When John Farnum was born on 25 December 1697, in Andover, Essex, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, his father, John Cornet Farnum, was 25 and his mother, Mary Tyler, was 28. He married Mary Wood on 8 November 1722, in Mendon, Worcester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 2 daughters. He died on 21 February 1759, in Uxbridge, Worcester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America, at the age of 61.