John Failing House - found by his 4th great granddaughter

4th great granddaughter Wendy (L) and her mother, Esther, at the John Failing House, October 2023

“This is such a blessing. I haven't told my mom yet, because I might let it be a surprise. She's not into genealogy like I am, but seeing a house that her 3x great-grandfather built just might bring him to life! She has four sets of Failing grandparents buried in the area.”

On a day mixed with sun and clouds in October 2023, Wendy and her mother arrived in northern New York to trace their Failing ancestors.

In 1835, John Failing, with his family and parents, moved to the Watertown area from the Mohawk Valley where the Failings had spent about 100 years. Wendy wondered why they moved. Was it the changes to the Mohawk Valley caused by the Erie Canal construction (1817-1825)? Did John Failing want to live on the “frontier,” and Jefferson County offered that?

The Failing family originated in Germany and were among thousands, known as the Palatine Migration, who left in 1709 in search of a better life. Heinrich Failing, a husbandman and vinedresser, and his wife Anna probably thought they were destined for the warm climate of Carolina when they left their homeland. However, they were taken to New York where they worked hard and prospered for more than 200 years.

John was born in 1797 in Oppenheim, Montgomery County, NY; married Catherine Ellwood in 1818 at St. John’s Dutch Reformed Church in St. Johnsville, Montgomery County; and died in 1890 in Antwerp, Jefferson County. He is buried in the Parrish Cemetery just down the road from the Failing House on Parrish Road.

***Esther at the Parrish Cemetery graves of her 3x great-grand parents, John (1797-1890) and Catherine (1799-1891) Failing***

In April 1835, two tracts of land were deeded to John on the west side of the Parrish Road, 1/2 mile north of the Parrish Cemetery. Here set far back from the road he built the stone house that bears his name today.

Constructed of blocks of limestone probably quarried close by, the vernacular farmhouse had an ell extending from the south gable end. The ell has been rebuilt in stone more recently.

Watertown Daily Times, David Lane, Old Houses of the North Country, John Failing Farm in Pamelia, Augut 18, 1951

Wendy and her mother enjoyed their visit to Jefferson County and left with a better understanding of how their family lived here for over 100 years. How good to make the trip, but how comforting to return to the warmth of the Carolinas, where around the time of the great depession, Wendy’s Great-grandfather Failing had moved his family - as his ancestors had envisioned more than 200 years before.