Hi Stephen,
Nice to talk to you again cousin!! There are a few sources for John's date of birth. Unfortunately, the year isn't always the same. His tombstone in Sunderland (Ontario) says "In Memory of John Farrow born July 17 1846, died Oct 15, 1918".
The 1901 census says he was born July 17 1845. The 1911 census says he was born in July 1845. His death record says that he was 73 years old when he died in October of 1918, so that would mean a birth year of 1845. On his marriage registration (March 24 1874), he says he is 27. That would mean a birth year of 1846 (because his birthday is in July)!!
I am sure that the July 17 day is correct, but the year could be either 1845 or 1846. I assume that his wife and/or children gave the information for the tombstone inscription, so they thought the correct year was 1846.
My grandmother always told me that John was born "a few days after" the family arrived in Canada, and that the ocean voyage took almost 3 months. In all records, John says he was born in Ontario - so the family would have had to make their way to Ontario from wherever they landed (the Maritimes or Quebec or USA) before he was born.
RK
