Ancestors of Tim Farr and Descendants of Stephen Farr Sr. of Concord, Massachusetts and Lidlington, Bedfordshire, England


David Charles ORAM [Parents] was born on 18 Feb 1885 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. He died 1 on 27 Aug 1922 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States from of injuries from being crushed by freight car at work(D. & R. G. R. R.). He was buried 2 on 30 Aug 1922 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. David married Elizabeth Ann FOWERS "Lizzie".

David resided 3 in 1900 in Collinston, Box Elder, Utah, United States.

Other marriages:
COVINGTON, Emily Louise
CLARK, Verril

RESIDENCE: Age 15.

Elizabeth Ann "Lizzie" FOWERS was born on 13 Sep 1881 in Hooper, Weber, Utah, United States. She died on 2 Nov 1918 in Hooper, Weber, Utah, United States. She was buried in Hooper, Weber, Utah, United States. Lizzie married David Charles ORAM.


Joseph Hyrum ORAM [Parents] [scrapbook] was born on 29 Aug 1887 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. He died 1 on 21 Mar 1936 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States from of a brain tumor. He was buried 2 on 25 Mar 1936 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Joseph married Erma BUSEMBARK on 28 Feb 1907.

Joseph resided 3 in 1900 in Collinston, Box Elder, Utah, United States.

Other marriages:
HEPWORTH, Myrtle May

RESIDENCE: Age 12.

Erma BUSEMBARK [scrapbook] was born on 16 Apr 1884 in Beaver Dam, Bear River Stake, Utah, United States. She died on 25 Oct 1918. Erma married Joseph Hyrum ORAM on 28 Feb 1907.


Joseph Hyrum ORAM [Parents] [scrapbook] was born on 29 Aug 1887 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. He died 1 on 21 Mar 1936 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States from of a brain tumor. He was buried 2 on 25 Mar 1936 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Joseph married Myrtle May HEPWORTH on 24 Sep 1919 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States.

Joseph resided 3 in 1900 in Collinston, Box Elder, Utah, United States.

Other marriages:
BUSEMBARK, Erma

RESIDENCE: Age 12.

Myrtle May HEPWORTH [scrapbook] was born on 31 Aug 1901 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States. She died on 28 Jun 1963 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. She was buried on 2 Jul 1963 in Mt Ogden Memorial Cemetery, Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Myrtle married Joseph Hyrum ORAM on 24 Sep 1919 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States.


Bryant Henery STEPHENS [scrapbook] was born 1 on 15 Jul 1888 in Farmington, Davis, Utah, United States. He died 2 on 7 Mar 1969 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Bryant married Mary Ann ORAM on 15 Oct 1912.

Mary Ann ORAM [Parents] [scrapbook] was born on 31 Jan 1894 in Collinston, Box Elder, Utah, United States. She died on 2 Oct 1987 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Mary married Bryant Henery STEPHENS on 15 Oct 1912.

Mary resided 1 in 1900 in Collinston, Box Elder, Utah, United States.

RESIDENCE: Age 6.


Alma Merrill ORAM [Parents] [scrapbook] was born on 10 Nov 1896 in Collinston, Box Elder, Utah, United States. He died on 15 Nov 1969. Alma married Blanch Eliza HUNSAKER on 4 Jun 1917 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.

Alma resided 1 in 1900 in Collinston, Box Elder, Utah, United States.

RESIDENCE: Age 3.

Blanch Eliza HUNSAKER [scrapbook] was born 1 on 29 Apr 1897. She died 2 on 15 Dec 1936 in Box Elder, Utah, United States. She was buried on 20 Dec 1936 in Honeyville, Box Elder, Utah, United States. Blanch married Alma Merrill ORAM on 4 Jun 1917 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.


Arthur David MALAN [scrapbook] was born on 19 May 1895 in San Jean, Piedmont, Italy. He died on 22 Jan 1990 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. He was buried on 25 Jan 1990 in Ogden City Cemetery, Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Arthur married Myrtle Mae ORAM on 7 Jun 1922 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States.

Myrtle Mae ORAM [Parents] [scrapbook] was born on 21 Aug 1899 in Collinston, Box Elder, Utah, United States. She died on 6 Dec 1978 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Myrtle married Arthur David MALAN on 7 Jun 1922 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States.

Myrtle resided 1 in 1900 in Collinston, Box Elder, Utah, United States.

RESIDENCE: Age 9 months.


Winslow FARR Sr [Parents] [scrapbook] was born 1, 2, 3 on 12 Jan 1794 in Chesterfield, Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States. He died 4, 5 on 22 Aug 1865 in Big Cottonwood, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States. He was buried on 29 Aug 1865 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States. Winslow married 6, 7, 8 Olive Hovey FREEMAN on 5 Dec 1816 in Waterford, Caledonia, Vermont, United States.

Winslow resided 9 in 1850 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States. He resided 10 in 1856 in Big Cottonwood, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States. He resided 11 on 17 Jul 1860 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States.

Other marriages:
CLEMENS, Adelia Maria
RANDALL, Almena
COLBURN, Amanda Bower
PORTER, Roxana
COLE, Achsach Sans Earl

Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p.866
FARR, WINSLOW (son of Ashael Farr, baptized March 23, 1776, at Chesterfield, Vt., and Lydia Snow, born March 18, 1772, Chesterfield, Vt. married 1786). He was born Jan. 14, 1794, Chesterfield, Vt, Came to Utah Sept. 30, 1850, Joseph Young company. Married Olive Hovey Freeman Dec. 5, 1816, Hanover, Vt. (daughter of Elijah Freeman, born Nov. 3, 1757, Mansfield, Conn., and Olive Hovey, born Oct. 30, 1761, died Oct. 21, 1820 married Dec. 27, 1781). She was born June 23, 1799, Lebanon, NH., died March 10, 1893, Big Cottonwood, Utah. Their children: John b. Dec. 14, 1817, d. infant; Aaron Freeman b. Oct. 31, 1818, m. Persis Atherton Jan. 16, 1844; Lorin b. July 27, 1820, m. Nancy B. Chase; Olive Hovey b. March 18, 1825, m. William Walker Nov. 3, 1843; Diantha b. Oct. 12, 1828, m. William Clayton Jan. 1845; Winslow b. May 11, 1837, m. Emily Jane Covington Oct. 17, 1858. Family resided Waterford and Charleston, Vt., before coming to Utah. Appointed one of municipal high council of twelve 1846. Settled on Big Cottonwood river 1851. Died Aug. 25, 1867, Big Cottonwood, Utah.

Archibald F. Bennett, Saviors on Mount Zion, p.113 In the Genealogical Library are bound volumes of the Era, in one of which appears this story:

Concerning Gratitude
by President George Albert Smith
"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you." (Matthew 6:33.)

