Placer
County
Biographies
MRS. CORDELIA FARNHAM
Four miles southwest of Roseville in the Dry Creek voting precinct
is the eighty-acre home place of Mrs. Cordelia Farnham, on which she has
resided since 1907. The youngest
of a family of twelve children, Mrs. Farnham was born on January 25, 1851, a
daughter of Ephraim and Miranda (Wilkins) Wilcox, both natives of New York
State. Her father died on August 2,
1850, before she was born. The family
lived in Calhoun County, Mich., and there Mrs. Farnham attended school until
her mother’s death in 1863, the daughter then was only twelve years old and was
obliged to make her own way in the world, which she did by working at housework
for one dollar fifty cents per week.
In
Athens, Calhoun County, Mich., on September 26, 1869, Miss Wilcox was united in
marriage with Alvin E. Farnham, born in Buffalo, N. Y., March
4, 1848. When he was five years old he
accompanied his parents to Michigan, where he grew up, and at the age of
sixteen he enlisted in Company A, 11th Michigan Volunteer Infantry;
on July 4, 1864, Mr. Farnham was wounded by a shell; and after his recovery he
went into the service as a nurse and remained until the close of the War, when
he returned to his home in Michigan.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Farnham purchased forty acres in
Calhoun County, Michigan, which they farmed for twelve years. In 1886 they sold their place and came to California,
locating in Dry Creek precinct, where they first rented land and farmed. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs.
Farnham, all natives of Michigan:
Adelbert is night watchman for the City of Roseville, is married and has
five children; Mahlon Emmett, besides running the home place, is engaged in the
express and truck business; Carrie B. is the wife of Benjamin Fertig, a farmer in Sacramento County, and they have five
children. In 1907 the present home place
was purchased, upon which there is a fine bearing almond orchard, which is a
good source of income. Mr. Farnham was a
member of Sumner Post, G. A. R., in Sacramento.
He passed away on his place, on June 15, 1920, and since then the ranch
has been operated by the son, Mahlon Emmett.
Mahlon Emmett Farnham was very active in getting the rural mail delivery
route established, circulating the petition, and for some time served as rural
mail carrier. He has served on the
election board for the Dry Creek voting precinct of Placer County and has been
Master of Antelope Grange No. 161 for two terms. Mrs. Farnham, now in her seventy-fourth year,
is a life member of Antelope Grange No. 161 and is a highly respected and
honored citizen of her locality, where she has spent so many years and where
she has reared her children.
Transcribed by
V. Gerald Iaquinta.
Source:
“History of Placer & Nevada Counties,
California”, by W. B. Lardner & M. J. Brock. Pages 453-455.
Historic Record Co., Los Angeles 1924.
© 2013
V. Gerald Iaquinta.