Charles B. Farwell

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).{{cite book |title=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 |date=1910 |publisher=J. T. White Company |page=228 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-cDAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA228 |access-date=12 June 2020 |language=en}} 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.).{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Catherine Parsons |title=Making Music in Los Angeles: Transforming the Popular |date=2007 |publisher=University of California Press |isbn=978-0-520-93383-5 |page=284 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vyfe1BwwzzgC&pg=PA284 |access-date=12 June 2020 |language=en}}

He attended Elmira Academy before moving to Illinois in 1838.

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.{{cite web |url=http://forgottenchicago.com/features/bertrand-goldberg-in-tower-town-part-1-bertrand-goldbergs-commune/ |title=Bertrand Goldberg in Tower Town Part 1: Bertrand Goldberg's Commune |last1=Steffes |first1=Patrick |date=31 December 2011 |website=forgottenchicago.com/ |publisher=Forgotten Chicago |access-date=16 May 2014}} That he was able to amass a sizeable fortune can be proven by the fact that he owned a mansion on Chicago's North Side.{{cite web |url=http://www.memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/I?cdn:1:./temp/~ammem_k7Gr::displayType=1:m856sd=ichicdn:m856sf=n002478:@@@ |title=Charles B. Farwell mansion, 120 E. Pearson St., Chicago, IL (1905) |author= |date=1905 |website=www.memory.loc.gov |publisher=Library of Congress, courtesy Chicago History Museum |access-date=16 May 2014}}

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.{{cite news |title=Nominating Conventions.; Charles B. Farwell and Sidney Smith Nominated for Congress in Chicago. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1874/10/21/archives/nominating-conventions-charles-b-farwell-and-sidney-smith-nominated.html |access-date=12 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=21 October 1874}} 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.{{cite web |url=http://history.house.gov/People/Detail/13010?ret=True |title=FARWELL, Charles Benjamin |author= |date=n.d. |website=history.house.gov/ |publisher=Offices of the Historian, Art & Archives, U.S. House of Representatives |access-date=16 May 2014

}}

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.

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.{{cite book |last1=Leonard |first1=John William |title=Men of America: A Biographical Dictionary of Contemporaries |date=1908 |publisher=L.R. Hamersly |page=812 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FDhMAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA812 |access-date=12 June 2020 |language=en}}

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:{{cite book |last1=Pedley |first1=John G. |title=The Life and Work of Francis Willey Kelsey: Archaeology, Antiquity, and the Arts |date=2012 |publisher=University of Michigan Press |isbn=978-0-472-11802-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jkEKezR8h24C&pg=PA19 |access-date=12 June 2020 |language=en}}

• Charles Farwell (1853–1853), who died young.
• Mary N. Farwell (1854–1861), who died young.

File:Grave of Charles Benjamin Farwell (1823–1903) at Rosehill Cemetery, Chicago 1.jpg