My great-grandparents lived in New England. When the message of the restored gospel was first taken to that section by Orson Pratt and others, the houses of worship were not open to them. They had a difficult time in finding a place in which to preach. They came to a small village and thought surely they would readily find someone who would offer to open a place for the preaching of the gospel, but they found none. At length they inquired of a man on the street as to where they could secure a place. He said, "Go find Winslow Farr. I think he can help you. So they went to see Winslow Farr; he was easily found; everyone knew him. They told him what they wanted to find a place in which to preach the gospel.  He asked, "What are you going to preach about?" They answered, "Jesus Christ and the gospel." He said, "I will help you. They found a place and invited the people to come. Orson Pratt told them God had spoken again from the heavens, and that a young man named Joseph Smith had received heavenly manifestations. The Lord had directed him to an ancient record which the Prophet translated the Book of Mormon. It was a divine record, the story of the ancestry of the American Indians.

Orson Pratt's testimony was so effective that Winslow Farr came up to him, took his hand, and said, "I have enjoyed your meeting tonight. Where are you going to stay?" On learning that they had no place to stay, he said, "You come home with me. The missionaries didn't know that Winslow Farr's wife was dying of a dread disease  tubercular consumption. But this servant of the Lord, Orson Pratt, seeing her condition and realizing how kind her husband had been, looked at her and asked, "Have you faith to be healed?" The doctor had said she could not be healed, could live but a few days. When asked that question she said, "I don't know if I have that faith or not, but I know God could heal me if he wanted to. And then this servant of the Lord said, calling her by her given name, "Olive, in the name of God, I command you to be healed." She was healed and in a few days was going about performing her household duties.

It was not long after that the Farrs came [p.114] down where our people were situated in Nauvoo. And when our people came farther west, the Farrs were among the first to come. Winslow Farr, my great-grandfather, and Olive Farr, his wife, had three sons and a daughter born to them. They were among the first people to live in Ogden. The last time the Farr family assembled to celebrate her birthday, they found she was grandmother, great-grandmother, or great-great-grandmother to more than three hundred and twenty people, and I was one of the great-grandchildren.


Excerpts From A Patriarchal Blessing Given By
Patriarch John Smith On The Head Of Winslow Farr Sr.
On 7/23/1845 At Nauvoo, Ill.
Thou has obeyed the Gospel with an honest heart, hast not regarded the scorn of thy friends, nor the persecutions of thine enemies, has suffered and labored much for the moving forward the cause of Zion. The lord is well pleased with thee and thy name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life to remain there forever. Thou are of the Blood of Ephraim thy posterity shall be exceedingly numerous and I seal upon thee a continuation of lives. Thou art called to be a counselor in the House of Israel and this shall be thy salvation through all the generations of thy posterity, thou shall do a great work to bring about much restoration for the House of Israel and gather thy thousands into the church and establish them in the Land of Zion with very much treasure thou shalt be able to do any miracle that ever was done by man when it is necessary to forward thy work. Thou shall be able to prevail over thy enemies and not a hair of thy head shall fall by their hands...(15)
Volume 9, p. 312 #935
( Church Historical Department)


An excerpt from:
Biography of Diantha Farr Clayton
by Sharon Jeppson
It is no surprise that the Farr family had receptive hearts for the message of the gospel.   T. Earl Pardoe, a family historian, recorded a family story told to him by his grandfather, Lorin Farr.  Prior to Diantha's birth, Grandfather Elijah Freeman came to visit the family.  Lorin was just six years of age, but he would sit by his grandfather, and hear him say again and again that the true Church of Christ was not upon the earth.  Grandfather Freeman was a devout man who had withdrawn from the Congregational Church, because he felt that it covered-up serious wrongdoing and protected the offenders.  He had immersed himself deeply into the scriptures and would tell his loved ones that when the true church was restored it would have apostles, prophets, and gifts of the Spirit.  He told them that Israel would be gathered again and Jerusalem would be rebuilt.  He informed his family that they were living in the last days and that they might be fortunate enough to see the gospel restored in all of its beauty.

By the time the Mormon Elders arrived, Grandfather Freeman had passed on, but his family recognized the truth.  When Lorin first heard the teachings of the Elders, he exclaimed, “Why that is what my grandfather said.” After his baptism, Father Winslow was ordained a Teacher, a Priest, and then, in July of 1834, an Elder in the Melchizedek Priesthood.  As the Farr family began serving in the church, they found their testimonies growing, and they developed a yearning desire to join the body of the Saints in Ohio.  (3, pp. 23-25)


This desire was realized four years after their baptism, when Diantha was eight years of age.  As Winslow was a man who was highly respected in the community, the townsfolk were not pleased to hear of his desire to move from the area and join the Mormons in their gathering place.

Tullidge in his biographies of Men of Northern Utah, p. 177 writes:

“Father Farr sold out his property, he having some 2,000 acres of land, but found it difficult to sell for anything near its worth, his neighbors throwing every obstacle in his way to prevent him from selling as he was a prominent and influential man in the country, they did not want him to leave to gather with the deluded Mormons.  Determined, however, to leave in the fall and winter of '36-7, he sold a portion of his property for one-fourth less than its true value.  By September 1837, he got his teams ready and the entire family prepared to go to Kirtland, Ohio.

“A village party was given the Farrs for their leaving, but many of Winslow's and Olive's friends stayed away, telling them frankly that such going showed little wisdom and warranted naught but trouble and ultimate disgrace.”(3, p. 26)


Marriage: Water Town Clerk, Index of Marriage Records Book 2, page 229. Married by Sylvanus Hemingway.

RESIDENCE: Age 57. Listed with wife Olive and son Winslow.

RESIDENCE: Winslow had a household of 6, a real wealth of $1500, and a personal wealth of $600.

Olive Hovey FREEMAN [Parents] [scrapbook] was born 1, 2, 3 on 23 Jun 1799 in Waterford, Caledonia, Vermont, United States. She died 4, 5, 6 on 10 Mar 1893 in Big Cottonwood, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States. She was buried 7, 8 on 14 Mar 1893 in Big Cottonwood, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States. Olive married 9, 10, 11 Winslow FARR Sr on 5 Dec 1816 in Waterford, Caledonia, Vermont, United States.

Olive resided 12 in 1850 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States. She resided 13 in 1860 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States.

Excerpt from The History Of A Country Church, East Charleston, Vermont 1841-2007 by Richard A. Colburn Sr.:

CHAPTER 4
THE FREE WILL BAPTIST CHURCH OF EAST CHARLESTON
The following records of the Free Will Baptist Church of East Charleston are from a book loaned by Stanley Wilson of Derby. An ancestor of Mr. Wilson was the clerk of the Church at one time.

The first record of a church in East Charleston is Feb. 11, 1830 when the following people were received into membership:

George Dom         Ezra Bingham David Preston
Susan Cushman         Dolly Bingham Harriet Preston
David Preston Jr.         Joel Hidden         Levi Pierce
Sarah Ann Preston Amy Preston Laura Hidden
Timothy Hazeltine Elisha Bingham Elder James Allen
Diantha Hazeltine Lucinda Allen

The Church was reorganized in 1832 with 16 members and by 1834 there were 31
members.

