General Michael Farley

In the foyer of the Ipswich Public Library is a bronze plaque honoring General Michael Farley and his four sons for their service during the Revolutionary War.

Michael Farley (1719-1789) was born in Ipswich and represented his native town for several years in the Massachusetts colony’s general court. He was one of twenty-eight councilors elected to the Govenor’s Council on by joint ballot of the House of Representatives and outgoing Council in May 1774 but was rejected by crown-appointed Governor Gage, along with John Adams, James Bowdoin, Samuel Dexter, John Winthrop, Timothy Danielson, Benjamin Austin, William Phillips, James Prescot, Norton Quincy, Jerathmeel Bowers, Enoch Freeman, and Jedediah Foster, historically an honor in the Patriot cause. (Adams Papers).

Michael Farley was a member of the Ipswich Committee of Correspondence and represented the town in three Massachusetts Provincial Congresses in 1774 and 1775. He was afterward a member of the House of Representatives in July 1775. He subsequently acted as one of the Supreme Executive Council and was, for several years, major general of the 2d Division of Militia. An ardent patriot, he rendered great service to the cause of the American Revolution.

The Farley Family in Ipswich

The first Michael Farley to live in Ipswich signed a contract with the miller Richard Saltonstall, Esquire along with his son Michael Farley Jr. dated June 24, 1675. This covenant was renewed in 1682 to include Mesheck, the younger son of Michael Sr.

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In the book Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Thomas Franklin Waters wrote:

“The Grist Mill and the Garden,” which is often mentioned, were owned by the Worshipful Mr. Saltonstall. He built the first mill on the site of the old stone mill. He had a monopoly of the business, and there was much complaint for many years of the inadequacy of the accommodation afforded. It was seriously proposed that the river be dammed near the present Green St. Bridge and another mill be built there. There was dissatisfaction with the miller as well, and Mr. Saltonstall sent over a new miller in 1675, Mr. Michael Farley. Anticipating his coming, Mr. Saltonstall bought from Samuel Belcher about six rods of the land he had bought of Potter, and built a house for the miller. This house is probably the one that stood on a triangular lot, which is now covered by the large mill building.”

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Abraham Hammatt wrote in the book, Early Inhabitants of Ipswich, Massachusetts 1630-1700:

“FARLEY, Michael, (1) came from England with his two sons, Michael and Mesheck, and settled in Ipswich about the year 1675. It appears from the Registry of Deeds of Essex County under the date April 27, 1682, that there was a covenant respecting a mill, between Richard Saltonstall, Esquire, on the one part, and Michael Farley and Michael Farley, jun’r, on the other part, dated June 24, 1675. This covenant expired March 26, 1682, when another was entered into between the same parties, including Mesheck, the younger son of Michael.

“1683, March 10, Michael, sen’r, and Lieut Thomas Burnham, enter into a contract with respect of a marriage intended betwixt Mesheck Farley and Sarah Burnham, in which, upon completing said marriage said Farley engages upon his paternal love and care of his said son and for his further settlement, to give said Mesheck a small parcel of land, granted unto the said Michael by the Town of Ipswich, together with half such a sum as said Burnham should be at in ye building parties a dwelling house upon said land.” The deed of the land was executed March 8, 1698-9, by the said Michael, with the consent of his “now wife.” This land remained the property of the family for about 150 years.”

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Richard Saltonstall was the son of Massachusetts Bay Company founder Richard Saltonstall and Grace Kaye, of Almondbury, Yorkshire, England. Concentrations of the Farley surname are found throughout England and Ireland, especially in the Counties York and Bristol. His grandfather, Sir Richard Saltonstal,l was Lord of the Manor of Ledsham in Yorkshire.

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The only birth record for Michael and Mesheck Farley is an article in the Farley Family Newsletter by Lucille Farley Spear, which reads in part:

“Fabyan Farley, son of Reginald and Barbara Hastings Farley, born at Towthorpe County York, England, 1570, married Jane Hungerford, 1597, daughter of Sir Walter and Katherine Fabyan Hungerford of Farleigh Hungerford Castle, situated in the town of Farleigh, County Somerset, 8 miles from Bath on the River From. Katherine’s father was Edward Fabyan Edq. of Compton, County Berks.”

The newsletter states that the couple had 9 children, including the youngest, “Michael, born 1620, married Esther Whaller, a relative of the regicide Edward Whalley. They came to Ipswich, Mass. 1676.

