Christopher Farley, b. 15 Aug 1822

GORMAN, WEED, PENDY, MCLAUGHLIN, SMITH, KLEMMENT, THOMPSON

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 3/13/2004 at 09:48:32

Christopher Farley of Van Buren Township, is one of the oldest settlers of this county. He arrived on the present site of Maquoketa May 17, 1837, has since been a resident of the county, and operates 200 acres of land near the village of Preston, and 200 acres bordering on Deep Creek. He was born in Warren County, Pa., Aug. 15, 1822, and is the son of Andrew and Ruth (Gorman) Farley, the father a native of Ireland and the mother of Maryland. They were married in Pennsylvania, where the father carried on farming for a time and made his first trip to the West in 1836, passing through what is now Jackson County, this State. At that time he entered the land which is now occupied by his son, our subject. He then returned to Pennsylvania in the spring of 1837, and as soon as he could make ready started out with his family, consisting of his wife and nine children, for the home which he had determined to make here.

Our subject was the eldest child of his parents, and spending his earlier years on the river, became an expert raftsman. He acquired only a limited education, and still remembers the face of the country as it looked in the early days when deer, wolves, coyotes, wild turkeys, geese, ducks and prairie chickens abounded. Quail seemed to increase as civilization advanced and fish were plentiful in the streams. The young people of those days had their amusements, and our subject used to take the girls to a ball, driving four or five yoke of cattle.

Mr. Farley was married in 1856 to Miss Lois, daughter of Sherman and Rhoda (Pendy) Weed, who were natives of Vermont and New York State respectively. Mrs. Farley was the second in their family of four sons and four daughters. She was born in Oswego County, N.Y., Oct. 30, 1838, and was a girl of fourteen when she came to Iowa with her brother and brother-in-law. Her mother had died when she was a child of eight years; her father is now in Southern Dakota, and is eighty-two years old.

The four children of our subject and his wife are recorded as follows: Michael was first married to a lady who became the mother of three children: Pearl, Carlton and Evert; she died, and he was then married to Miss Mary McLaughlin; they have one child. Edward married a Miss Smith, and is engaged as a hardware merchant in Preston; Cynthia, Mrs. Klemment, is a resident of Preston where her husband deals in agricultural implements; they have one son, Adelbert; Lydia, Mrs. Charles Thompson, lives in Minnesota.

Mr. Farley in 1850 crossed the plains, and after several encounters with the Indians arrived in Hangtown on the 17th of July after a journey of nearly four months, having started April 8th. He sojourned on the Pacific Slope until 1853, and returned by the Nicaragua route, arriving home in March, that year, with a goodly supply of hard cash. Since that time he has followed general farming, and has been very successful. He contributed $1,000 to the building of the railroad through Preston, and has done much toward advancing the other interests of the town. He is a Democrat in politics, and served as Road Master of the Second District three years and also as Township Supervisor. Socially he belongs to the Masonic fraternity.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois.)