Note: it is interesting that none of the above names appear in the organization of the First Congregational Church in 1841 except Elisha Bingham and none of the names written in connection with the organizing of the East Charleston Meeting House Association in 1856. These names do not show up in "A Catalog of Charleston, VT Cemeteries" except Elisha Bingham's wife, Dorothy. Quoting from Abby Hemenway's "The Vermont Gazetteer," Volume 3 page 116, Charleston section: "From 1832 to early or mid 1836, Lyman Johnson was one of the great men of Mormon History. He, with Orson Pratt, came to town and formed a large Church from East Charleston and Brighton; but in a few short years this whole Church with the exception of one who renounced the Church, gathered up their effects and removed to Missouri their 'promised land.' This sect professed to work miracles, heal the sick and all performed to the satisfaction of their followers. Their numbers were greatly increased through the faith of the people in the healing of a Mrs. (Olive) Farr who on account of sickness had been unable to leave her bed for 3 years. After a season of prayer, the Mormon priests commanded her to 'rise and walk,' upon which she immediately obeyed the injunction, declared herself healed, and the next day was baptized in the waters of the Clyde. After which she engaged in the busy avocations of active life during the remaining three or four years of her stay in Charleston." According to "Mormon Historical Studies" by M. C. Ward, "Olive Hovey Freeman was born 23 June 1800 in Hanover, New Hampshire to Elijah Freeman and Olive Hovey and was married 5 Dec. 1816 to Winslow Farr and died 10 Mar. 1893 in Big Cottonwood, Salt Lake, Utah." (I believe this group became early members of the Mormon Church. RAC)
p.50


Archibald F. Bennett, Saviors on Mount Zion, p.113

They found a place and invited the people to come. Orson Pratt told them God had spoken again from the heavens, and that a young man named Joseph Smith had received heavenly manifestations. The Lord had directed him to an ancient record which the Prophet translated the Book of Mormon. It was a divine record, the story of the ancestry of the American Indians.

Archibald F. Bennett, Saviors on Mount Zion, p.113

Orson Pratt's testimony was so effective that Winslow Farr came up to him, took his hand, and said, "I have enjoyed your meeting tonight. Where are you going to stay?" On learning that they had no place to stay, he said, "You come home with me." The missionaries didn't know that Winslow Farr's wife was dying of a dread disease  tubercular consumption. But this servant of the Lord, Orson Pratt, seeing her condition and realizing how kind her husband had been, looked at her and asked, "Have you faith to be healed?" The doctor had said she could not be healed, could live but a few days. When asked that question she said, "I don't know if I have that faith or not, but I know God could heal me if he wanted to." And then this servant of the Lord said, calling her by her given name, "Olive, in the name of God, I command you to be healed." She was healed and in a few days was going about performing her household duties.

Archibald F. Bennett, Saviors on Mount Zion, p.119

One line traces back from Olive Hovey Freeman Farr twenty-two generations to an Earl of Winchester in England, who was one of the Barons who forced King John to sign the Great Charter in 1215, and who died a few years later on a Crusade to Jerusalem. Nor does the pedigree end here.


Excerpts From A Patriarchal Blessing Given By
Patriarch John Smith On The Head Of Olive H. Farr On 7/23/1845 At Nauvoo, Ill.
Tho art of the same lineage with thy companion and a heir to the priesthood and all blessings and powers which are sealed upon him in common with him, tis thy privilege to have faith to heal the sick in thine house by the laying on of hands in the absence of thy companion and to drive the adversary from they habitation; thou shalt be blest in thy basket in thy store and thou shalt be blest in all things that you put your hands to do. Thy table shall be well supplied with the best fruits of the earth and thy posterity shall be exceeding numerous and if your faith does not fail you shall live to see the fourth generation of Jacob. Thou shalt be able with the help of thy companion to redeem thy Father's house back to where they held the priesthood... .if you desire it with a perfect heart, you shall live to see the closing scene of this generation and behold all the glory of the gathering of Israel and shall attain a Celestial glory with thy companion, children and friends...(15)
(Albert Carrington, Recorder) Volume 9, p. 313 #936 (Church Historical Department)

They had the following children.

  M i
John FARR was born 1 on 14 Dec 1817 in Waterford, Caledonia, Vermont, United States. He died on 19 Feb 1818 in Vermont, United States.
  M ii Aaron Freeman FARR Sr was born on 31 Oct 1818. He died on 8 Nov 1903.
  M iii Lorin FARR was born on 27 Jul 1820. He died on 12 Jan 1909.
  F iv Olive Hovey FARR was born on 8 Mar 1825. She died on 8 Dec 1915.
  F v Diantha FARR was born on 12 Oct 1828. She died on 11 Sep 1850 from of dropsy.
  M vi Winslow FARR Jr was born on 11 May 1837. He died on 18 Feb 1913.

Lorin FARR [Parents] [scrapbook] was born 1, 2, 3 on 27 Jul 1820 in Waterford, Caledonia, Vermont, United States. He died 4, 5 on 12 Jan 1909 in Hot Springs, Weber, Utah, United States. He was buried on 17 Jan 1909 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Lorin married 6, 7, 8 Nancy Bailey CHASE on 1 Jan 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States.

Lorin resided 9 on 15 Jul 1870 in Ogden, Weber, Utah Territory, United States.

Other marriages:
GILES, Sarah
JONES, Olive Ann
BINGHAM, Mary
ERICKSON, Nicholine
BATES, Clara Jane

