While researching the Peter Farmer family of Brooklyn NY, I came across this curious article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
Well, you can see why this is curious. Despite being referred to as her "late" husband, I knew from my research that both Maria's husband and her son were alive at the time she wrote her will and survived her. If this was so, why would Maria overlook them when she wrote her will and leave all her property to her daughter-in-law? I really wanted to find out.
Maria Brennan was born in Boston MA about 1810. She married Peter Farmer, a produce dealer in Brooklyn NY, in December of 1828. Peter, born in New Brunswick NJ, was then about 28 years old. Maria and Peter had two children: Rachel in 1833 and Peter in 1834. In the 1850 Census, Peter (50) and Maria (40) are living in the 11th Ward of Brooklyn with Rachel (17) and Peter (16) as well as 70-year-old Catherine Brennan, presumably Maria's mother. Both Peter's are shown as "marketman" for their occupations.
In 1860, Peter Farmer, still in Brooklyn, is shown as a broker, with real estate valued at $10,000. His wife Maria, daughter Rachel and son Peter are in his household, along with their respective spouses, a grandson--Frank Frost (age 4)--and two servants. So far everything seems to be going well for the Farmers.
Then, in 1865, according to the Brooklyn Eagle, Peter Farmer was admitted to the Brooklyn Lunatic Asylum, as a pay patient, for $5 per week. In the 1870 Census, he is still in the Asylum. A newspaper article about the asylum in 1876 specifically mentions the "strange antics" of Peter Farmer.
Maria Farmer died of liver failure at her home on Lafayette Avenue in Brooklyn 27 August 1883. She is buried at Green Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn in the plot that she and Peter purchased in 1851.
In November 1884, Peter Farmer Sr. was served with papers related to the lawsuit mentioned above on his wife's estate at the Lunatic Asylum at Flatbush with a copy to his doctor, "the physician in charge of the said Peter Farmer Sr. who is a lunatic." I believe that Peter Farmer Sr. died at the Asylum in 1888.
So, that probably explains why Maria did not want to leave her estate to him.
But what about her children?
Rachel predeceased her mother, dying a widow in 1874 at the age of 42, and was buried in the family plot at Greenwood Cemetery.
She left her estate to her mother Maria and her son Frank, who was not yet 21 years old. She nominated her brother Peter as the guardian of her son and one of the executors of her estate.
Peter Farmer Jr. married Matilda Ryder, the daughter of Luke and Ann Ryder in 1859 in Jamaica, Long Island. They had two sons: Frederick (1859) and John (1871).
Up until the Civil War, Peter apparently worked in his father's produce business. In 1861, he signed up for the 71st NY Infantry, achieving the rank of Sgt. and participated in the battle at Bull Run. His military records describe him as 5'10" tall, of fair complexion, with fair hair and gray eyes. In 1875 and 1880, he appears on the state and federal census records respectively as a produce dealer.
However, by June of 1880, their property on Bond Street is being sold to pay a judgment against Peter and Matilda, and in June of 1885, Peter Farmer is an inmate at the Kings County Almshouse as a vagrant. If Peter suffered some kind of breakdown in the early 1880's, it provides an explanation why his mother would not choose to leave property to him.
Peter Farmer Jr.'s wife Matilda died of cancer in Brooklyn in 1886 and is buried at Greenwood. His sons apparently had nothing further to do with their father. A burial order for Frederick Farmer in 1901 states that Peter Farmer Jr. was deceased at the time, even though he was, in fact, still alive.
Peter's younger son, John Frost Farmer, was a jeweler who married and had two daughters. He died in New Jersey in 1935.
Peter Farmer Jr. died at the Veteran's Home in March 1910 and is buried at the Bath National Cemetery.
As to Maria Farmer's will, the courts ultimately decided that she had not, in fact, written the will at all. I hired a researcher to look for a copy of her will and it could not be found in the New York probate records. An 1884 court record stated that "an alleged will was presented for probate, which was duly rejected."
So, while I have a pretty good sense of why Maria would not have wanted to leave her estate to a lunatic husband and a son who seemed to have fallen apart, I'm still not clear how that alleged will came into being and what ultimately happened to Maria's estate. At a guess, I'd say her grandson Frank Frost inherited, but I haven't found any paperwork to verify that.
Frank Frost married Florence Hall in 1879 and had a daughter Florence Hall Frost in 1880. In the 1880 Census Frank is living in the Lafayette Avenue house with his wife and month-old daughter and working as a bank clerk. His wife died a few days after the Census was taken.
Frank Frost seems to have disappeared after the court case of 1884. I found one reference which stated that he had left New York and his whereabouts were unknown.
His daughter Florence married Douglas Arcularius in 1902 and died in Manhattan in 1936. Her wedding announcement in the NY Times states that she was married at the home of her cousin, George Morris. No mention of her father.
Wow. What a fascinating story, full of sadness and questions!
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