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On December 18 1763, at the age of 21, Henry Farrar married Elizabeth Horsfull in Rothwell church. She was the 21-year-old daughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Horsfull of Carlton. A few years later, between 1766 and 1769, the young family moved to Kellington. There were `Farrars' living in the Kellington area, but no connection has been found to link them. Henry and Elizabeth were both members of the Church of England and regularly attended services in Kellington church. Two of their nine children, Elizabeth in 1764 and Hannah in 1766, were baptised in Rothwell, while their eldest son Henry, was baptised at Kellington on July 3rd 1769. Whoever entered the name in the register, used the spelling 'Farrer'. It appears that Henry had not learned to write while being brought up in Rothwell. However some of his children, if not all, were educated. His youngest son Jonathan emigrated to America in 1820 and at the age of 81 wrote about attending school. His fascinating memoirs, recalling the time when he was brought up in Kellington, form the basis of this chapter. Jonathan recalls that he attended Mrs. Bever's school: 'She was very strict in keeping good order, and well I remember she would let us both see and feel occasionally the emblems of her authority, a willow rod, rather limber, but four or five feet long, together with a dunce cap made of paper, which she would put upon the head of the unfortunate culprit that transgressed, and made him stand in some conspicuous place a certain length of time.' Later Jonathan attended Beal school which was about a mile from home. He walked 'to and fro every morning and night.' Afterwards he was sent to school in Pontefract were his sister Hannah lived. She had married Richard Harding, `a fine scholar', and Jonathan walked there on Mondays, stayed four nights with his sister, and returning home on Friday evenings. 'The teacher, Henry Moore, was a very cross and irritable man and seemed to take great satisfaction in calling up the boys by the process of throwing a ruler at their heads and to bring it up to him and punish them for some trifling misdemeanour and order them to hold out their hand, then would apply the ruler as a ferule with some force and make them sing Ho! which appeared to give him some gratification.' Leaving home for Pontefract one morning, Jonathan recalled that his mother had given him a bottle of yeast to take to Hannah, 'the cork being put in tight, and I, boy like, swinging it forward and backward as I walked along, when Bang! went the jug, making a report as loud as a gun and burst, the contents flying around, I receiving a good portion, causing me some alarm and trouble to get it off my clothes.' Hannah and Richard moved to Wakefield where they 'kept a large china and glass store ... and did well'. Jonathan was sent there to attend school. 'It was sixteen miles from Kellington and I could not stay from home long at a time, and as a trip of sixteen miles was little thought of by me at that time, I would leave school about four o'clock Friday evening in summer, it being daylight until after nine at night, and I could make the trip in four hours and sometimes less, and it took me less time to get ready, being so anxious to be off.' 'On the road from Pontefract, which is nine miles from Wakefield, there is a fine smooth side-walk laid with flags of freestone, nicely jointed and level as a floor, on which I often tried my activity, and sometimes I would run and skip like a buck, then walk a short way, then take a few more bounds and so forth. I felt as light and frolicsome as a colt, but by the time I got to Pontefract the fiery edge was taken off somewhat and I would walk the remaining seven miles at a good speed, arriving home before dark. I will here remark that Brother Henry, and John and myself were the most active in all athletic exercises of any of the family, such as running, leaping and jumping either height or length, hop step and jump, football, or other exercises that were much practice them.' Jonathan was about eight when his father Henry made his will in September 1798. He was in his mid 50s and described himself as a butcher. He left all his estate to his wife Elizabeth with instructions that after the her death, Mark Poskitt (husband of his eldest daughter Elizabeth), and Nicholas Bateman, should 'convert all my said personal estate and effects into money by a public sale to be made of the same, and the money to arise by such sale to divide equally amongst all my children then living (except my son Henry Farrar who I order and direct to have only one half in proportion to the rest of my children he having already had several sums of money of me)'. Henry died 1799 and in November his household furniture, farm animals, implements and cops were valued at £352.00. His eldest son, Henry was aged 30 and had married Elizabeth Townhead in Kellington. She was described by Jonathan as `an amiable woman of good family.' With the help of his brothers, Henry appears to have managed the farm for a period as Lord Harewood's Kellington accounts show; he and his brother-in-law Mark Poskitt paid ,142 rent in 1715 for the farm which consisted of 145 acres. Jonathan attended school until he was 17 or 18. 'I never was very fond of going to school, as my inclination was to be a farmer, in which I took an interest, as a farmer's life with its various occupations, such as handling and management of stock were the height of my ambition.' Jonathan learned all the duties of a farmer's boy, including 'the building of a sod hut to shield me from the storm of thunder and rain while attending to the duties of the bird boy in preventing them from destroying the ripening grain, for the pigeons and sparrows, which were very numerous, would destroy large quantities if not attended to.' 