[1][2] The youngest and last surviving son of William Farrar, who had married the widowed Cecily (a/k/a Cisley) Jordan.
[3][4] His father had emigrated from England and became a lawyer, planter and member of the Virginia Governor's Council, but died in 1637 when both his sons were boys.
[2] John Farrar twice won election to the House of Burgesses as one of the men representing Henrico County, serving (part-time) in the assembly sessions held in 1680–1682 (after the suppression of Bacon's Rebellion), as well as that in 1684.
[8] He was probably buried on Farrar's Island, or on the mainland from which the peninsula jutted, but subsequent floods have obliterated the gravesite.
In modern times, Farrar's Island is part of the Dutch Gap Conservation Area and Henricus Historical Park, both administered by Chesterfield County, Virginia.