Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/61

 FARNAM

FAKNIIAII

In 1853-54 they built the Chicago & Kook Island railroad, of which Mr. Farnam was pii'si- dent until 1863. He also constructed the Peoria & Bureau Valley railroad and in 1855 finished the constniction of the Rock Island bridge, the fiist bridge to span the Mississippi river. He spent

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the yeai-s 1863-68 in foreign travel, and on his return to the United .States made Xew Haven, Conn., his home. He was married in 1839 to Ann Sophia \\ hitman of Farmington, Conn. He gave Farnam Hall to Yale college, to which institution he also beqvieathed his residence for a president's house, after the death of his immedi- ate heirs. He died in New Haven, Oct. 4, 1883.

FARNAM, Henry Walcott, educator, was born in New Haven. Conn., Nov. 6, 1853; son of Henry and Ann Sophia (Whitman) Farnam. He was graduated from Yale in 1874, spent three years in study in German universities, and took the degree of Doctor of Political Science (R.P.D.) at Strassburg in 1878. He was tutor at Yale, 1878-80, and in 1880 was advanced to the chair of political economy. He was married in 1890 to Elizabeth Upham, daughter of William L. Kings- ley of New Haven. In 1893 he became one of tlie editors of the Yale Jievicto and in 1898 was ap- pointed president of the Civil Service board of New Haven. He is the author of a memoir of his father, published in 1889; edited John Koren"s Economic Aspects of the Liquor Prohiem (1899), and contributed numerous articles on economic sub- jects to .scientific [leriodicals.

FARNHAM, Eliza Woodson (Burhans), philanthropist, was born in Rensselaer viUe, N.Y , Nov. 17, 1815. She went to Illinois in 1835, where she met Thomas Jefferson Farnham, a native of Vermont and a lawyer, to whom she was married in 183G. In 1839 her husband took command of an expedition to Oregon and in 1841 she returned to her native state, Mr. Famhani remaining on the Pacific coast, where he wrote " Travels in Oregon Territory " (1844) ; " Adven- tures in California" (1846); and "Mexico, its Geography, People and Institutions " (1846).

He died in California in 1848. Mrs. Farnham ia 1844 became matron of the Woman's prison. Sing Sing, N.Y., and there instituted a government of the department by kindness, which was a revela- tion in the line of pri.son discipline. In 1848 she gave up her position to accept one in the Institu- tion for the blind, Boston, Mass. In September, 1848, she went to California in order to settle up the estate of her deceased husband. She returned to New York in 1856, studied medicine in 1857- 58, and in 1859 organized an emigration society to provide homes in the west for destitute women. She is the author of Life in Prairie Land {_ 1846) ; California Indoors and Out (1856) ; and My Early Days (1859). She also edited Sampson's Criminal Jurisprudence, and wrote Ideal Attained (1865), and iWomfni and Her Era (3 vols., 1864). She died in New York city, Dec. 15, 1864.

FARNHAM, Luther, librarian, was born at Concord, N.H., Feb. 5, 1816. He was gi-aduated at Dartmouth in 1837 and at the Andover theo- logical seminar}' in 1841. He was ordained tO' the Congregational ministry, Nov. 20, 1844, and was pastor at Northfield, Mass., 1844^-45. In 1845—17 he was- assistant editor of the Christian Alliance and of the 3Iassachusetts Ploughman. From 1847 to 1861 he was for brief periods acting pastor at Marshfield and Concord, JIass., Tiver- ton, R.I., and Lj'nnfield, West Newbury, East Marshfield, Concord, Burlington and New Bed- ford, Mass., making Boston his residence. He was also librarian of the New England historic, genealogical society, 1854-56, and secretary of the Southern aid society, 1855-61. In 1863 he became librarian and secretary of the General theolog- ical library in Boston, and continued as such during the rest of his life. Beginning with a part of an ofiice, few books and no money, the library grew under his management until it owned a building free from debt in the best part of the city, an invested fund of over 530,000, and 14.000 volumes; and had become a religious and intel- lectual centi-e. He was married in 1845 to Mrs. Eugenia Frink Alexander of Northfield, Mass. He published A Glance at Private Libraries (1855). He died in Boston, Mass., March 15, 1897.

FARNHAM, Roswell, governor of Vermont, was l)oi-n in Bo.ston, Ma.ss., July 23, 1827; son of Roswell and Nancy (Bixby) Farnham. In 1840 he removed with his family to Bra<lford, Vt., where he prepared for college at the town acad- emy. He was graduated from the University of Vermont in 1849, tauglit school for several years and was admitted to the Vermont bar in 1857. He was state's attorney for Orange countj-, 1859- 61, then entered the Union army as 2d lieutenant in the 1st re,giment of Vermont volunteers. He acted as provost-martial of Newport News, Va., ' 1861 ; was captain of the Bradford guards, 1863 ;