My interest in Farmar genealogy was sparked in the early 1970s when I learned that Richard Broadley Farmar had come to San Francisco from England in the midst of the 1849 gold rush. I was fascinated by the notion that Farmar family members had witnessed so much of the early history of California.
I became fully addicted to family research after I discovered the will of Richard Broadley Farmar’s grandmother, Grace Farmar of Dover, from the year 1847 at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City. This document is a treasure, both for its calligraphy and for the details of Grace's family. I am grateful to Grace for naming all eleven of her living children in her will, including full married surnames for her daughters.
I started the current project to identify descendants of Thomas and Grace Farmar because I was unable to find parents for Thomas. More than thirty years later, I have still not found parents or siblings for Thomas, but I have had immeasurable pleasure from searching for his descendants around the world. I have met many wonderful people by mail, by e-mail, by phone, and in person without whose generous help the results presented here would not have been possible. Thank you to all of you.
Thank you to Ada, Florence, Andrew, and Jean for personal help on the early Broadleys and Farmars and for historical insights on the Dover area. Thank you to Bob for helping me sort out the Broadleys and Bradleys. Thank you to John for Waud suggestions. Thank you to Lynette and Geoff and to Mary and Robert for getting me started with the New Zealand Farmars and for being my cheerleaders, to Ann and Gloy for sharing their wonderful Eaton treasures so generously, to John for background on the Eatons in England, to Geoff and John who have uncovered countless bits of information relating to the New Zealand families, and to Iain for Tidey family details. Thank you to Judy for registration lookups for Australians, to Ian for enthusiastic assistance with the Robertson families, and to Greg for Kingsford research.
Information from numerous public internet websites has also been a part of my research. Among the surnames with existing online family trees are Swinbourn, Kingsford, Mountifield, Seymour, Rothwell, Stentiford, Button, and Leckie.
A thank you is also in order for the helpful owners and staff of Wholly Genes Software, producers of The Master Genealogist, the versatile software that I have used for the basic genealogical data entry. Thank you also to John Cardinal, creator of Second Site, the software that allows someone like me with very modest computer skills to produce a website like this from my files in The Master Genealogist.
To all who have contributed so generously to Farmar Families, please accept my sincerest appreciation, but please do not forget that Farmar Families is an ongoing project. Please review the contents of those dusty boxes in your attic and under the bed in the guestroom. The key to parents for Thomas is lurking somewhere in someone's family papers.