“Michael Farley, ninth child of Fabyan, born in England in 1620, had 6 sons and two daughters born in England. He came to America in 1675, bringing with him two sons, Michael and Mesheck, starting the first woolen mill in America.”

“Mesheck, born in England, 1660, second son of Michael and Esther Farley, married Sarah Burnham, August 1684, at Ipswich, Mass; had one daughter and two sons.”

Major General Michael Farley

In 1767, Captain Michael Farley, a fourth-generation descendant of Michael Farley, a settler of Ipswich, was chosen as the Representative from the Town of Ipswich to the General Court. Farley, a tanner by trade and an officer in the militia, was a man of forceful personality and unusual ability who spent the remainder of his life in public service.

In November 1772, the Boston Committee of Correspondence published a circular letter to the various towns in the colonies, asserting the colonists’ rights as men under natural law, God’s law, and as British subjects under the British constitution. A month later, Captain Farley, Mr. Daniel Noyes, & Major John Baker were chosen as the Ipswich committee to correspond to the Boston Committee and the Committees of other towns.

On Tuesday, Sept. 6, 1774, sixty-seven delegates representing every Essex County town arrived in Ipswich to “Consider the Late Acts of Parliament.” Ipswich was represented by Captain Michael Farley, Mr. John Patch 3rd, Mr. Daniel Noyes, Mr. Jonathan Cogswell, and Mr. Nathaniel Farley. Resolutions were adopted by unanimous vote, binding themselves to stand together in opposition to the Crown, and declaring the establishment of the Provincial Congress necessary for the common safety.

The Town of Ipswich chose Michael Farley as a delegate to the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts, meeting first in Salem and adjourning to Cambridge in 1775. A “Congress of Delegates from the several Towns and Districts in the Colony of the Massachusetts Bay” was held at the Meeting House in Watertown on the thirty-first day of May 1775, with Ipswich represented by Col. Michael Farley and Dummer Jewett, Esq. (*the Provincial Congress, Northern Illinois University Digital Library). He was a member of the Council of the Massachusetts Bay in New England in 1776.

He became the High Sheriff of Essex County and a member of the State House of Representatives. Farley was appointed major-general of the Militia of Massachusetts in 1777.

General Michael Farley died on June 20, 1789, at age 70, and is buried beside his wife, Elizabeth, at the Old North Burying Ground in Ipswich.

Elizabeth Choate Farley

Michael Farley married on December 21, 1745, Elizabeth Choate (1726-1795), daughter of Robert Choate. A tradition of the Farley family is that when the embargo on tea went into effect, Gen. Farley would not allow any tea in his home, but his wife would occasionally visit her neighbor, Dame Heard, and enjoy a cup of tea. She was, however, a Patriot, and when a regiment of men was preparing for battle, with her own hands she filled each man’s powder horn with powder which was stored in the garret of her house. Caroline Farley wrote in  The Farleys of Ipswich, “Her children, who remembered the event, said that her face and hands were so black before the last flask was full that they would not have told her from a Negro.”

Historian Joseph Felt wrote, “General Farley was very active in complying with levies of Government for men, provisions, and clothing. He had three sons in the army. When one of them, about sixteen years old, was going to war, his mother, who had helped put on his equipment, charged him, saying, ‘Behave like a man.’ This same lady, when a regiment, expecting to meet the enemy, was to be supplied with ammunition, which was in the garret of her husband’s house, filled every man’s powder horn with her own hand.” (History of Ipswich, Essex, and Hamilton).

In 1777, nineteen-year-old Marquis de Lafayette left France and volunteered to serve in the Continental Army. When his company passed through Ipswich, he was met by General Farley, who removed his hat to salute the noble Frenchman, but in doing so accidentally removed his wig as well. Other members of the welcoming party quickly removed their wigs in respect to Mr. Farley. Writing home, Lafayette remarked that the people of Ipswich were so polite that they not only bowed with their hats off but “with their wigs off as well”.

The sons of Michael and Elizabeth Farley, and other members of the Farley family fought in the Revolution:

Jabez Farley (c.1755-1836) served at Prospect Hill in Cambridge and in Captain Simeon Brown’s company and Colonel Nathaniel Wade’s regiment at Providence, Rhode Island. He married Lucy Rogers, daughter of Nathaniel Rogers, who died in childbirth in 1788. His second wife was Susanna Swasey (c.1768-1843), daughter of Major Joseph Swasey (d. 1817).

