Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Farwell, John Dennis 1832 - 
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Author: Emma E. Forter (1917)

JOHN DENNIS FARWELL.

    Among the prominent and well-known residents of Waterville, Marshall county,
and one of the early settlers of the county, was born in Cattaraugus county, New
York, on July 22, 1832, being the son of Selah and Nancy (Plank) Farwell,
natives of the state of New York.

    Selah Farwell was born on a farm and was the son of Solomon Farwell, who was
the son of Abel Farwell, a native of the state of Massachusetts and a soldier of
the Revolutionary War. Nancy Plank Farwell was the daughter of Henry and
Margaret (Van Ingen) Plank. Henry Plank was a son of John Plank and Nellie
Margaret Gordinier. John Plank was a soldier of the War of the Revolution. Mrs.
Farwell was of Dutch descent, her grandfather, Joseph Van Ingen, was a captain
in the War of Independence, and his father was a well-known surgeon, who came to
the United States from his home in Rotterdam, Holland, and served as a surgeon
in the same war.

    When John Dennis Farwell was but a few months of age, his Grandfather Plank
induced his parents to move back to Lewis county, New York, the old home of the
family, and there Mr. Farwell received his education in the local schools. When
he was sixteen years of age he entered the academy at Denmark, where he
completed his education. He then, taught school for a time at fifteen dollars
per month and boarded around, as was the practice in those days. His father was
a carpenter, at which trade he worked for many years, in connection with the
operation of a sawmill and grist-mill. On reaching an advanced age, the father
retired from the business and moved in 1848 to a farm near Denmark, New York,
which he sold and moved to Whiteside county, Illinois, in 1856. In 1872 he moved
to Waterville, Kansas, where he died in 1894. He was a man who was devoted to
his family, was industrious and held in the highest regard by all in the
community in which he lived. His life was a most active one, and he accomplished
much for the opportunities that he had.

    John Dennis Farwell, as a lad and young man, was not strong, and after
teaching school and clerking in a store for some years, he decided that he would
locate in what was then one of the Western states. In 1854 he left his home in
the state of New York and settled at Morrison, Illinois. He rented a farm and
engaged in general farming, and during the winter months taught school. He later
purchased a farm for one thousand six hundred and fifty dollars, and had to go
in debt for the place. He made many improvements and did much in the way of
development. He then sold the farm for six thousand five hundred dollars and in
1868 came to Kansas. He stopped for a time at Lawrence, Kansas, and then joined
an excursion in search of a location. Their destination was Ft. Sheridan, but
when they got as far as Hays City, the soldiers stationed at that place stopped
them on account of a band of Indians and vast herds of buffalo moving south in
the locality. The next day the train proceeded on its way over the prairie. Many
buffalo were seen and some of the larger ones tried to butt the engine off the
track, and at three different times the herd was so dense that the train had to
run slowly, for the sake of safety. They at last reached Ft. Sheridan, but owing
to the raids of the Indians, they started on the return trip early the next
morning. At the request of the paymaster for the Kansas & Pacific Railroad,
Major E. D. Reddington, who was to follow, was requested to keep watch for him
as he was fearful the Indians would attack his train. Mr. Farwell and the
roadmaster, rode on the front of the engine, and during their novel ride, saw
many herd of antelope. While thus riding, they discovered a turned rail in the
track, but not in time to prevent a wreck of the tender of the engine and a
number of the cars. An investigation showed that someone had pulled the spikes,
and turned the rail. It was a most exciting time, for the first thought was of
the Indians in that section of the country. It was not long until a white horse,
ridden by the chief and followed by many of his tribe, appeared. The train was
surrounded, but the men of the party guarded the train as best they could. Mr.
Farwell with some others of the party, took the engine and made for Carlysle,
where they telegraphed to General Sheridan, at Ft. Hays, who sent a relief party
to the scene of the holdup. Mr. Farwell then proceeded to Manhattan and from
there he staged it to Irving, Marshall county, and homesteaded a farm south of
Waterville. Then, after voting for General Grant for President, he returned to
Illinois and with his family he returned to Kansas on March 4, 1869, and
established himself on the farm. The lumber with which he built his first house,
he obtained at Atchison, and while it was but cotton wood, he paid fifty-five
dollars per thousand for it. This farm he developed and improved and here he
engaged in farming, until 1879, when he sold his large farm of eight hundred and
eighty acres and moved to Marysville. In the fall of 1869 Mr. Farwell was
elected township clerk and while serving as such he made the contract with the
King Bridge Company in 1870 and supervised the building of the first iron bridge
built in Marshall county, which bridge is still in use over the Little Blue
river at Waterville, although the bridge is forty-seven years old. He was
elected register of deeds and served in that office for four years. He was a
most painstaking official, and his records were at all times up-to-date. It was
one of the requirements of Mr. Farwell, that the office was not to be closed for
the day until the records were compared and in order for the next day's
business. He was the first official in the county to employ a woman in the
office, and it is to his credit, that his record is one of the best that has
been made by any official. After his term as register of deeds expired, he was
the first one to introduce the hectograph, with which he furnished reports of
all instruments filed in the register of deeds office, now reported by the Coles
Abstract Company, and conducted a loan and abstract office in Marysville, until
1903, when he retired from the business and moved to Waterville.

    John Dennis Farwell was first married on October 20, 1856, to Lydia
Hollingshead, who was born in the state of Illinois on January 1, 1837, and died
on July 16, 1865. Of this union three children were born: Etta N., Alice E. and
Elmer S. Etta N. was born on March 27, 1858, and is now the wife of Mr. Sconten,
and she is a resident of the state of California; Alice E., who was born on
December 2, i860, is the wife of C. G. Thomas, a retired resident of Waterville,
and Elmer S. was born on December 20, 1863, and died on December 12, 1913. He
was a graduate of the Trocy polytechnic school of New York, having completed the
course in civil engineering in that institution. On July 3, 1867, Mr. Farwell
was married to Abba Hartwell, who was born in Lewis county, New York, on April
4, 1842, and to this union three children were born, only one now living, Fred
Henry, who is a resident of Orange, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Farwell are active
members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Waterville, and for nineteen years,
Mr. Farwell was superintendent of the Sunday school at Marysville and for four
years at Waterville. They are most estimable people and have long been active in
social and the religious life of the county, where they are held in high regard
and esteem. He was for many years a trustee of the church and has always been a
liberal supporter of the local churches and the various societies of the
denomination. He has been a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons since
1856, and he is also a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. He is the
oldest member of the former order in the county, in point of service and
membership. He was a charter member of the order at Waterville, and of the Royal
Arch Masons at Marysville, and is also a charter member of the Ancient Order of
United Workmen at Marysville.

    Mr. Farwell is a man of much ability and possessed of a splendid education.
He has always been a great lover of good literature and is a writer of note. He
is a great student of history and has contributed a number of historical facts
to this present volume. He has also completed a genealogical history of the
Farwell family, which is now on the press. His life has been a most active one,
and he is known as the "grand old man" of Waterville. His life in the county
connects the early pioneer times with the present, and in all the remarkable
growth and history of the county, he has taken an important part. He is one of
the progressive men of the district, and today is one of the best informed on
the past and the present time. To him is due much of the progress in the
educational, moral and physical deevlopment of this section of the state. Coming
to the county, when much of it was an unbroken prairie, he has seen the
transition to the splendid farms, fine homes and up-to-date towns and cities.

    Mr. Farwell remembers with pride when living on the farm, of having raised
and tamed two buffalo, that ran with his cattle, and believes that those animals
might have been domesticated to advantage.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)


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