Resident at Lynn, Massachusetts, by 1657
From Groton Town Meeting Records, 27 November 1663 'It was voted and agreed that Matthias ffarnworth shall have forty poles of land to be laid out against his house…..for a building place, provided it does not prejudice the highway'. (A pole is a measure of approximately 30 square yards.)
Selectman and constable [NEHGR, April l856] in Groton
Farnsworth, Matthias, weaver, Groton (MA) l664 [NEHGR Vol 6, July l852]
List of Freemen May l5, 1672 - Mathias farnworth - Groaton [NEHGR Vol. 3, July 1849]
Source: Epitaphs from the Old Burying Ground, Groton, MA by Dr. Samuel A.Green, Boston: Little Brown & Company 1878 p.238
Matthias Farnsworth, the progenitor of the numerous families in Groton bearing this name came to Groton from Lynn, Massachusetts. (note: born 1615, Lancashire, England) He was an original proprietor of the town and owned a twenty-acre right. His farm was situated on both sides of the road leading to Harvard, a little south of James' brook, more than a mile from the village. He was living at Lynn in the year 1657 and at Groton in 1664 though he may have been a resident of each place earlier than these respective dates. He died in the latter part of the year 1689 aged 77 years.
The following is a copy of his will, on file in the Middlesex Probate Office at East Cambridge: - "Groton Jenewarey 15th 1688/9 and in the 4 yere of the Rain of King Jams the sacond I Mathyas farnworth sen of groton in the county of midlsix in new ingland aged 77 yers being wall considrat and of sound and parfit Judgment and understanding thanks be to god for it I being sensabl of my many frailtyes & unsartanty of my natueral lif and knowing what disadvantag many times hapens for want of a Right sating the hous in order being desiras to ackt and satl things that consarns me do mak conshans and do daclare this prasent instrement to be my last will & tastement in manar and form as foloweth making voyd all formar wills ather by word or dead but first I Commit my soul to all myty god my Creater hoping I shal Rasave full pardon of all my sins throw Jasus Christ and I commit my bodey to the earth from whans it was taken to be beured in such deasant manar as my exsecters shall see meet and first to the distrebiting my eastat I do give to my beloved wif so long as she lives a widow won third of my whol astat and the moveables within the hous I do laave to hur to daspose as shee pleases and sacondly I do give to my son Mathyas farnworth for his full porshan that vive accker Right which his deed pasefyes and a peese of madow called by the name of half moon madow and twanty akekers of land lying neer a plase called by the nam of Prascots olde mill and this to be counted to be his full porshan unlass he meets] with malistration by any relations of his and if so then I will give to my son Mathyas my hom stall that I now dwall upon with hous & barn and that hom stall that my son Mathyas now lives on to Raturn in seed thare of. And thirdly I give to my son John farnworth that five akar Right that his deed spas- fyes and tan shilins more to be Payed of the astat for his full porshan. Fourthly I give to my son Bangeman farnworth that part of my land lying on the out sid of my hom stall fans at the lower end of the lot and twanty akkers at the plas neer prescotts old mill and six akkers of madow lying at south madow and this for his porshan. Fiftly for my son samewall & jonathan farnworth I doe give the Rast of my land & madow that is undaposed on lying at the old mill for thare porshan. And I give my daughter Robinson won cow and to my daughter Thatcher I give twenty shilins and to my daughter Stoon (Stone) won cow and twanty shilins and to daughter abigall frnworth twalue pound for her porshuan and as to the Rast of my estat undaposed of I leave in the hand of my exsectters to dapose of to my wif or children as thay think to be most Rason I mak chois of my son Mathyas farnworth with nathanil lawrins (Lawrence) san & Jonas prescott for exsackters this taken from his own mouth syned and sealed in the prasants of us -
mathyas (M) farnworth sen
nathannil lawrance
Jonas Prescott
Nicklas (S) huchins
Also I give my loam & tacklins for waring to to my son mathyas farnworth Xbr 17 1689 Charlestowne Nathan'll Larrance & Jonas Prescott appearing in Court made oath yt they were prsent when Mathias ffarnworth deced signed sealed and published this as his last will& Testament, and yt he was of sound judgement and of disposeing minde when he did ye same and yt they sett their hands there to as witnesses with Nicolas Hutchins at att. Sam'u Phipps, Clerk
Source: Farnsworth Memorial
Source: Rev. William Hubbard in his "Narrative of the Indian Wars" p.25
In the year 1675 King Philip's War" broke out between the Indians and the New England settlers, commencing June 20th at Swanzey, Bristol County, Massachusetts which was then in the Plymouth Colony, and soon spread so that many of the Massachusetts towns were attacked and many of the settlers killed, their property destroyed and their houses and other buildings were burned. Rev. William Hubbard in his "Narrative of the Indian Wars" says: "2 Mar (1676) They assaulted Groton (MA): The next day (overnight) Major Willard with seventy horse came into town: forty foot (soldiers) also came to their relief from Watertown, but the Indians were all fled having first burnt all the houses in town save four that were garrisoned, the meeting house being the 2nd house they fired. Soon after, Capt. Sill was sent with a small party of dragoons of eight files to fetch off the inhabitants of Groton, and what was left from the spoil of the enemy, having under his conduct sixty carts, being in depth from front to rear above two miles, when a party of Indians lying in ambush at a place of eminent advantage fired upon the front and mortally wounded two of the first carriers, who both died the next night... Soon after, this village was deserted, and destroyed by the enemy, yet it was a special providence that though the carts were guarded with so slender a convoy, yet there was not any considerable loss sustained."
Author's note: The 'next night', (in the narrative) is probably a misprint for 'fortnight', as the first attack when the settlers moved away, was two weeks after on March 17th.
It was probably on March 17, 1676 that Matthias Farnsworth with his family, in one of those sixty carts was on his way to Concord (MA) in that frightened procession, two miles in length. The Indians were around them, their homes were burned, the product of fifteen years' hard labor in the wilderness, except so much as they could take with them, had been abandoned. His wife Mary (Farr) his daughter, Sarah Farnsworth, then abt fourteen years; his son, Samuel Farnsworth (six years old); his daughter Abigail, nearly five years old, and his son, Jonathan Farnsworth an infant of under a year old, were in the cart. That must have been a terrible time for them. He had with him perhaps (or more likely, in the armed guard), his three older sons. His daughter Mary Farnsworth had been sent in anticipation of the danger, to her mother's relatives at Lynn (MA) for safety. It is also likely that his son Joseph had been sent there somewhat earlier for the same reason, and it appears Joseph died there. What hardship and suffering Matthias and his family endured in that forced emigration and in their residence at Concord (MA) where they and all the rest of the Groton settlers stayed for two years and how they lived during that time we can only conjecture, it is not recorded. They stayed there until the immediate danger from Indian rifles and tomahawks was over, and they thought they could try their fortunes in the wilderness again.
In the spring of 1678 at the call for the inhabitants of Groton to return, when some of the original settlers had given up their interest in the settlement, Matthias Farnsworth and his family, including his three oldest sons who were then of age, went back to the old clearing in the forest, gathered together again, such household stuff, farm tools and stock as they had been able to save, rebuilt their home and commenced anew the work of life, at the ashes of their old homestead. But they must have carried on their work under a constant fear of the merciless Indians, who some sixteen yers later again fell upon the exposed settlement and murdered many (of Groton's) settlers.