The following appeared in the Ogden Standard Examiner for the Aug. 2006

Winslow Farr Sr. Family Reunion:
OGDEN - When the descendants of Ogden's first mayor meet in Ogden this week, they will ponder Lorin Farr's hat, wander around his old fort, gaze upon his tombstone and hear the latest discoveries regarding his deoxyribonucleic acid.
The other stuff just sits in museums or on the ground, but Farr's DNA has been doing some interesting stuff of late. Everyone is very excited.
Farr became Ogden's first mayor, unofficially, in 1850 when he was sent to the area now called Ogden by Brigham Young, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Farr's title was made official in a special election in 1851. He kept the job 22 years, off and on, and had a career that included American Indian troubles, a brief move to Southern Utah, the coming of the Transcontinental Railroad, a mission in England and getting arrested for having five wives too many.
He beat the polygamy rap and went on to meet with President Theodore Roosevelt, who was stumping the country encouraging large families as a way to avoid "race suicide."
Farr, who at the time had 326 descendants, certainly qualified. Since then, in raw numbers, the Farr family has done all right by itself.
David Farr, Mission Viejo, Calif., president of the Winslow Farr Sr. Organization, serves as a central coordinator for the Farr family.
Winslow Farr Sr. was Lorin Farr's father. David Farr's best guess is there are perhaps 8,000 descendants of Winslow Farr. There are probably 40,000 for the whole family, if you add in ancestors, their other descendants and so forth, he said.
Descendants meet
The reunion, which runs Thursday through Saturday, won't draw anywhere near that many relatives. North Ogden resident Duane Manscill, who is organizing a bus tour of Farr historical sites, guesses there will be about 400 Farr relations at the reunion. He has 100 seats for the bus tour and expects them to sell out.
David Farr said the reunion is held every two years and is actually for descendants of Winslow Farr Sr. and his wife, Olive. They usually pick one descendent to focus on. This year, the focus is on Lorin Farr.
"The meeting is about our mission statement, research, telling the stories, focusing on Winslow and Olive and the five children," said David Farr. "We hold classes on them. We want to communicate our heritage to the descendants of the Farr family, to strengthen families this way."
Mysterious origins
One major advance this year was not in finding descendants of Lorin Farr, but his antecedents. That is where Farr's DNA comes in. It will be a major topic at the reunion.
Members of the LDS faith are scrupulous about genealogical records for religious reasons. Before the faith was founded by Joseph Smith, however, people were not so careful about keeping track of who was who.
Lorin Farr's great-great-great-grandfather, Stephen Farr, was a puzzle. He just seemed to show up in America around the early 1670s, with no hint of his origins.
St. George resident Tim Farr, the clan's chief genealogist, said they are pretty sure Stephen Farr was born in 1640, but the earliest positive paper record they have of him is his 1674 marriage.
But where did he come from? He was a Puritan, living in Massachusetts, which meant he probably came to America from England. Beyond that, nothing was certain.
Tim Farr said he was able to narrow it down to a Farr family in Bedfordshire, England, mostly by laboriously searching old records for people named Stephen Farr who did not connect up properly in other places through the existing documents.
He found one Stephen Farr, in Bedfordshire, England, who seemed to fit the bill. How to be sure?
Internet, science help
That's where DNA testing came in.
Tim Farr posted the Farr ancestry on the Internet and, subsequently, was contacted by a man in Belgium named Stephen Timothy Farr. This fellow told him he had looked into his own ancestors and there seemed to be a lot of similarities to what Tim Farr had found.
So David Farr in this country took a DNA test. Stephen Timothy Farr in Belgium took the same test. The test looked for a particular strand of DNA that is carried intact through male descendants.
They found that strand in both Farrs and it matched, Tim Farr said.
"It's actually a pretty major thing," he said. It provided first proof of from where in England the Farr family came. It also connected the family in America to a whole new branch in Belgium, England and around Europe.
Mike Farr, who runs Farr's Ice Cream in Ogden, said he's glad to see his great-great-grandfather the focus of this year's reunion.
The bus tour includes his family's ice cream shop where, yes, he said, they will get free Farr's ice cream. He'll also be with them when they visit a monument to his ancestor in the Ogden Municipal Gardens.
"They asked me if I will say a few things at that, and I will be doing that," he said.
His great-great-grandfather will be there, too, in a way.
"I will be dressed in a suit that was Lorin Farr's," he said, which like the former mayor's memory, is carefully preserved and handed down.
[End of Article]


When he was eight years old, his parents moved north into the town of Charleston, Orleans county, Vermont where his father bought a farm. In the spring of 1832, when Lorin was eleven years of age, the family, for the first time, heard the gospel preached by Orson Pratt and Lyman E. Johnson. Although but eleven years of age Lorin's mind was prepared to receive the testimony of these servants of God, so he was baptized by Lyman E. Johnson, in Clide river, near his father's house, and confirmed by Orson Pratt. In the fall of 1837, Father Farr, who with his family had joined the Church, sold his farm and moved to Kirtland, Ohio. In the spring of 1838, Lorin started for Far West, Mo., where he arrived May 1st, and made his home with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He passed through most of the persecutions heaped upon the Saints in Missouri, and when they were driven from the State, he went to Quincy, and in the spring of 1840 settled in Nauvoo, Ill. In the spring of 1843 he was called upon a mission, by the Prophet Joseph, to the Middle and Eastern States, with the instruction to go wherever the spirit led him He was performing this duty when the sad news of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph and Patriarch Hyrum reached him. Elder Farr remained in the field, comforting and strengthening the Saints, until late in November, 1844, when he returned to Nauvoo. Jan. 1, 1845, he was married to Miss Nancy B. Chase, by Pres. Brigham Young. Elder Farr was with the Saints during all their troubles in Nauvoo and assisted in building the Temple. In the spring of 1847, he prepared to go to Great Salt Lake valley, where he arrived Sept. 20th of that year. He lived in Salt Lake City till the spring of 1850, when he was called by Pres. Brigham Young to go to Ogden to preside over the Saints in the northern part of the Territory. The following year (1851), when the Weber Stake of Zion was organized, Elder Farr was called and set apart as the president of the Stake. This position he held until 1870, when he was called on a mission to Europe, where he remained until 1871. Elder Farr has served as mayor of Ogden city for many terms; he also represented Weber county in the Territorial legislature from the organization of the Territory until he was disfranchised, excepting one year while on his mission to Europe. He is a public spirited man and has done much for the advancement of the kingdom of God and the commonwealth. (See also Tullidge's History, Vol. 2, Bio. 172.)

Settled at Ogden 1850. First president Weber stake; president high priests' quorum in 1850-51. Erected first grist mill and sawmill in Weber county. Member first territorial legislature from Weber county, and in the earlier days represented Box Elder county from the time of the organization of the territory until 1887; first mayor of Ogden 1851-70, and re-elected in 1877. Missionary to Europe 1870. Prominent in building of railroads; superintendent of grading Central Pacific for two hundred miles west of Ogden, and also building of Utah Northern to Brigham City. Died Jan. 12, 1909, Ogden.

Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p.1313
Sun. 26. Pres. Brigham Young and party held meetings with the Saints in the south fort, Ogden, when Lorin Farr was chosen President of the Weber Stake, with Charles R. Dana and David B. Dille as counselors.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 14, p.490
Lorin Farr Sawmill Lorin Farr was called by Brigham Young to build a sawmill at Ogden. In the spring of 1850 he chose a site southeast of the present "Old Mill Inn," 1251 Canyon Road. Logs were cut in Ogden Canyon and floated down the river. A dam was made to divert the water to form a mill pond in which the logs collected. Men cutting logs for Farr received 50% of the logs as pay. The saws were run by water power. The first sawyer was Joseph Harris. The mill was abandoned in 1873.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 13, p.21
On the 14th of September, that year, elder Woodruff recorded the death of Ezra T. Benson, who died suddenly at Ogden City, at the home of Elder Lorin Farr. The following Sunday elder Woodruff preached a discourse in the Tabernacle,  [p. 22] in honor of Brother Benson, and gave a brief sketch of his life. He said that on that occasion there were about sixty ladies and gentlemen from Ohio, who occupied the front benches and who gave strict attention to what was said.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 14, p.489
Lorin Farr Gristmill With lumber available from the sawmill built by Lorin Farr, and rock plentiful nearby, a 30 x 40 foot, two-story flour mill was built by Lorin Farr in the fall of 1850, on Canyon Road. The grain was ground by the use of burrs, several of which were set up. The bottom burr remained stationary, while the upper burr was propelled slowly by wooden paddles turned by water power. It was placed evenly between the burrs and sifted slowly by way of numerous grooves, chiseled at 45-degree angles. This process required constant watching and it was necessary to sharpen these grooves often. The first burrs were made from rock from our mountains and proved too soft, cracking and crumbling. The next were made from granite like that used in the Salt Lake Temple. This proved too hard, striking fire and scorching the grain. Other experiments were made until suitable material was found.
[p.490] In the Ogden City Directory of 1883, we find the following description of his mill: "There was a substantial stone building with frame wings and stone houses. The power supplied by a flume nearby, one mile in length, running from the Ogden River to the mill. There are four run of stone burrs with a capacity of some 10,000 pounds of flour per day. John P. Williams ground the first and last grist from 1862 to 1897. Joseph Stonebreaker was the first miller." Lorin Farr Sawmill Lorin Farr was called by Brigham Young to build a sawmill at Ogden. In the spring of 1850 he chose a site southeast of the present "Old Mill Inn," 1251 Canyon Road. Logs were cut in Ogden Canyon and floated down the river. A dam was made to divert the water to form a mill pond in which the logs collected. Men cutting logs for Farr received 50% of the logs as pay. The saws were run by water power. The first sawyer was Joseph Harris. The mill was abandoned in 1873.

Biographical Sketch of Lorin Farr (1820- )
Source: Biographical sketch of Lorin Farr typed from the original photostat from Bancroft Library. The original was written on stationery with the following letterhead:
CLIFT HOUSE, S. C. Ewing, Proprietor.
Room and Board, $2.00 per day. Salt Lake City, .......188
Lorin Farr of Ogden, born Caladona County, Vermont, July 20, 1820. Remained there and attended the schools at that time. Moved with his parents to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1838. Moved to Missouri 1839. Went to Nauvoo then to Council Bluffs. In 1847 came to Utah with Captain Spencers Company of over 600 wagons. Nearly 5000 people remaining till spring of 1850.
Located in Ogden building a saw and grist mill, the first north of Salt Lake City. Also helped build first mill in Utah. Has followed the milling business until the present time. I 1868 built the Ogden Woolen Mills in connection with Randall Rugsley and Neil. He also followed merchandising for several years buying a stock of good costing $30, 000. Setting out in 1869. Has also been and is a extensive farmer owning 300 acres of farmland all subject to irrigation.

Then he came to Ogden. Was elected as mayor which office he held for 20 years. After 6 years out? [p.2] was elected for a term of 2 years. Was appointed as president of the stake of Weber Co. which he held for 20 years. Then going to Europe and being obliged to resign his position as president of the stake. Has also been a member of the Territorial Legislature from the time of its organization until the last session, when he was disfranchised...but having never broken to law neither the law of 1862 or the recent Edmonds law.

Has always taken an active part in all matters pertaining to the welfare to the Church or Territory. Was the principal mover in building the roads through the Ogden Canyon. Also held the contract with Benson & West for constructing 200 miles of the C.P. Also took an active part in building the U.U., also the Utah Central. Was instrumental in seeing the R.R. Depot at Ogden. Also in getting the D & R G into Ogden making several trips to Denver for that purpose. He raised a family of 38 children, the youngest being 16 years. All respectable and well educated. Has also buried 9 children.

Lorin Farr
Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, Vol. 4, p.106
The Farrs of Utah are a numerous and an influential family, especially in Weber county, where the subject of this story resides. The life of Hon. Lorin Farr has been active, useful, and replete with interesting incidents. Than he, none of the founders of our States have made more honorable records, whatever may be said of more illustrious ones. To speak of greater gifts and larger opportunities, is not to disparage those possessed by a man whose abilities as a colonizer, a law-maker and an executive are so well known and recognized.

The simple fact that for twenty-two years he was mayor of the second city in Utah is an eloquent tribute to his worth and the esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens. Those were times, too, when the best men were sought for and put in office, men of honesty and integrity, who could be relied upon to expend the public revenues wisely and economically and administer the affairs of government in the interest of the entire people. No man was given office as a reward for political service, partisan politics was almost unknown, and the spoils system had no place in public life. For a period of equal length to that during which he was Mayor of Ogden, Mr. Farr presided over the Weber Stake of Zion, and for twenty-eight years he represented Weber, Box Elder and Cache counties, and some of the time Carson county, in the Territorial legislature.

Lorin Farr was born July 27, 1820, in Waterford, Caledonia county, Vermont. His parents were Winslow and Olive Hovey Freeman Farr, and his earliest American ancestor was George Farr, who emigrated from London, England, in 1629, as a ship-builder for a Boston company. His father was a well-to-do farmer, prominent and influential, holding the office of judge of the county court. When Lorin was about eight years old the family moved to Charleston, Orleans county, forty miles north of their former home, and it was there that they became connected with Mormonism. They were converted under the preaching of Orson Pratt who, by the laying on of hands, was instrumental in healing Mrs. Farr of consumption and other ailments from which she had been a sufferer for five years. The healing was instantaneous and permanent; she who was then an invalid, thirty-two years of age, living until she was ninety-four.

Lorin was baptized a Latter-day Saint in the spring of 1832, being then eleven years of age. Five years later he removed with his parents to northern Ohio, and in the general Mormon migration from that part to the State of Missouri, he and his brother Aaron walked the whole distance from Kirtland to Far West. This was in the spring of 1838. The following winter he was in the exodus of his people from Missouri to Illinois, and while in both those States he lived a good deal of the time in the family of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Hitherto a farmer and a carpenter, Lorin, who had received a good common education, now turned his attention to school teaching. He taught for a number of years at Nauvoo and the vicinity, the children of the Prophet and those of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor and other leading men being among his pupils. In the spring of 1842, by direction of the Prophet, he was ordained an Elder of the Church, and in the fall of 1844, under the hands of Elder Charles C. Rich, was ordained to the office of High Priest. While still at Nauvoo, on New Year's day, 1845, he married his first wife, Nancy B. Chase. Early the next year he bade farewell to that city and the State of Illinois, and with the main body of the exiled Saints passed over the frozen Mississippi and traveled across the Territory of Iowa on his way to the Rocky Mountains. From the Missouri river, where he remained until the summer of 1847, he journeyed [p.107] westward in the companies that followed immediately behind the Pioneers, leaving the Elk Horn in June. These companies comprised about six hundred wagons, with fifteen hundred human beings and five thousand head of stock. His individual outfit was a wagon, two yoke of oxen, two yoke of cows and provisions to last him and those dependent upon him eighteen months. His family was then small, consisting of his wife and his little son Enoch. He first traveled in A. O. Smoot's hundred and George B. Wallace's fifty, but during the latter part of the journey he was in Daniel Spencer's hundred and Ira Eldredge's fifty. He reached Salt Lake valley September 21, 1847.

