Charles B. Farwell

Charles Benjamin Farwell (July 1, 1823 – September 23, 1903)[1] was a U.S. Representative and Senator from Illinois.

Charles B. Farwell
United States senator from Illinois
In office January 19, 1887 – March 3, 1891
Preceded by	John A. Logan
Succeeded by	John M. Palmer
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 1st district
In office March 4, 1871 – March 3, 1873
Preceded by	Norman B. Judd
Succeeded by	John Blake Rice
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 3rd district
In office March 4, 1873 – May 6, 1876
Preceded by	Horatio C. Burchard
Succeeded by	John V. Le Moyne
In office March 4, 1881 – March 3, 1883
Preceded by	Hiram Barber, Jr.
Succeeded by	George R. Davis
Personal details
Born	Charles Benjamin Farwell (1823-07-01)July 1, 1823 Painted Post, New York
Died	September 23, 1903(1903-09-23) (aged 80) Lake Forest, Illinois
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Mary Eveline Smith
Relations	John V. Farwell (brother) Wayne Chatfield-Taylor (grandson)
Education	Elmira Academy
Signature

Early life

Farwell was born in Painted Post, New York on July 1, 1823. He was a son of Henry Farwell (1795–1873) and Nancy (née Jackson) Farwell (1798–1887).[2] His younger siblings included John Villiers Farwell, Simeon Farwell, and Louise Farwell (mother-in-law of Katherine Philips Edson and grandmother of Charles Farwell Edson, Jr.).[3]

He attended Elmira Academy before moving to Illinois in 1838.[1]

Career

He first tried his hand at surveying and farming before moving to Chicago in 1844, when he went into banking. From 1853 to 1861, he served as the Clerk of Cook County. Farwell was "one of the principal builders in [Chicago's] business district" in the last quarter of the 19th century.[4] That he was able to amass a sizeable fortune can be proven by the fact that he owned one of the finest mansions on Chicago's North Side.[5]

Political career

Elected to the U.S. House of Representatives four times beginning in 1870, winning his first election to the House by a healthy margin over Chicago's "Long" John Wentworth (by some 5700 votes). Farwell went on to serve in the House of Representatives in the 42nd, 43rd, 44th and 47th Congresses.[6] In 1876, the Democrat-controlled Congress accepted John V. Le Moyne's challenge to Farwell's election and removed Farwell from office; Farwell declined to run again at the time of the general election later on in 1876. In 1880, he was elected to another term in Congress (the 47th Congress). Upon the death of John A. Logan in 1887, Farwell was elected to serve out Logan's term in the U.S. Senate, but refused to run for re-election to a full term.[7]

Significantly, in Farwell's first term as Senator, he supported the introduction of an amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would have granted women's suffrage rights (the right to vote) - simultaneously a landmark achievement of and a setback in the long struggle for voting rights for women that would not be overcome until the adoption of the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution in 1920.[8]

Later life

In 1879, Farwell and his brother John were part of a group of Illinois businessmen and politicians responsible for construction of the Texas State Capitol building. The Farwell's reward for this was to become owners of over 3 million acres of land in Texas, upon which they founded the XIT Ranch. The city of Farwell, Texas is named for the Farwell brothers.[9]

Personal life

In 1852, Farwell was married to Mary Eveline Smith, a New Englander who received a private education. Together, they were the parents of nine children, only four of whom lived to adulthood:[10]

• Charles Farwell (1853–1853), who died young.
• Mary N. Farwell (1854–1861), who died young.
• Henry Farwell (1856–1861), who died young.
• Edward Farwell (1858–1864), who died young.
• Anna Farwell (1860–1953),[11] who married composer Reginald de Koven.[12]
• Walter C. Farwell (1863–1943),[13] who married Mildred Mary Williams, a daughter of Gen. Robert Williams.[14]
• Grace Farwell (1868–1949),[15] who married Dudley Winston,[16] a son of U.S. Minister Frederick Hampden Winston in 1888.[17] After his death, she married Robert Greaves McGann (1867–1953) in 1906.[18][19]
• Robert Farwell (1870–1872), who died young.
• Rose Farwell (1870–1918),[20] who married author Hobart Chatfield-Taylor.[21]

