John Baptiste Farmer was born in Baltimore, Maryland, the son of Philip and Bridget Tiernan Farmer. He entered the Montreal Novitiate on October 4, 1858, at age eleven and received the habit of the Brothers before his twelfth birthday on December 8, 1858. In June of 1859 he was assigned to teach in Montreal and in March of 1860 he was sent to teach the "Petite Classee" in St. Louis, Missouri. In August of 1861 he was assigned to Manhattan College to teach Latin and Greek. He returned home to Baltimore to St. Joseph's Community in August of 1866 and remained there until his death on January 30, 1868, at the age of twenty-one, having been a member of the De La Salle Christian Brothers for ten years. He is buried in New Cathedral Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.