• Henry Farwell (1856–1861), who died young.
• Edward Farwell (1858–1864), who died young.
• Anna Farwell (1860–1953),{{cite news |title=ANNA F. DE KOVEN, AUTHOR AND POET; Widow of Composer Dies at 92 in Northeast Harbor, Me.--Also Wrote for Periodicals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1953/01/13/archives/1-f-de-kon-author-and-poet-widow-of-composer-dies-at-92-in.html |access-date=12 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=27 |date=13 January 1953 |url-access=subscription}} who married composer Reginald de Koven.{{cite news |title=Reginald De Koven Buried.; His Own Compositions Played at Services in Cathedral of St. John. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89691875/reginald-de-koven-buried/ |work=The New York Times |page=7 |date=21 January 1920 |access-date=2021-11-28 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• Walter C. Farwell (1863–1943),{{cite news |title=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 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/08/01/archives/alter-farwell-finanger-is-dead-member-of-old-chicago-family-son-of.html |access-date=12 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=39 |date=1 August 1943 |url-access=subscription}} who married Mildred Mary Williams, a daughter of Gen. Robert Williams.{{cite news |title=Mrs. Walter Farwell |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/04/07/archives/mrs-walter-farwell.html |access-date=12 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=17 |date=7 April 1941 |url-access=subscription}}
• Grace Farwell (1868–1949),{{cite news |title=Mrs. Robert G. M'Gann |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/03/30/archives/mrs-robert-g-mgann.html |access-date=12 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=25 |date=30 March 1949 |url-access=subscription}} who married Dudley Winston,{{cite news |title=Dudley Winston's Death.; Chicago Lawyer Expires on the Train While Coming to This City -- A Rumor of Suicide. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89692037/dudley-winstons-death/ |work=The New York Times |page=9 |date=12 April 1898 |access-date=2021-11-28 |via=Newspapers.com}} a son of U.S. Minister Frederick Hampden Winston in 1888.{{cite news |title=A Fashionable Wedding.; Marriage of United States Senator Farwell's Daughter. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89692170/a-fashionable-wedding/ |work=The New York Times |page=5 |date=5 December 1888 |access-date=2021-11-28 |via=Newspapers.com}} After his death, she married Robert Greaves McGann (1867–1953) in 1906.{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York |title=R. G. McGann to Wed.; Will Marry Mrs. Winston, a Relative of the De Kovens, To-morrow. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89692327/r-g-mcgann-to-wed/ |work=The New York Times |location=Chicago |page=4 |date=13 June 1906 |access-date=2021-11-28 |via=Newspapers.com}}{{cite news |title=Mrs. de Koven's Sister Weds; Mrs. Grace Farwell Winston Becomes Mrs. Robert G. McGann. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/56963817/the-new-york-times/ |work=The New York Times |page=9 |date=15 June 1906 |access-date=2021-11-28 |via=Newspapers.com}}
• Robert Farwell (1870–1872), who died young.
• Rose Farwell (1870–1918),{{cite news |title=Mrs. Hobart C. Chatfield-Taylor |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89692531/mrs-hobart-c-chatfield-taylor/ |work=The New York Times |location=Santa Barbara, California |page=15 |date=6 April 1918 |access-date=2021-11-28 |via=Newspapers.com}} who married author Hobart Chatfield-Taylor. Rose founded the Onwentsia Club one her father's estate.{{Cite web|title=History - Onwentsia Club|url=https://www.onwentsiaclub.org/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=383932&ssid=302711&vnf=1|access-date=2021-04-19|website=www.onwentsiaclub.org}}{{cite news |title=H. C. Chatfield-taylor; Author, Authority on Moliere, Dies in California at 80 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1945/01/17/archives/hc-chatfieldtaylor-author-authority-on-moliere-dies-in-california.html |access-date=12 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=21 |date=17 January 1945 |url-access=subscription}}

After a long illness,{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York |title=Ex-Senator Farwell Ill. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89692646/ex-senator-farwell-ill/ |work=The New York Times |location=Chicago |page=1 |date=11 March 1903 |access-date=2021-11-28 |via=Newspapers.com}} Farwell died in Lake Forest, Illinois on September 23, 1903.{{cite news |title=Ex-Senator Farwell Dead.; Decease of the Well-Known Octogenarian Due to Heart Disease. |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/89691724/ex-senator-farwell-dead/ |work=The New York Times |location=Chicago |page=9 |date=24 September 1903 |access-date=2021-11-28 |via=Newspapers.com}} He was buried at Rosehill Cemetery in Chicago.

His daughter Rose inherited his estate, Fairlawn, at 965 E. Deerpath in Lake Forest.{{cite book |last1=Coventry |first1=Kim |last2=Meyer |first2=Daniel |last3=Miller |first3=Arthur H. |title=Classic Country Estates of Lake Forest: Architecture and Landscape Design, 1856-1940 |date=2003 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-73099-9 |page=236 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DrjWHvknMRIC&pg=PA236 |access-date=12 June 2020 |language=en}} 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 rebuild it in a Federal style with neo-Palladian brick and was finished in 1923 with original landscape was designed by Frederick Law Olmsted.{{cite book |last1=Pennoyer, Peter |author-link=Peter Pennoyer |first1=Peter |last2=Walker |first2=Anne |title=The Architecture of Delano & Aldrich |date=2003 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-73087-6 |page=189 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PfsvwzwaQqUC&pg=PA189 |access-date=12 June 2020 |language=en}}

