woodnett family from the Visitation of Cheshire.^[2] The article follows the 1580 Visitation of Cheshire,^[8] which the 1613 Visitation's pedigree for Woodnoth of Shevington notes omits the generation containing Lawrence Woodnoth and his wife, Margaret Rope, who were the parents of Mary who married Nicholas Ferrer of London.^[5]

Sources

1. ↑ ^{1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8} J E B Mayor, ed, "Nicholas Ferrar. Two Lives by his Brother John and by Doctor Jebb", Cambridge in the Seventeenth Century. Part I. Nicholas Ferrar, (Cambridge: Printed for the Editor, 1855), 340-4, Digital Image Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/nicholasferrartw00mayouoft#page/340/mode/2up : accessed 20 March 2018).
2. ↑ ^{2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8} William G Stanard, ed, "Genealogy: The Farrar Family", The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, Vol VII—No. 3. January 1900:320-1, Digital Image Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/virginiamagazine07bruc#page/320/mode/2up : accessed 20 March 2018).
3. ↑ Source: #S62 Database online. Record for Nicholas Ferrar
4. ↑ Source: #S62 Database online. Record for Mary Woodenoth
5. ↑ ^{5.0 5.1} Sir George J Armytage, Bart, and J Paul Rylands, Esq, eds. "Pedigrees made at the Visitation of Cheshire, 1613, taken by Richard St George, Esq, Norroy King of Arms, and Henry St George, Gent, Bluemantle Pursuivant of Arms, and Some Other Contemporary Pedigrees". The Record Society for the Publication of Original Documents relating to Lancashire and Cheshire LVIII. (London: The Record Society, 1909) 263-5, Digital Image Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/recordsociety58recouoft#page/262/mode/2up : accessed 20 March 2018).
6. ↑ ^{6.0 6.1} Dick Gates, "John Ferrar", Public Member Trees, (Provo, UT; Date: 2006).
7. ↑ "Hartforth", The Historical Gazetteer of England's Place-Names, URIhttp://placenames.org.uk/id/placename/05/005429 accessed 20 March 2018.
8. ↑ John Paul Rylands, ed, "The Visitation of Cheshire in the year 1580 made by Robert Glover, Somerset Herald, for William Flower, Norroy King of Arms, with numerous additions and continuations, including those from the Visitation of Cheshire made in the year 1566, by the same Herald. With an Appendix, containing the Visitation of a part of Cheshire in the year 1533, made by William Fellows, Lancaster Herald, for Thomas Benolte, Clarenceux King of Arms. And a Fragment of the Visitation of the City of Chester in the year 1591, made by Thomas Chaloner, Deputy to the Office of Arms", The Publications of the Harleian Society, XVIII, (London: Harleian Society, 1882), 255, Digital Image Internet Archive (https://archive.org/stream/visitationofches00glov#page/254/mode/2up : accessed 20 March 2018).

See also:

• Wikipedia: Nicholas Ferrar
• Dorman, John Frederick. Adventurers of Purse and Person, Virginia, 1607-1624/5. 4th ed., Vol. 1 A-F (Genealogical Publishing Company, c 2004-2007). Online in .pdf file accessed 14 Nov 2019, pages 926- 930.
• The Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. Vol. VII. Virginia Historical Society.; 1899. p. 320–.