After a long illness,[22] Farwell died in Lake Forest, Illinois on September 23, 1903.[1] His daughter Rose inherited his estate, Fairlawn, at 965 E. Deerpath in Lake Forest.[23] Upon her death in 1918, his other daughter Grace inherited the mansion, and when it burned in 1920, the McGanns hired New York architects Delano and Aldrich to rebuilt it in a Federal style with neo-Palladian brick and was finished in 1923 with original landscape was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.[24]

Descendants

Through his daughter Anna, he was a grandfather of Ethel Leroy De Koven (1885–1943), who married broker Hans Kierstede Hudson.[25] Through his daughter Grace, he was a grandfather of Grace Farwell McGann (1907–1949), who married James H. Douglas Jr., the Secretary of the Air Force and the Deputy Secretary of Defense (his father helped found the Quaker Oats Company).[26]

Through his youngest daughter Rose, he was a grandfather of four: Adelaide Chatfield-Taylor (1891–1982), who was awarded a Croix de Guerre for her work running a canteen in Boston during World War II,[27] (grandmother of politician and businesswoman Meg Whitman);[28] Wayne Chatfield-Taylor (1893–1967), who served as Under Secretary of Commerce and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt;[29] and Otis Chatfield-Taylor (1899–1948),[30] a writer, playwright, editor, theatrical producer;[31][32][33] and Robert Farwell Chatfield-Taylor (1908–1980).[34]

Philanthropy

In 1876, at his wife's urging, Farwell underwrote the construction of College Hall, North Hall and a gymnasium at Lake Forest College.[10] The couple also donated additional land to the college which had been struggling since the end of the Civil War.[35] Part of their philanthropy was to ensure a co-ed liberal arts college near home for their daughter, Anna, who graduated from Lake Forest College in 1880. Anna later married the composer Reginald de Koven, and became a successful socialite, novelist and amateur historian. His daughter Rose was married to Hobart Chatfield-Taylor.[36]

