FARRIS, Capt.: Died 1908

FARRIS

Posted By: Volunteer: Sherri
Date: 9/17/2016 at 15:47:55

**Handwritten: St. Line Dem. Wed. 3 June 1908

OLD RIVER PILOT AT REST
Funeral Services For Capt. Robert Farris at Farmington.

Farmington News: The funeral of Capt. Farris was held from the First Baptist church at 2:30 Friday. Rev. John Colby Shipp delivering a touching sermon. Within a stone's throw of the old home where Capt. Farris had lived for fifty years, where he and his wife had grown old together, where they had reared their family, from where the mother and daughter had slipped away into the blissful sleep of eternal rest, the last sad tribute was paid the good old river pilot. Often had the old Captain sat in his home next door to this church and listened to the tolling of the same bell which tolled out for him, the last of earth.

Capt. Farris was not a unique character in the annals of Farmington, but his name will be written on the pages of the history of Des Moines and Mississippi river navigation. He came in the early 50's when steamboating on the Des Moines was the only convenient means of reaching the center of a new state. He came to be recognized as the safest pilot on two rivers. He saw service on the "John B. Gordon," on the "Des Moines City," and the "Clara Hines." He was part owner of the last two named.

William Goodin was with Capt. Farris on the "Clara Hines" when she "jumped" the Croton dam. Mr. Goodin in relating the incident said that Capt. Farris headed for the break in the dam three or four times before the stern pilot "let her go." "I was ready to jump," said Mr. Goodin, "but Capt. Farris successfully made the plunge and landed his boat on the Iowa shore." Pilot Jim Anderson was with Farris at the Croton dam. Many stirring incidents are told of the old pilot and his fifty years of river service. Mr. Goodin was cook on the "Des Moines City."

Quitting the Des Moines when navigation ceased, Capt. Farris soon became known as one of the best pilots on the rapids above Keokuk. He continued to serve as pilot on the "Father of Waters" until about 1890. In 1878 he built the "Rescue" and was lockmaster of the canal for several years.

As rapids pilot was succeeded by his son Charles of Montrose, who successfully piloted the "Albatros" from Montrose to Keokuk in 1907.

Capt. Farris came to Farmington with his brother, William, on the "John B. Gordon" from Zanesville, Ohio, in 1854. For several years he made occasional trips up the Des Moines. The brother, named, built the side wheel streamer, "Flora Temple" and the stern wheeler, "Alice," both of which were Des Moines river boats.

The abandonment of government work on the Des Moines river sent Capt. Farris to the Mississippi, but he never relinquished his residence here. Farmington was his home for more than fifty years. Here everybody knew him. He was one of those genial men whom everybody delighted to know. He was "raised" in Mt. Moriah Lodge No. 27 A.F.&A.M. in May 1863, became an honorary member in 1895. Next to Charles A. Gleckler, who was his senior in Masonry by one year, he was the oldest Mason in Farmington.

Capt. Farris was given Masonic burial by the lodge of which he had been a member for 45 years, Dr. N.P. Knight acting as Worshipful Master in the ceremonies.

Source: Van Buren Co. Genealogical Society Obituary Book G, Page 199, Keosauqua Public Library, Keosauqua, IA