Seventeen year old Wilkerson Farley had a dream that he was dead and buried under a tree on the hilltop of his family’s property. He unexpectedly died shortly after in August 1838. His parents buried him under the tree from their son’s dream. The father, James Farley, donated the surrounding two acres for a public cemetery.

By 1915 the cemetery was in bad shape. The grounds were overgrown with weeds. William Hensel owned the farm just north of the cemetery. He led an effort to clean up the grounds, add another acre to the cemetery, and build a fence around it. By 1927 the cemetery grounds were once again clean and inviting. The Farley Cemetery Association took care of the property until 1995 when Clay Township became the caretaker.

In 2001 the township used a radar to locate all the graves to find out if there was room for more people to be buried in the cemetery. The radar found nine unmarked graves and two additional spots that could be unmarked graves.

There are many interesting pioneers buried in Farley, including Francis McShane, the first settler in Clay Township.