After living awhile in the "Old Fort," he moved onto a lot north-west of the Temple block and adjoining the corner now occupied by the residence of Hon. Moses Thatcher. His first domicile in the valley was his wagon box, taken off the running-gears and made into a temporary abode; but he and his brother Aaron soon hauled logs from the canyon and built homes of a more comfortable character. Their houses in the fort had whip sawed lumber floors and were among the best constructed there. Lorin had brought with him from Winter Quarters all kinds of seeds, and these he planted in the spring of 1848. Most of his crop was devoured by the crickets before they were destroyed by the, gulls, but he raised enough to support his family till another harvest time, and had considerable to spare. Some of his neighbors were forced to eat thistle roots, raw hides and even wolf meat. Many put their families upon rations. He was not reduced to this necessity, owing to the fact, he says, that he had an economical wife, who managed so well that the family had enough to eat and something to give away.

In March, 1850, by special request of President Young, Lorin Farr removed to Ogden "to locate and take charge of the northern colonies." He with Charles Hubbard built, in the summer of the same year, the first saw mill and grist mill north of Salt Lake City. In the fall he bought out Mr. Hubbard and conducted the milling business alone for several years, after which he took in as a partner his brother Aaron.

In the fall of 1851 the colonists on the Weber had considerable trouble with the Indians, caused by the accidental killing of the Shoshone chief Terakee by Urban Stewart, one of the settlers. The chief, who was a noble specimen of his race, and very friendly to the whites, had gone into Mr. Stewart's cornfield one night about eleven o'clock to get his horses out of the corn, when the owner, hearing a noise and supposing it to proceed from some animal, wild or tame, that had strayed into his enclosure, imprudently fired his gun in that direction. The bullet struck Terakee, killing him instantly. Much beloved by his people, his tragic death was deeply lamented, and for a time it seemed as if the Shoshones could not be placated, but would take revenge on the whole colony for the unwise act of one of its members. As it was, the Indians, on the day following the accident, shot and killed one of Mr. Farr's men, his best mechanic, while at work upon his mills. Mr. Stewart regretted his rashness as much as any one, but that did not bring the dead to life, though his explanation and apologies, with the protestations of his associates, did much to appease the wrath of the red men. The settlers, however, fearful of a massacre, lived for several years in forts. A large portion of the immigration of 1851 was sent to strengthen the Weber county settlements. The first military organization of the county was formed about this time; it comprised all the militia in the Territory north of Davis county, and was organized by President Lorin Farr.

Elected Mayor of Ogden in the spring of 1851, he was re-elected every two years until he had had ten consecutive terms of office. He retired in November, 1870, but in 1876 was again elected for two years, making his aggregate period in the Mayoralty twenty-two years. From 1852 until 1880 he was a member of the Utah legislature. Meantime, in the summer of 1868, in connection with Chauncey W. West and Ezra T. Benson, he took a contract from Governor Leland Stanford, of California, President of the Central Pacific railroad, and did the grading for two hundred miles of that road west of Ogden.

In November, 1870, President Farr took his first and only foreign mission, which was to Europe. He had always been of a religious turn, and had done much preaching in his time, but his ministerial labors were generally at home, where his services were most needed. He not only preached the gospel, but practiced it, "trying to persuade men, women and children to live better lives in every way. I have labored all my life," he says, "to promote religious sentiment and make laws to protect the same. I have tried to do all the good I could, and as little harm as possible."

Mr. Farr was a member of the Constitutional Convention, which in 1895 framed the State Constitution upon which Utah was admitted into the Union. Since then he has led a quiet, uneventful life at his home in the city of Ogden. He is the father of forty children. His first wife, who has been named, and his plural wives, Sarah Giles, Olive Ann [p.108] Jones, Mary Bingham and Nicoline Erickson, are all dead. He has recently married again. Some years ago Mr. Farr met with an accident, a very painful fall, which at first threatened to be fatal, but he recovered and regained much of his old time sprightly vigor. At this writing he is in the eighty-third year of his age.


Fountain Green, Utah
August 10, 1992

Tim Farr
Box 449
Ferron, Utah 84523

Dear Brother Farr,

As I promised, even though a little late, the following is the essence of the remarks your great-grandfather made at the dedication of the Manti Temple:

"Elder Lorin Farr said he felt very thankful for the present privilege. For a year and a half he had not been able to stand before a congregation. For over fifty-six he had been connected with the, Church, and when a youth, he was intimately associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He never saw a man who manifested greater kindness and consideration towards his family than Joseph did. He, knew him then to be a prophet of God. A greater prophet never lived. He held the keys of all dispensations, and conferred the same, upon the Apostles. Temples would yet be built not only throughout America but in the various nations of Europe and Asia as well.

He could promise the saints that if they would be faithful, the present temple never should be taken from them nor destroyed. Faithful men had died in the past ages were engaged in the work of redemption in other spheres, which work would be connected with that performed in the Temples upon the earth. Millions of the dead were waiting for ordinances to be performed by the living in their behalf. He could testify that the Latter-day Saints were people, of God. It was the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands which was destined to fill the whole earth."

Tim, you can certainly be grateful for your progenitors. These men, those who built up this part of the West and had sacrificed so much, were some of God's choicest! They were men of great faith. How grateful we should be for them and for what we enjoy today because of their faith and sacrifice.

Very truly yours,

Victor J. Rasmussen


Death and funeral of Lorin Farr as described in the journal of Caroline Ballantyne Farr:

Jan 12 1909
Father Farr went up to the Hot Springs to take a bath and while in the warm pool he died. He was in the act of taking a plunge when life went out. When found, he was standing in the water with bowed head and hands extended. His body was still warm. Barlow Wilson and ________ Wallace went to his rescue. It was always his desire to go suddenly when his time came to leave this earth and his desire was granted. He was the best Father-law that ever lived with the exception of one, my own Father. We shall miss his dear face, one of the grandest among men. There is no feeling of gloom however, but a spirit of peace and love characteristic of him who has just left his place among the great ones who have lived on earth (Apostles and Prophets.) He was in his usual good health up to the moment of his death. His life just went out. He was standing in about four feet of water when found and his life gone out, and he did not fall. Surely the hand of God was made manifest in his behalf. I trust we may live lives that will be worthy of in other words that we may be worthy children of such a nobel father.

Sunday, Jan 17, 1908
At 2 o,clock in the Ogden Tabernacle was held the funeral service of Lorin Farr, our dear Father. No grander funeral was ever held, I believe here or at any other place. The speakers were President Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Parry, David 0. McKay, Moses Thatcher, George A. Smith, Fred J. Keisel, President L.W. Shurtliff and a poem in memory of the dedication of the Joseph Smith monument in Vermont which our Father was present with a company of about 30 members from Utah (He being the oldest.) He was the first of them to be called to the other side. It was a most beautiful poem written by Susie Y. Gates who was also one of the number who attended the dedication of that monument.