Through his daughter Anna, he was a grandfather of Ethel Leroy De Koven (1885–1943), who married broker Hans Kierstede Hudson.{{cite news |title=Mrs. H. Kierstede Hudson; Wife of Broker, Daughter of Late] Reginald de Koven, Composer |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1943/02/14/archives/mrs-h-kierstede-hudson-wife-of-broker-daughter-of-late-reginald-de.html |access-date=12 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=48 |date=14 February 1943 |url-access=subscription}} 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).{{cite news |title=James H. Douglas Jr. Dead at 88; Served Presidents and the Military |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE4D91330F93BA15751C0A96E948260 |access-date=2021-11-28 |work=The New York Times |date=28 February 1988}}

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,{{cite news |title=H. H. Whitman, 66, Textile Man, Dead; Chairman of William Whitman Co., Manufacturers, Succumbs in France on World Cruise |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1950/03/19/archives/hh-whitman-66-textile-man-dead-chairman-of-william-whitman-co.html |access-date=6 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=94 |date=19 March 1950 |url-access=subscription}} (grandmother of politician and businesswoman Meg Whitman);{{cite news |title=Meg Whitman to Wed June 7 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1980/04/20/archives/meg-whitman-to-wed-june-7.html |access-date=6 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=71 |date=20 April 1980 |url-access=subscription}} Wayne Chatfield-Taylor (1893–1967), who served as Under Secretary of Commerce and Assistant Secretary of the Treasury under President Franklin D. Roosevelt;{{cite news |last1=Times |first1=Special to The New York TimesThe New York |title=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 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1967/11/23/archives/wayne-chatfield-taylor-dead-roosevelt-and-truman-aide-73-banker.html |access-date=6 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=33 |date=23 November 1967 |url-access=subscription}} and Otis Chatfield-Taylor (1899–1948),{{cite news |title=Writer is Killed When Auto Skids; Otis Chatfieid-Taylor, Long Known in Theatre and Press, Fatally Hurt at Croton |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1948/01/18/archives/writer-is-killed-when-auto-skids-otis-chatfieidtaylor-long-known-in.html |access-date=6 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=63 |date=18 January 1948 |url-access=subscription}} a writer, playwright, editor, theatrical producer;{{cite news |title=Three Divorces in Reno.; Chatfield-Taylors, R.E. Sherwoods and J.D. Pierces Parted. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1934/06/16/archives/three-divorces-in-reno-chatfieldtaylors-re-sherwoods-and-jd-pierces.html |access-date=6 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=13 |date=16 June 1934 |url-access=subscription}}{{cite news |title=Paid Notice: Deaths CHATFIELD TAYLOR, MAROCHKA |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/11/04/classified/paid-notice-deaths-chatfield-taylor-marochka.html |access-date=6 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=4 November 1999}}{{cite news |title=Marochka Anisfeld Wed; Daughter of Chicago Artist Bride of Otis Chatfield-Taylor |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1936/05/07/archives/marochka-anisfeld-wed-daughter-of-chicago-artist-bride-of-otis.html |access-date=6 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=26 |date=7 May 1936 |url-access=subscription}} and Robert Farwell Chatfield-Taylor (1908–1980).{{cite news |title=Valborg E. Palmer Wed.; Becomes Bride of Robert Farwell Chatfield-Taylor. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1928/11/08/archives/valborg-e-palmer-wed-becomes-bride-of-robert-farwell.html |access-date=6 June 2020 |work=The New York Times |page=32 |date=8 November 1928 |url-access=subscription}}

In 1876, at his wife's urging, Farwell underwrote the construction of College Hall, North Hall and a gymnasium at Lake Forest College. The couple also donated additional land to the college which had been struggling since the end of the Civil War.{{Citation | last = Ebner | first = Michael H. | author-link = Michael H. Ebner | title = North Shore Town and Gown | newspaper = Chicago History | pages = 6 | date = Summer 2007}} 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.[http://www.library.lakeforest.edu/special/tayl3.html Bluff's Edge Estate] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100606032517/http://www.library.lakeforest.edu/special/tayl3.html |date=June 6, 2010 }}

• XIT Ranch

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Category:1823 births

Category:1903 deaths

Category:Burials at Rosehill Cemetery

Category:People from Lake Forest, Illinois

Category:People from Painted Post, New York

Category:Republican Party United States senators from Illinois

Category:Republican Party members of the United States House of Representatives from Illinois

Category:19th-century members of the United States House of Representatives

Category:19th-century United States senators