'In the autumn when the wheat was just showing itself above the ground, the rooks and crows, of which there were great numbers, would light in great flocks upon the new-sown wheat and dig it up with their strong, sharp bills, as the soft grain at the root seemed to be a favourite morsel with them. The crop would be greatly injured by their depredations, and again required the care of the bird boy, which fell to my lot.' Other jobs he mastered were, 'ploughing, sowing, hedging, stacking, and thatching hay or grain, in short anything done on a farm. But one kind of work I disliked the most of anything was hauling turnips when covered (except tops) with snow. In hard freezing weather we had to use a hoe-shaped drag to take them up with and pick them out of the snow with the bare hands, for gloves got wet and would freeze. At first it was very cold handling them, but by striking the hands against the shoulders, after a short time they would become quite warm, then could throw them in the wagon and drive home. They would sometimes be frozen so hard we would have to break them up with a maul before the cattle could eat them. These we gave to our feeding cattle and milch cows.' The family house, Oglethorpe Hall, was part of the property leased from Lord Harewood. 'It was a large old-fashioned place, had been a hall but part taken down. It was the shape of an 'L', two stories high. The frame was heavy timbers, all oak, built up with clay and cut straw mixed up like mortar and filled in between the studding. It was plastered in rough coat on the outside and smooth plaster on the inside.' 'The door was thick and heavy and of oak, the front door being filled with large nails about one half inch square, the corners smoothed down and placed in the shape of diamonds about two and one half by five inches in size. The floors down stairs were made of flag or free-stone. Upstairs they were made of a plaster composition smooth and hard as glass. Over the door going upstairs there was a board of irregular form with the following inscription, 'Jarvis and Margaret Aglethorpe' the date I do not recall, but it was very old. The letters were carved in the wood.' 'There was a large square of pavement not less than thirty feet square. The house fronted towards the road, the porch door of which opened on to the pavement above described. From the pavement a gate opened to the road. The garden was on the south side of the house and a door from the sitting room opened into it. A walk about four feet wide ran all the length and by the gate opened to the garth, which was in grass. A short distance from the gate in the garth was a large mulberry tree, which I suppose had been blown down and the roots not much injured, there was about ten or twelve feet of the body of the tree about eighteen inches thick lying on the ground, which had formed at the top end of a fine tree, which frequently bore a good crop of fruit; under the shade of which tree, I have spent many pleasant hours playing the flute of an evening.' 'Being there once I observed a beautiful cock pheasant walking up the hedge side. I ran to the house, got the gun and shot him, had him stuffed, and when I was in England in 1853 had the satisfaction of seeing the once beautiful bird again; but being so many years the plumage had lost its brilliancy.' Surrounding the Hall were flower and fruit gardens. 'On each side of the walk through the garden was a border of thrift ... The walk is about forty yards long and four feet wide, on each side of which is a row of gooseberries ... There is another walk the same width and bordering that runs all the width of the garden, leaving a border the width of four feet by the house side on which there are flowers of the choicest varieties, roses and so forth, and trained up the wall are green gage and apricot plums. The garden is stocked with small fruits of all kinds, white and red currants, raspberries, and so on. It is laid off in beds for vegetables, such as peas, beans, onions, lettuce and cauliflower. The best I ever saw. We had to make hot beds for cucumbers, as they did not do well exposed too much. We always employed a regular gardener in the spring to dig the garden over and plant everything in good order and in the proper season. These gardeners are men who make it their business to go around wherever wanted and understood their business.' 'We kept it in order, but if wanted they would come a day or two through the summer. In the fall when the crops were off, just before winter set in, they always came and dug it over again, and prepared it for winter, by planting the cabbage and onions for early use, which with a little protection would stand out all winter and come very early in the spring. We raised our own onions from seed.' 'The tailor would come and make and mend all our clothes in the house and board with us until done, then charge so much per day.' Being a large family, the tailor was no doubt kept very busy. Eventually however the children grew up and left home. Jonathan wrote about their subsequent lives in his memoirs. Elizabeth, his eldest sister, married Mark Poskitt, a Kellington farmer, and they had six children. Hannah married Richard Harding and went to live in Pontefract. Later they moved to Wakefield and ran a china and glass shop. Henry, his eldest brother, left Kellington with his wife Elizabeth for America. Jonathan recalls that Elizabeth died there and Henry 'married a second time, making a poor job of it, and died soon after, never having any children.' Alice married Edward Conner and also emigrated to America where they had two sons. Joseph married Elizabeth Motherby, became a Methodist preacher, and had a large family and also emigrating to America. Samuel took over management of the farm for a period following his father's death. He married Mary Moody, 'a farmer's daughter of respectable family' and they had two sons; Thomas and Henry. Mary died a short time later and Samuel decided to take the children and begin a new life in America. Mathew married Ann Cuttle and they had three children and also emigrated to America. This left Jonathan and his brother John looking after the farm with their elderly mother. 'John being unmarried, seemed inclined to hold on to the farm. Mother being over 70 years old, and John, having obtained a great influence over her, I thought there might be some uncertainty in getting it as I had expected it to fall into my hands at my Mother's death.' In 1814 Jonathan married Mary Kilby of Skelton
