William Farmer and Family

So it has been more than a month since my last post. I have been feeling pretty good lately, just haven't felt like sitting still and typing... :)

William Farmer was born on June 22, 1801 in Oglethorpe County, Georgia. I do not know anything about William's early life. I know he was 38 when he married his first wife, Frances St. John on November 7, 1839 in Newton County, Georgia. I have assumed that Frances was his first wife since I can find no evidence of a previous wife. I have been unsuccessful in locating William in 1850 or prior census records. Was he still in the Oglethorpe/Newton county areas or did he leave and come back? I really do not know. His wife Frances was born in 1820 in South Carolina. Together, they had 8 known children: John C., Samantha Anne Elizabeth, Sarah Emily, Salina Frances, William Thomas, Robert Hardin, Newton Andrew and Martha Eunice. Frances died on May 26, 1858 in Rockdale County, Georgia, when Martha was just 5 months old.
Shortly after the death of his wife, William remarried to a widow, Sarah Ann Boyd, whose maiden name was Goddard. Together, they had 2 children: Charles George and Virginia. A third child is sometimes attributed to them, John. I feel that John was a Boyd and not a Farmer and thus the child of Sarah's first husband. John would have been born in 1859, just shortly before she married William. In the Family Bible my dad has, it states that Charles's siblings were Jennie and John. If John was William's son, then based on the April 1, 1860 marriage date for William and Sarah, then John was conceived out of wedlock. In 1880, John is listed as a Farmer, but in 1900 he is listed as a Boyd with a birth recorded as happening in November of 1859, which was 5 months before the marriage of William and Sarah. Another mistake some researchers have made regarding the children of William and Sarah is assuming that Virginia had died young. Virginia was 16 years old in 1880 and living with her half-sister, Nancy Boyd (who married William Overton) and her family. Since no one could find her after 1880, the researchers assumed she had died. It wasn't until I began researching my Durrett family that I found out what happened to Virginia after 1880. Virginia had married in October of 1882 to Joseph Columbus Durrett, who was an uncle to her brother's (Charles) wife. The couple then moved with their 4 children to Texas and later to Florida, where Virginia died.
Sarah was first married to Robert J. Boyd. I know nothing about him but his name. I have been unsuccessful in finding him on any census records. He married Sarah on October 3, 1844 in DeKalb County, Georgia. They had 4 children: Nancy Ann, Sarah Ann, Ephriam, and the disputed John. Nothing is known about Ephriam. He appears on one census record then disappears. It is not known when Robert died or where he was during all the censuses. In 1850, Sarah is living with who we assume is Robert's brother or some other relative of his with her two daughters. Robert is no where to be found. Robert is presumed dead by 1860 since Sarah remarried.
William died on August 5, 1872 in Rockdale County, Georgia. After William's death, Sarah moved to Cleburne County, Alabama with her daughter, Nancy and her family. Sarah died on September 1, 1891. She is buried at Bethlehem Baptist Church Cemetery in Carroll County, Georgia in an unmarked grave. I visited the church cemetery about 5 years ago and could not locate her grave. There was a large field, but there were only 5 or six marked graves.

Ancestry Page

Sources:
Census Records: 1850 - Newton County, Georgia
Census Records: 1860 - Rockdale County, Georgia
Census Records: 1870 - DeKalb County, Georgia
Census Records: 1880, 1900 - Cleburne County, Alabama
Census Records: 1910 - Tarrant County, Texas
Census Records: 1920 - McLennan County, Texas
Census Reocrds: 1930 - Dade County, Florida
Death Records: Florida - Virginia L. Durretti
Farmer Family Bible
Marriage Records: Robert Boyd and Sarah Goddard