The following was copied from the written family documents of Eva(Farrington)Cary.
"The Hamlins came from Normany, France with William the Conqueror into England. One family settled in Exeter, England and from there immigrated to Barnstable, Mass. about the year sixteen hundred thirty-nine. This Hamlin had seven sons of which Timothy Hamlin was one."
The remainder of our story comes from the Kennebec Journal Newspaper and was written to describe a mother who lost five sons in the Civil War.
A Mother of Soldiers The Interesting Story of a Noble Old China (Maine) Family
In the days when Maine was one of the wild and wooded places of the earth, before civilization had reached that little spot and cities had robbed it of its native grandeur, a young man started with his gun to hunt the wild animals and to set his traps for them.
There was nothing unusual in this circumstance except that this young man came to China, or Harlem as it was originally called, and put up his camp on the exact spot where now stands the hotel at China Village [since gone]. His name was Timothy Hamlin and he had come from Barnstable, Mass about the year 1797. He, therefore, became one of the first settlers of China (or Harlem).
In a short time he had cut trees and built himself a log cabin on what is now called the Harlem homestead, joining Winslow and Vassalboro, and at age 21 he took his wife, Martha Priest, but 18 years old, to this new home. Who shall say that they would have derived more comfort and pleasure from a palace than from their little cabin in the wilderness.
In time this log cabin was replaced by a large farm house, the rooms of which were plastered with some of the first lime brought into China Village.
On this farm were born twelve children, David, Timothy, Daniel, Lois, James, Otis, Reuben, Calvin, Sophronia, Lucy, Sumner and Mary. With the exception of Timothy, who died at age six, they all grew to be men and women of the town of China. Lois died at the age of 25 while the other ten married and nine of them had large families of their own. David was the father of nine, Daniel ten, Jonas eight, Otis four, Reuben five, Calvin eight, Sumner none, Lucy nine, Sophronia five, and Mary eleven.
It is the youngest of these, Mary, that I am to write a few lines. She was born 9 October 1813 and until she was 18 years of age was very frail and delicate. With the dark hair and eyes, she also inherited from her father some of the determination and purpose in life which caused him to settle here and carve his fortune out of the wilderness; and these combined with her mother's courage and hope for the best, gave her a character which could take her through any hardships and difficulties. Her education was very limited but she made good use of her time and was very fond of reading, so soon made herself a woman capable of talking on any of the subjects of the day.
At the age of 21, Mary Hamlin married Ezekiel B. Farrington, a son of Thomas and Content (Leonard) Farrington. [The Farrington family line stems from the area of Buckinghamshire Olney, England, immigrating to Lynn, Mass. about 1835, on to Dedham, Mass. and finally to the Weeks Mills, Windsor, So. China, Maine area]. Mary and Ezekiel first went to live with his parents on a farm just above China Village. At this home, twins were born, also one son, Horatio. The twins died in infancy and when Horatio was about a year and a half old, they moved to Troy, Maine. While there another son, Charles, and one daughter, Helen, were born. From there they moved to Windsor, Maine where six more were born; Byron, Reuben, Gustavus, Timothy, Mary and William. After a time, they moved again to a farm just above Weeks Mills and it was while they were living there that the country became agitated by the Civil War. Charles was married and lived in Waterville, Maine and Horatio in Dover, Maine. Horatio was the first to answer to the call of his country and it was not long before four of his brothers had gone at different times. Reuben was an orderly sergeant, Charles a Lieutenant. Byron died at a hospital at Washington, 25 August 1862. Horatio received an honorable discharge and was on his way home when he died, 1 June 1864. Reuben reached home and died 12 June 1864 and Charles died in Washington 30 June 1864. Gustavus, only seventeen when he left home, died in a hospital at New Orleans, 30 October 1864. During this time, the family home burned and they moved to a house a little farther above Weeks Mills where they lived until 1881 when they moved to a farm on Chadwick Hill, So. China, Maine where this noble mother lived the closing years of her life. Mr. Ezekiel Farrington died in 1886 and Mrs. Mary Farrington lived with her son William and his family [William and Mary Deborah (Metcalf) Farrington] to the good old age of ninety, dying 1 March, 1904.
For over thirty years she was a subscriber to the Kennebec Journal Newspaper and always read its pages with deep interest and son William still continues the subscription. If our country was built by such people as these, who loved their country well enough to give five sons for it, what wonder it is that we have the most prosperous country in the world? May the future bring us many such noble self-sacrificing lives as this Mother of Soldiers.
End of Article -- Author Unknown
-- Year Unknown --
Byron H. Farrington, Company C 1st Regiment Maine Cavalry
Reuben M. Farrington, Company B 16th Maine Infantry Regiment
Charles Farrington, Company 1 31st Maine Infantry Regiment
Horatio Farrington, Company 1 3rd Maine Infantry Regiment
Gustavus Farrington, Company B 2nd Regiment Maine Cavalry
©Copyright Robert E. Anderson, 1996, 1997, 1998.
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To Descendants of Edmund Farrington of Lynn
To the Descendants of John Farrington of Dedham
To the James Hamblen Descendants
To the Giles Hamlin Descendants
To family narrative of Ezekiel and Mary (Hamlin) Farrington.
To Farrington Index
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