Having profited from his shipping business, Joseph Farley purchased this lot in 1842. The house which stood on it was moved to Upper High Street, after which Mr. Farley constructed the present mansion. The house is one of the best representatives of the Greek Revival period in Ipswich, with Doric columns supporting the portico, the entrance opening to a central stairway with light provided by a transom window and sidelights. The wood siding is cut and beveled to simulate stone, and massive corner boards further contribute to its Greek Revival appearance.
Capt. Joseph Farley came from a long line of grist millers and was an owner of the old stone mill where EBSCO now stands. The Ipswich Manufacturing Company, with Joseph Farley as its President, started in 1830. In 1832, it had 3000 spindles and 260 looms, and made 450,000 yards of cloth annually, employing an average of 18 males and 63 females. In 1836, Mr. Farley conveyed his interests to the company, and in 1846, the Dane Manufacturing Company purchased the mill and continued the manufacture of cloth.
Joseph Farley died at age 47 in 1847, but his widow, Mary Staniford Kimball, continued to live in the house until she died in 1901. Their only child died as an infant in 1842.
History of the lot by Thomas Franklin Waters:
Alexander Lovell conveyed “my old dwelling house and part of my homestead, which was Mr. Wilson’s late of Ipswich” and about forty square rods of land to Samuel Chapman, mariner, on Dec. 1715 (30: 187). This corner lot was sold by Samuel Chapman to Joseph Foster, on Nov. 2, 1726 (48: 195) and by him to Joseph and Jeremiah Perkins, on Jan. 26, 1726-27 (49: 206). (* Jeremiah Perkins and his wife, Joanna Smith, were the parents of Joseph Perkins, as well as Sarah Perkins, who married Col. Joseph Hodgkins. Their letters to each other during the Revolutionary War can be read on this site.
The old house continued for many years in the Perkins line. James Perkins owned and occupied the southeast half of the house and land in 1795, and sold the same to Joseph Perkins of Newburyport, in February of that year (158: 262), and a James Perkins bequeathed one undivided half of the whole estate to his sister, Susanna Kendall, and the other to his nephew Isaac Perkins, in 1818 (Pro. Rec. 393: 332). Dr. George Chadwick purchased one-half from the administrator of Susanna Kendall, and the other from Francis Butler and his wife of Farmington, Jan. 5, 1831 (260: 161).
George Chadwick sold to Robert Farley, on April 25, 1839 (312: 295), who transferred it to Joseph K. Farley (son of Nathaniel Farley) on April 29, 1842 (332: 47). Mr. Farley sold the old Perkins house, which was removed to Pingree’s Plain (no longer standing), and built the present mansion, which was occupied by his widow until her death.
Greek Revival Architecture
The Greek Revival style drew from the architecture of classic Greek temples and became known as the “National Style” in America between 1830 and 1850 because of its nationwide popularity. Massachusetts architect Asher Benjamin disseminated the Greek Revival style through his influential house plan books. A characteristic shared by virtually all Greek Revival buildings is the wide band of woodwork and trim below the cornice. Many Greek Revival houses have pilasters representing columns or paneled trim at the corners. Full-height sidelights are found in many Greek Revival houses, versus the partial-height sidelights seen in Federal houses. Palladian windows are absent on Greek Revival buildings.
Joseph Farley
Joseph Farley and many of the Farley family in Ipswich descend from the immigrant Michael Farley, who was the first in this family line and arrived in America in 1675 with his sons Michael and Mesheck from England to run Richard Saltonstall’s fulling mill. Thus began a long line of millers in Ipswich. Nathaniel Farley’s Mills ground the grist for many years, and his son, Joseph Farley, constructed the Old Stone Mill, which was at the location of today’s EBSCO.
A descendant of the early Michael Farley was General Michael Farley, a war hero, town officer, and representative from 1766 to 1774 to the Provincial Congress.
Joseph Farley’s Ancestry
- Michael Farley, the immigrant miller, was born about 1630 in England. He was the father of Michael Farley Jr. and Mesheck Farley
- Michael Farley Jr., son of the immigrant Michael Farley, was born about 1654 in England and married first, Mary Woodbury. He married second, Hannah Emerson.
- Nathaniel Farley, the son of Michael Farley Jr. and Hannah Emerson, was born before Oct. 4, 1731, in Ipswich. He married first, Elisabeth Cogswell, and after she died, Mary Wise in 1764.
- Joseph Farley was born before March 23, 1777, in Ipswich, the son of Nathaniel Farley and Mary (Wise) Farley. He died Feb 9, 1850, at age 72 in Ipswich
Joseph Farley, son of Nathaniel, was the last in the long line of grist millers and in partnership with Augustine Heard, built the old stone mill where EBSCO now stands, manufacturing cotton cloth. A new dam was built in 1827, an ancient fordway across the river near the old Lace Factory was closed by permission of the Town, and the stone mill building was erected at large expense. The mill, known as the Ipswich Manufacturing Company, opened in 1830 and employed an average of 18 males and 63 females, with a workday of nearly fourteen hours. In 1832,it had 3000 spindles and 260 looms. It spun Nos. 30 and 32 yarn, used 80,000 lbs. of cotton, and made 450,000 yards of cloth annually, employing on average 18 males and 63 females.
The Ipswich Manufacturing Company, with Joseph Farley as its President, was ambitious. Joseph Farley Jr. was the clerk and paymaster. By 1832, the mill had 3000 spindles and 260 looms processing 80,000 lbs of cotton and making 450,000 yards of cloth annually. Joseph Farley had an ambitious plan to divert water above the dam through a canal that would pass through the Heard property (now the Ipswich Museum) and supply power for a mill on the lower river near County Street, but financial difficulties arose, and in 1836, Mr. Farley conveyed his interests to the company. In 1846, the Dane Manufacturing Company purchased the assets of the Ipswich Manufacturing Company. (Source: Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vol. 2, page 636.)
Further Reading
General Michael Farley: In 1774, the Town of Ipswich chose Michael Farley, a tanner, as a delegate to the Provincial Congress. He was appointed major-general of the Militia of Massachusetts in 1777. Farley is buried at the Old North Burying Ground beside his wife, Elizabeth. The site of his home is now the Richdale store on Market St.
47 North Main Street, the George Farley House (1888): In 1888, Theodore Cogswell bought the ancient Dodge house built in 1660 and tore it down to build this Victorian “Painted Lady” for his daughter Emiline and her husband George Farley, owner of the Farley and Daniels shoe company. George Edward Farley was born in 1855, the eldest son of Nathaniel R. and Emeline Caldwell Farley. He was one of the feoffees of the Ipswich grammar school and in 1907 was elected treasurer of the Ipswich Savings Bank.
Joseph Swasey Farley, born in 1790, was the son of Jabez and Susanna (Swasey) Farley, and grandson of General Michael Farley. He married in the East Indies and died at sea on his passage from Batavia to Madras in 1821.
Historic Ipswich 