John Ferrar, elder brother to Nicholas, was a merchant partner of Thomas Sheppard, who by the early 1620s was heavily in debt. The legal position made John also liable for those debts. The purchase of Little Gidding from Sheppard was used by Nicholas to settle with the creditors, relying on Mary's money, and untangle John from the liability. In the aftermath of the 1622 collapse of the Virginia Company, and the loss of a large portion of their fortune, the Ferrar family moved to Little Gidding. An immediate reason to leave London was the second plague pandemic, and a 1625 outbreak there.
