Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 24.djvu/371

Rh took place at the old Cathedral in St. Louis, October 27, 1829. The Church Register contains an entry that he was born in Massachusetts, and also gives the names of his parents.

At this time he held himself out as a resident of St. Louis. In 1821, and the years following, he acquired considerable land in the village of Portage des Sioux, a place in St. Charles County, Missouri, where most of the treaties with the Mississippi and Missouri valley Indians were signed. Farnham maintained a well stocked farm at Portage des Sioux, and a beautiful home, which contained, among other luxuries, a piano. He also owned a number of slaves.

In the early part of 1832 Farnham went East, possibly New York. Upon his return he remained at his home for a time, and then proceeded by boat to Forts Armstrong and Edwards to look after the trade with the Sacs and Foxes and to supply provisions and guns to the military posts.

He returned to St. Louis in October of that year, and, on the 23rd of the month, was there stricken with cholera and died within two hours. He was buried in the Catholic cemetery in St. Louis. When Ramsay Crooks heard of his death he wrote to Pierre Chouteau, Jr., as follows: "Poor Farnham! he has paid the debt of nature after a life of uncommon activity and endless exposure. Peace to his remains. He underwent greater privations than any half dozen of us. He was one of the best meaning, but the most sanguine, man I almost ever met with. During all the ravages of the pestilence here (New York) and the unexpected rapidity with which some of my friends were hurried to their long account, I never felt anything like the sensation I experienced upon hearing of my honest friend's death, for I did not know he was at St. Louis and thought him safe in some part of the wilderness."

Russel Farnham was born in Massachusetts in 1784,