Jacob Farr

The first Farr that I can document as our ancestor is Jacob Farr (sometimes spelled Pharr). Jacob Farr appears in Wilkes County, Georgia, in 1784, immediately after the American Revolution, and he was granted acreage in Washington and Wilkes Counties. On his Revolutionary War Bounty Land Grant located in the Georgia Archives, the Land Grant was attested by his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Greenberry Lee who commanded the Georgia 2nd Battalion, certifying that Jacob was a Revolutionary War soldier. He likely served in the Augusta and/or Savannah areas. I am still researching the history and combat action of this unit. This Col. Lee signed a Land Bounty Warrant on behalf of Jacob Farr for 287.5 acres in Washington County on March 6, 1784, Certificate #494 held by the Secretary of the State of Georgia. That land was surveyed on Dec 25 1784, survey #756 (the LeConte List). This land was certified by the Secretary of the State of Georgia as Revolutionary War Bounty Grant, as was all the land granted in Washington County. Washington County was created specifically for awarding Revolutionary Soldiers payment for war service.

I also located a Headright Bounty Grant in Wilkes County on which Jacob Farr was the ORIGINAL grantee of 200 acres, granted Sept 10, 1784. Plat #645 in Record Book D/225, Wilkes County, shows adjacent landowners were Elijah Leonard, Ansley, Richard Hodo and James Smith, and the property was located on/near Brier Creek and Whites Creek. This land was located near the Wrightsborough Settlement and The Rock House in a section of Wilkes County that was cut into Warren County when it was created in 1794. This Jacob Farr can be found on tax digests in Wilkes County in District OO in 1790, 1792 and 1793, and in 1794 he is recorded in Neal’s District of the Warren County Tax Digest. On 20 May 1797, a deed in Warren County shows that Jacob Farr sold 100 acres of this land to John Farr for $10. This tract was the southeast end of the original property granted to Jacob Farr, adjoining Duckworth, Thompson and Smith. On 7 Feb 1799, John Farr sold this tract of land to Thompson for $200. I believe that Jacob Farr sold the property to John for such a low price because of a father-son relationship, although this cannot been established. My ancestry to this John Farr has been proved through documentation, and DNA evidence through my participation at FamilyTreeDNA.com strongly suggests that Jacob Farr was the father of John Farr of Warren and Newton Counties.

I believe that this Jacob Farr had another son named Jacob Jr. I believe this to be the case because I located a deed in Warren County dated 12 January 1808 on which Jacob Farr sold 100 acres to Duckworth. The deed specifically states that the original grantee of this property was Jacob Farr SR. I discussed this deed with experts at the Georgia Archives who indicate that the deed reads as though the property was being sold as a result of an estate settlement, although this is not specifically stated in the deed. If that is the case, Jacob Farr Sr died somewhere between 1803 and 1807. Jacob Farr (JR) continues to appear in various deeds and Tax Digests in Warren County until 1818.

Jacob Farr (Junior) married Sally Hays on 8 September 1802 in Warren County (Warren County Marriage Book, 1794-1814, record 286). This record book is partially damaged and the record is unreadable today. However, the record is cited in several historical publications of Warren County, such as Early Georgia Marriages by Maddox and Carter, and Warren County History (vol. 6 p. 924), by Wilhoit, both available in the Georgia Archives and various libraries.

From the marriage of Jacob Farr and Sally Hays, I believe at least seven sons were born: Jesse Hayes Farr, Jonathan Farr, Jehu Farr, John S. Farr, Jordan Farr, Jael (Joel) Farr, and Jeptha J. Farr. All of these children are documented and traceable in public records, except Jael (Joel). I believe these children were born to Jacob Farr and Sally Hays because the middle name of their first-born son is “Hayes”, and the second son of Jonathan Farr is Joel HAYS Farr. In addition, the 1827 Georgia Land Lottery shows that the Orphans of Jacob Farr, residents of Jackson County, Georgia, were Fortunate Drawers for a lot in Lee County. In 1827, four of Jacob’s sons would have been under 18 and considered minors. Furthermore, Rev. Joseph H. Farr of Milledgeville, a descendant of Jesse Hayes Farr, published his genealogy in the 1930’s. He names all seven of these men as brothers, but he believed their father to be John Farr of Warren/Newton County. He cited an article “My 80 Years in Atlanta” by Miss Sarah Huff, a descendant of John Farr through his daughter Elizabeth. While this article, and Miss Huff’s history of the Farr family, are fundamentally accurate, she made several statements which are demonstrably historically inaccurate. I found a family page from the Farr Family Bible published in the Fall 1976 issue of Georgia Genealogical Magazine which names three sons born to John Farr and Polly Brooks of Warren/Newton County: Daniel, William and Jeremiah. All three of these sons are historically verifiable and well-documented. Daniel died in 1823, while William and Jeremiah lived briefly in Coweta County on the same land. William returned to Warren/Columbia County while Jeremiah eventually moved to Alabama.

Rev. Joseph Farr’s father, John Hayes Farr (son of Jesse Hayes Farr), recounted several times in his lifetime that he was related to the Huff family of Newton/Cobb County. He claimed to have served in Cobb’s Legion during the Civil War with several of the Huffs and they were 2nd or 3rd cousins. Based on these accounts, I have calculated the relationship between John Hayes Farr and the Huffs who fought in Cobb’s Legion during the Civil War, and if John Farr of Warren/Newton County was the UNCLE of Jesse Hayes Farr, then John Hayes Farr and Jim Huff would be First Cousins Twice Removed. So, John Farr of Warren/Newton County would have to be the brother of Jacob Farr who married Sally Hays in Warren County, suggesting that Jacob Farr and Sally Hays were the parents of the seven brothers in the Rev. Joseph Farr genealogy.

Early tax digests and census records in Warren and Columbia Counties reveal that all Farr families in this area lived in close proximity to each other, suggesting familial relationships. Throughout the last 220 years, to this day, many Farr descendants live within a few miles of the original 200-acre grant to Jacob Farr. In fact, I was born and raised just six miles from the original Headright Bounty Grant Jacob Farr received in 1784.
My DNA is a match on 37 of 37 markers with living descendants of Jesse Hayes Farr. My DNA further matches 36 of 37 markers with a living descendant of Jonathan Farr, brother of Jesse Hayes Farr. For more information, see http://www.familytreedna.com/public/Farr.

In summary, the Farr families from Jackson County, Georgia, and from Wilkes/Warren County, Georgia, have been proved to be closely related by DNA comparisons, while no other Farr families in Georgia (or elsewhere) share this DNA. To establish a relationship of the early Farr families in the area after the American Revolution, circumstantial evidence supports the conclusion that John Farr of Warren County and Jacob Farr of Jackson County were brothers, and their father was Jacob Farr Senior, Revolutionary War Soldier.

It is my desire through mutual research and discovery to locate and connect with other Farr and allied families who can trace their ancestry back to Jacob Farr, Revolutionary War Soldier, of Wilkes/Warren County, Georgia.