The Ogden Tabernacle choir were out in full force rendered most beautiful music under the direction of my brother Joseph Ballantyne. The decorations were beautiful. A calla lily blanket covered the casket. and many other beautiful flowers. There were at least 300 or 400 relatives present. The speakers were greatly inspired, and I have never heard grander words spoken of any human  being than were said of him. They were spoken by a Prophet of the living God. I never felt more humble. I felt very small indeed and unworthy but hope to become worthy of a membership in his family.

Carriages were provided for all the relatives who all met at his terrace on the hill on 21st street and looked at him for the last time in this life.

BIRTH: Name recorded as Loring Farr in Waterford Vital Records.

RESIDENCE: Age 50, Mayor & Pub. Speaker.

Nancy Bailey CHASE [scrapbook] was born 1, 2 on 27 Jan 1823 in Bristol, Addison, Vermont, United States. She died 3, 4 on 10 Sep 1892 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Nancy married 5, 6, 7 Lorin FARR on 1 Jan 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States.


Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868
(The number shown in parentheses next to each name is the age of the pioneer at the time of the journey.)
Daniel Spencer/Ira Eldredge Company (1847)
Farr, Celestia Ann (2)
Farr, Enoch (1)
Farr, Lorin (26)
Farr, Nancy Bailey Chase (24)
Farr, Persis Atherton (27)


Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847–1868

Source of Trail Excerpt:
Spencer, Daniel, Diaries 1845-1857, vol. 2.

Read Trail Excerpt:
on Thursday <10th> [June 1847]; after I started for the west after bidding my Bishopric fair[fare] well after driving about 1 1/2 miles got into a mud hole[.] after trying many times had to onload [unload] all our loding [loading] excess about 8 ore [or] so were driven out and cam[e] on about 1 1/2 miles farther & put up for the night our tools & camp with Br Boss & [..] [Jacob] Houtz & many other[s]
Friday came on our way Camp at [blank space] Crick

Saturday <12> arived at the horn [Elkhorn] about 25 miles from Winter Quarters[.] cross over Safe on a Lrg [large] Kraft[.] Came into Camp from Br P.P. Prat[t] & J Smith & Som[e] 150 Waggons ready for a Start[.] Br Pratt called the People togeathe [together] to coun Councal [council] with [?] & to Solius [solicit] subscriptions & pay for repairing cannon got about fiv[e] dollars

Sund[a]y the 13th Jun 1847[.] Br. Pratt returned back to Winter Quarters[.] Br Everitt [Everett] [,] Rushman & Br J. Van Cott accompanied him[.] had a meeting[.] Spoke a few words my self and I was [rescued] by Br J Smith visitt[.] Br Timmons rather out of healthe[.] Bad cold[.] We are prepaired [prepared] with absen[thia] gave previous to 19 pirsons [persons]--

Mond[a]y Jun 14th[.] Spent most of today repairing Axeltree & waggon Setting up a coal pit & firy [firing][.] Br Pratt return to the camp stating that there was above 500 waggons ready to start on Tusdy [Tuesday] for the mountains[.] Br Eldrichy [Eldredge] cam[e] on this day

Tuesd[a]y 15th Jun[e] 1847[.] Br Morl[e]y & H Eldridge [Eldredge] & oth[e]rs ar[r]ived from [Winter] Quarters[.] commenced organizat[ion][.] mad[e] up 100 from what are his Chie[f]s[.] FM J. Smith president of the Spiritual council, P.P Pratt & J Tayler [Taylor] principl[e] Leaders of the camp[.] Br John John Young presid[en]t of the camp & E[dward] Hunter & D[aniel] Spencer his Councilors[.] appointed D Spenc[er] captain of one Hund[red] p [.] Ira Eldridge Ca[p]t of Fifty

Wednesday 16th 1847[.] Weather quite cold[.] Br E Hunter & General Rich ar[r]ive from Winter Quarters B Scott & J. Young was expected to Start on Thursd[a]y Several of our cattle cross the River on the way back but were found Some 100 Waggons are in camp

Thursday 17th Jun[e] 1847[.] Weather cold[.] had a meeting on the subject of organisation & other matters[.] Agreed that all the camp but B[r] P. P. Pratt 50 should start out on the way West & go as far as the Platt Rive[r] on tomorrow & Send a company to fatsh [fetch] the Cannon ready or [met] at the Horn

Friday 18th June 1847[.] started from the Elkhorn River Camp about 10 oclock with Capt as the 1st Hundred with the 2d fifty with [n...nh?][.] traveled about 14 miles through what is called the Sandy Willows & Incamped by Ira Eldridge [Eldredge][,] Boss [&] [Samuel] Ensign & Boys [Boyce] & Brigham Caps [captains] of 10s with me form a Ring for our cattle to stay during the Night[.] on the East side of the Willows was found blud [blood] on the ground with a part of a pair of pantaluns [pantaloons] in the Pockits of which there were 2 letters purporting to be directed to the agent of the Farming business at [Parks...?] from the agent at St Louis from which we concluded that a messenger had been killed & robbed[.] we Sent the letters by the Camp Smith B Horman[.] we lost 2 of our cattle

Saturday th[e] 19 1847[.] Staid at Camp wa[i]ting for General Rich & the Cannon but never ar[r]ived

Sunday the 20th 1847[.] pleasant weathe[r][.] had preaching by P. Pratt

Monday[.] Taylor, Bro Cullen[,] Whitney & Lot ar[r]ives from Camp[.] stated that Scott had not come up to the Elk but that the Cannon would probably cross that night[.] held a Inquest on som[e] bones found near the Road side supposed to be human & the Jury so decide as there was part of pantaluns [pantaloons] w[h]ich contained 2 Letters from the agent Moss Miller which made it probable that the biearer [bearer] of Letters to one of the agents at the Pawnee nation was murdered

Monday 21 Jun 1847[.] No cannon at 10 oclock Br P Pratt & myself started back to ascertain the caus[e] of the delay of the Cannon[.] After proceeding about 10 miles met Br Young & G[eneral] Rich with all the ef[f]ects left the raft without any ropes to cross[.] Col Scott not having ar[r]ived[.] about 4 PM the waggons of Br Rich[,] Young & ar[r]ive in Camp preparations are making for a start of all the Camp tomorrow

Tuesday 22nd June 1847[.] The weather fine[.] all the camp amounting to ab[o]ut 600 waggons[.] got underway about 9 o clock A.M [.] first Company ahead 5 Teams abre[a]st proceeded this day about 10 miles[.] The weather fine but warm & having to brake [break] 3 new trails went Slow[.] put up about Sunset the front teams the hind one about 9 oclock