in Kellington church. They had three children: His mother, Elizabeth, died earlier in 1815 and presumably the intention of her late husband's will was carried out and the farm's contents auctioned and the money divided amongst the children. Early in 1820, Jonathan followed the other members of his family who had left England for America. From this point their life is told in Jonathan's Americans chapter. John Farrar continued to run the Kellington farm which between 1801 and 1814 had been rented for £146. 7s. per year. Then in 1815, the rent fell by £26 7s. It fell again in 1816 to £100. The partnership with Mark Poskitt appears to have broken in 1817 when the rents were calculated separately. John Farrar paid £47.10s. for his holding that year and Mark Poskitt paid £52.10s. In 1817 at the age of 37 John married 22 year old Ann Wallace of Clayworth, Nottinghamshire. The wedding took place in Womersley Church not far from Kellington. Their first child Henry was born the following year, and their eight child, June, fourteen years later. The large family prompted Samuel Hirst to write, 'a pretty family I call it.' Samuel Hirst, an estate valuer and farmer, kept a diary which provides some insight into John Farrar's life. In September 1832 he wrote of a feud between the Hirsts and Farrars when he blamed John Farrar's bull for getting his cow into calf. Two days later he accused Mrs. Farrar of tearing his coat. She must have been pregnant at the time, for the following month she gave birth to a daughter called June. In December 1832 John's tax assessment came to £42. 5s. In 1836 Henry, John and Ann's eldest son, died. John died in 1840 and was buried in Kellington churchyard, on the other side of the church from his parents. He left Ann his 44 year old wife whom Jonathan described as 'a very amiable woman' to run the farm and bring up the family. When the census was taken the following year, John aged 15, Elizabeth 20, Hannah 15, Ann 15, Jonathan 13, Mary 10 and Ellen 9 were listed on the farm. June and Samuel were not recorded at Kellington, June may have died young, but Samuel, aged 15, was an apprentice in Snaith. Also recorded at Kellington were Anne's nephews Robert Wallace aged 7 and William Wallace aged 6, who were both born at Normanton-on-Trent. It seems they became part of the family and used the Farrar surname at times. In April Ann paid Samuel Hirst 37/- for barley. He noted someone had stolen her fowls during the night. The Hirsts and Farrars attended church on Sunday mornings and went to the newly opened Wesleyan chapel in the evenings. On Sunday February 9 1845, as they walked home together, they agreed that when a man had preached for one hour and ten minutes which they termed, 'a ranting club', it was time to go home and not hold any more prayer meetings. Mr. Hirst helped the Farrars with the farm accounts and in 1848 he assisted John Farrar, then aged 25, with his property and income tax assessments. Whilst doing so he gave young Robert Farrar (Wallace?) 2/6 pocket money. Another conflict arose the following September when John served a notice on Samuel Hirst for closing a footpath which led across Hirst's land from Oglethorpe Hall to the church. The path was a shortened to the church and Hirst had prevented if from being used. In 1850 John's farm rent amounted to £210. He sold some hogs in Wakefield market and was paid 12/9 a stone for wool. He also received £32 for the duties involved as deputy overseer for the poor. In December 1851 his aunt, Elizabeth, 'old Mrs. Poskitt' died. The 1851 census was enumerated by John Farrar and shows that his mother Ann was head of the household with a farm of 140 acres. She employing 2 labourers and a day boy. Elizabeth, John, Hannah and Ellen were living there but there was no mention of Samuel, Jonathan or Mary. Ann's nephews John and Robert Wallace where still living on the farm. Ten years later, Kelly's Directory lists a Samuel Farrar and Robert Wallace as being grocers in Pontefract Market Place. A family reunion took place in March 1853 when John's uncle, Jonathan Farrar, who had emigrated 33 years earlier, had supper at 'Aglethorpe Hall'. John was 32 years old when on April 5 1855 he went to Normanton-on-Trent to marry 24-year-old Caroline Wilkinson. She was the daughter of William Wilkinson, a Normanton farmer. In May the following year their first son' Henry was born. In 1856 John and Ann's eldest daughter, Elizabeth died. In June 1857, at the age of 62, Ann suffered a stroke and died within a few weeks. She, her husband John and their children Henry and Elizabeth are all named on the same badly worn grave stone in Kellington church yard. John continued to run the farm for another two years until Lord Harewood decided to sell the property. It was purchased by Samuel Hirst and John took on Rudding Farm, Brackenthwaite, also part of the Harewood estate.. On Sunday April 5 1860 Hirst wrote in his diary, 'I suppose this will be the last Sunday John Farrar will be at Kellington. Poor young man I wish him well where he goes.' The following day John went to see Hirst and settled the constable's accounts. Two days later Hirst sent George Copley with a wagon and horses to take John's goods to Knottingley station. 'John Farrar has left us today and gone. I am sorry to part with him', he wrote. Oglethorpe Hall must have been in a poor state. Within a few years Hirst wrote that he was 'pulling thatch off Farrar's old buildings' and 'pulling old buildings down.' The Hall itself was dismantled in October 1870. The mulberry tree which stood in the garden lived on for another hundred years or so and finally disappeared in the 1970s. 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