See also

• XIT Ranch

References

1. "EX-SENATOR FARWELL DEAD.; Decease of the Well-Known Octogenarian Due to Heart Disease". The New York Times. 24 September 1903. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
2. The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography: Being the History of the United States as Illustrated in the Lives of the Founders, Builders, and Defenders of the Republic, and of the Men and Women who are Doing the Work and Moulding the Thought of the Present Time. J. T. White Company. 1910. p. 228. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
3. Smith, Catherine Parsons (2007). Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular. University of California Press. p. 284. ISBN 978-0-520-93383-5. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
4. Steffes, Patrick (31 December 2011). "Bertrand Goldberg in Tower Town Part 1: Bertrand Goldberg's Commune". forgottenchicago.com/. Forgotten Chicago. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
5. "Charles B. Farwell mansion, 120 E. Pearson St., Chicago, IL (1905)". www.memory.loc.gov. Library of Congress, courtesy Chicago History Museum. 1905. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
6. "Nominating Conventions.; Charles B. Farwell and Sidney Smith Nominated for Congress in Chicago". The New York Times. 21 October 1874. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
7. "FARWELL, Charles Benjamin". history.house.gov/. Offices of the Historian, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives. n.d. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
8. Steffes, Patrick (31 December 2011). "Bertrand Goldberg in Tower Town Part 1: Bertrand Goldberg's Commune". forgottenchicago.com/. Forgotten Chicago. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
9. Leonard, John William (1908). Men of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries. L.R. Hamersly. p. 812. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
10. Pedley, John G. (2012). The Life and Work of Francis Willey Kelsey: Archaeology, Antiquity, and the Arts. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-11802-1. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
11. "ANNA F. DE KOVEN, AUTHOR AND POET; Widow of Composer Dies at 92 in Northeast Harbor, Me.--Also Wrote for Periodicals". The New York Times. 13 January 1953. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
12. "REGINALD DE KOVEN BURIED.; His Own Compositions Played at Services in Cathedral of St. John". The New York Times. 21 January 1920. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
13. "WALTER FARWELL, FINANCIER, IS DEAD; Member of Old Chicago Family, Son of Late U. S. Senator-Stricken Here at 80 DIRECTOR OF LONDON FIRM Brother of Mrs. Reginald de Koven--Late Wife Was War I Correspondent in Russia". The New York Times. 1 August 1943. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
14. "Mrs. Walter Farwell". The New York Times. 7 April 1941. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
15. "Mrs. Robert G. M'Gann". The New York Times. 30 March 1949. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
16. "DUDLEY WINSTON'S DEATH.; Chicago Lawyer Expires on the Train While Coming to This City -- A Rumor of Suicide". The New York Times. 12 April 1898. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
17. "A Fashionable Wedding.; Marriage of United States Senator Farwell's Daughter". The New York Times. 5 December 1888. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
18. Times, Special to The New York (13 June 1906). "R.G. McGANN TO WED.; Will Marry Mrs. Winston, a Relative of the De Kovens, To-morrow". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
19. "MRS. de KOVEN'S SISTER WEDS; Mrs. Grace Farwell Winston Becomes Mrs. Robert G. McGann". The New York Times. 15 June 1906. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
20. "Mrs. Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor". The New York Times. 6 April 1918. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
21. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (17 January 1945). "H.C. CHATFIELD-TAYLOR; Author, Authority on Moliere, Dies in California at 80". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
22. Times, Special to The New York (11 March 1903). "Ex-Senator Farwell Ill". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
23. Coventry, Kim; Meyer, Daniel; Miller, Arthur H. (2003). Classic Country Estates of Lake Forest: Architecture and Landscape Design, 1856-1940. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 236. ISBN 978-0-393-73099-9. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
24. Pennoyer, Peter, Peter; Walker, Anne (2003). The Architecture of Delano & Aldrich. W. W. Norton & Company. p. 189. ISBN 978-0-393-73087-6. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
25. "MRS. H. KIERSTEDE HUDSON; Wife of Broker, Daughter of Late] Reginald de Koven, Composer". The New York Times. 14 February 1943. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
26. "James H. Douglas Jr. Dead at 88; Served Presidents and the Military". The New York Times. 28 February 1988. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
27. "H.H. WHITMAN, 66, TEXTILE MAN, DEAD; Chairman of William Whitman Co., Manufacturers, Succumbs in France on World Cruise". The New York Times. 19 March 1950. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
28. "Meg Whitman to Wed June 7". The New York Times. 20 April 1980. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
29. Times, Special to The New York TimesThe New York (23 November 1967). "Wayne Chatfield Taylor Dead; Roosevelt and Truman Aide, 73; Banker Held Major Posts in Commerce, Treasury and the Export-Import Bank In Many Public Posts Envoy at Trade Meetings". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
30. TIMES, Special to THE NEW YORK (18 January 1948). "WRITER IS KILLED WHEN AUTO SKIDS; Otis Chatfieid-Taylor, Long Known in Theatre and Press, Fatally Hurt at Croton". The New York Times. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
31. "THREE DIVORCES IN RENO.; Chatfield-Taylors, R.E. Sherwoods and J.D. Pierces Parted". The New York Times. 16 June 1934. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
32. "Paid Notice: Deaths CHATFIELD TAYLOR, MAROCHKA". The New York Times. 4 November 1999. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
33. "MAROCHKA ANISFELD WED; Daughter of Chicago Artist Bride of Otis Chatfield-Taylor,". The New York Times. 7 May 1936. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
34. "VALBORG E. PALMER WED.; Becomes Bride of Robert Farwell Chatfield-Taylor". The New York Times. 8 November 1928. Retrieved 6 June 2020.
35. Ebner, Michael H. (Summer 2007), "North Shore Town and Gown", Chicago History, p. 6
36. Bluff's Edge Estate Archived June 6, 2010, at the Wayback Machine

External links

• United States Congress. "Charles B. Farwell (id: F000037)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress.
• Charles B. Farwell at Find a Grave

U.S. House of Representatives
Preceded by Norman B. Judd	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 1st congressional district 1871–1873	Succeeded by John Blake Rice
Preceded by Horatio C. Burchard	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 3rd congressional district 1873–1876	Succeeded by John V. Le Moyne
Preceded by Hiram Barber, Jr.	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 3rd congressional district 1881–1883	Succeeded by George R. Davis
U.S. Senate
Preceded by John A. Logan	U.S. senator (Class 3) from Illinois 1887–1891 Served alongside: Shelby M. Cullom	Succeeded by John M. Palmer