Robert Farley served as Aide de Camp to the Commander General Benjamin Lincoln.

Michael Farley Jr. served as a sergeant in the Lexington Alarm of April 1775. and as regimental quartermaster of Col. Samuel Gerrish’s Massachusetts (Continental) regiment from May to December 1775. In January 1776, Farley joined the 26th Continental Regiment as a second lieutenant and regimental quartermaster. He transferred to the 9th Massachusetts Regiment in January 1777 and became the regiment’s captain lieutenant in July 1779. He was taken prisoner by the British and died during his imprisonment in 1780, and was posthumously promoted to captain. (Source: Founders Online).

On June 18, 1871, a ship of war mounting 20 nine-pounders commanded by John Carnes sailed from Salem for a four-month cruise. The list of crew members included gunnerRobert Farley and Private Jonathan Farley of Ipswich. Nathaniel Farley Jr. is said to have been in the expedition to the Penobscot, which sailed from Boston on July 19, 1779.

It is said that a supply of powder was kept in the garret of General Michael Farley’s home, and on one occasion, when a company was being hurriedly equipped, Mrs. Farley filled every man’s powder horn with her own hands, emerging with her face completely covered with black dust.

On Nov 20, 1787, the Constitution adopted by the Continental Congress was read at the Ipswich Town Meeting. In January 1788, the Massachusetts Convention assembled with Hon. Michael Farley, John Choate Esq., Daniel Noyes Esq., and Col. Jonathan Cogswell representing Ipswich. The motion to accept the Constitution was carried by a vote of 187 to 167, with the Ipswich delegates all voting Yes, to the immense satisfaction and joy of the citizenry. Church bells were rung, cannon fired, and bonfires burned all night in the streets.

History of the General Michael Farley House

From Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Volume 1 by Thomas Franklin Waters

• On August 6, 1684, Mesheck Farley, the son of Michael Farley (1) married, and his father built him a house at the corner of Market and Union Streets. Several generations of the Farley family made their home there. His son, Michael (2), was the father of General Michael Farley.
• A new house was constructed after the Revolution, probably by General Michael Farley, who had plied his vocation as a tanner nearby.
• Susanna, the widow of Robert Farley, sold to Samuel S. Farrington, on June 20, 1833 (272: 18)
• By an execution against Farrington, John S. Williams of Salem acquired possession on Feb. 23, 1838 (Exec. No. 8, 188).
• His widow, Mehitable O. Williams, conveyed it to John Brown of Ossipee, on Jan. 1, 1850 (421:237)
• John Brown sold to Jacob Brown, on April 23, 1851 (451: 119).
• Francis Q., William G., and Jacob F. Brown sold to Abigail S. Blake, wife of Samuel Blake, May 1, 1865 (684: 56).
• The heirs of Abigail S. Blake sold to Mr. David Grady in 1865.

Sources and further reading:

• Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 1
• Farley Family Papers
• The Farleys of Ipswich, Caroline A. Farley (PDF, from Ipswich Public Library)
• Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vol I by Thomas Franklin Waters
• Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Vol II by Thomas Franklin Waters
• Early Inhabitants of Ipswich by Abraham Hammatt
• Michael Farley First, Secon,d and Third, by Eunice Whitney Farley Felton
• 1832 Ipswich map
• 1884 Ipswich map
• 1910 Ipswich map
• Old North Burying Ground View Farley gravestones
• Publications of the Ipswich Historical Society: Michael Farley, First, Second, and Third of Ipswich or at Hathi Trust Full view v.25-29 1925-1935
• Felt, Joseph Barlow: “History of Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton, Mass.”
• Mrs. Eunice Whitney Farley Felton: Two Ipswich Patriots, page 24
• Perley, Sidney: “A Part of Ipswich in 1700”
• Farley Family Newsletter-1971 to July 1976_Part2
• WikiTree: Michael Farley
• Image: George Washington Papers, Series 4, General Correspondence: Michael Farley to Massachusetts Council, August 1, 1777
• 2 Meeting House Green, the Joseph N. Farley House (1842)
• WikiTree: Mesheck Farley biography
• Historic Ipswich: Jabez & Robert Farley