Wednesday 23d Jun[e] 1847[.] Weather good[.] commenced our marsh [march] with General Rich a head about 8 Oclock AM[.] traveled about 8 miles[.] came to the Platt & Watered our our oxen in the Bucket[.] about 5 miles further com[e] to Shell Crick[.] part of us cross on a bridge[.] the balance forded it[.] from there proceeded about 4 miles & Incamped without Timber but a slew for our cattle and having traveled about 17 miles put up about 5 Oclock

Thursday June 24t[h] 1847[.] Weather pleasant[.] commenced our march abo[u]t 8 oclock[.] traveled about 9 miles[.] struck a Branch of the Platt[e] & put out our Teams. after traveling about 2 miles from camp Br J. Taylor called to me as he was passing & said he wished me to go a piece with him which I according did[.] he said that his head ordered Br. Jedadiah [Jedediah] Grant to stop his teams & let him pass but had refused to stop saying [that?] he was under Br J. Young[.] he then said to Br J. Young you must stop or I shal[l] prefer a charg[e] aga[i]nst you for disobey of Council[.] according they did not stop[.] Taylor the[n] preferred a charge against Br Grant & Young and a council was held & the subject discussed at length by severral men particularly by Br. Pratt[.] he gav[e] a full histery of the nead [need] of Government of the Church & camp to the intire [entire] satisfaction of the camp according to the vote & Young & Grant asked pardon of Br Tayler for this insute [insult] to him and all was amicably settled

Friday June 25th 1847[.] Weath[er] pleasant but quite Windy[.] traveled about 14 miles[.] Crossed the Looking [Glass] & Shell Creek

Saturd[a]y June 26 1847 trevld [traveled] ab[o]ut 14 miles quite unusual[.] spent most of the afternoon on the bed[.] crossed the Looking Glass Crick[.] proceeded up the Loup Fork to [blank space] crick

Sunday 27th Jun[e] 1847[.] Spent the day in camp[.] meet the 2d 50 wh[o] crossed over the [blank space] Crick & encamped in the South Side[.] Br Pratt Tayler [Taylor] & others went to the Loop River found it was impassable without Bridging[.] was visited by the Pawnee Judge McIntyre who informed us that the Poineers [Pioneers] made a flo[a]ting Bridge & it probably would be the best way to clear the Ford[fork][.] Br Parley & Taylor & [Abraham] Smoot & [Jedediah M.] Grant was on the other side calculating to cross in the morning

Monday June 28th 1847 Weath[er] quit[e] cold in the morning[.] balanc[e] of the day warm[.] Br Taylor commenced crossing the creek about 9 ocl[o]ck & proceeded on thing [thinking] with the expectation of continuing up the north Side of the Loop until they find a more favorable place to cross[.] my company to stay behind with Br [Charles C.] Rich but with our cannon[.] in crossing the ford the 1st 50 of the 1st 100 brok[e] a Waggon wheel & Br Rich a waggon Tongue[.] trevild [traveled] this day about 6 miles & put up at the Old Town of Pawnee which was Burnt by the Sou [Sioux] Indian about 5 yrs since[.] the Pawnee tribe is about 1200 in number and in much fear of the Sous [Sioux] have moved to the North Sid[e] of the Loop fork to be more out of their reach

Tuesd[a]y 29th June 1847[.] Br Taylor ahead Grant next & Smith next and the 1st Company nx [next] the 2d fifty in advance of the 1st travild [traveled] about 8 miles this day[.] Crossed creek of consider[able] sisp [size] by the name of Sudren [Cedar][.] Encamped on the Loop

Wednesday 30th June 1847[.] Commenced our march in Br J. Taylors 100 in front[.] went with Brothers Prat[t] & Tayler [Taylor] ahe[a]d to Examine the rout[e][.] proceeded about 5 miles the 2d India[n] town over took Taylors Camp[.] proceed by them & come to Several Ravines many of which are almost impassable[.] proceed about 8 miles & concluded to try to cross the Loup as the way seemed to be hedged up on the North sid[e] of it accordingly all camped about 3 oclock AM [P.M.?] and a committee appointed to examine the River[.] after examination it was concluded to make the attempt in the morning

Thursd[a]y July 1st 1847[.] Commenced crossing Taylor Company ahead his call & sett[l]ed a difficulty in connection with B[r] Van Cot[t] in relation to a heifer Claimed by B[r] Wm Brown in possession of B[r] Shirts dicided that Brown should pay Sh[i]rts $3.00 & take the heifre [heifer][.] finished the crossing all the company by Sunset[.] B[r] Tayler [Taylor] advanced with his Company about 4 miles[.] Grant about 3. The balance encamped on the banks of the Loop

Frid[a]y the 2 July 1847[.] Commenced our march about 6 oclock[.] traveled about 16 miles[.] Encamped on the prairie with out wood or water Except where it was brought from the Loop[.] B[r] Nobl[e]s lost an ox this day

Saturd[a]y 3d July[.] continue our Journey in abo[u]t a South direction[.] traveled about 18 mil[e]s[.] Cross a small slew about 10 mil[es] from our Morning Camp[.] 2[nd] fifty of the 1s[t] Company ahe[a]d as they cross the slue[.] first ar[r]ive at Timbe[r] about 5 oclock on a Small Creek some distance from the Plat[t][.] Say about 4 mil[e]s off

Sunday July 4 1847[.] Weath[er] rainy[.] good feed for our Cattle & wood a plenty[.] Br Sessin [Sessions] shot an dere [deer][.] had a Council in the Eving [evening][.] agreed to rais[e] 3 pr of oxen for the Cannon

Monday 5th July 1847 2 Indians w[ere] discovered around our camp[.] Crossed a Small str[ea]m of water said to be in Grand Island[.] traveled about 15 miles to a Branch of the Plat[te] & found us the Pioneer Camp with a Board on which the foll[o]wing was Posted 217 mil[e]s from Winter Quart[er]s all well 29th Apr 1847[.] Guard well against the Indi[a]ns & look for our camps with informty [information]

Tuesday July 6th 1847[.] Traveled about 17 miles[.] Encamped on the Branch of the Platt[e][.] Campt found much signs of Buffa[lo][.] up Land poore & not much grass

Wednesday 7th July 1847[.] Traveled about 14 miles & Encamped near the Platt[e][.] as we thought a letter claimed the heifer of Br Glines[.] found another Bo[a]rd left by the Poin [Pioneers] Stating they had killed Eliven [eleven] Buffalo on this Enaft----- [Encampment?] dated M[a]y 6th[.] the weather quit[e] hot[.] saw many Prerier [Prairie] Doggs & Som[e] Deer

Thursd[a]y 8th July 1847[.] Trave[lled] about 11 miles[.] Saw Surrel [several] Buffalows Cross on Bad Slew[.] the land poor & clay Soil[.] Brother Pratt & others found 2 Iron Grey mair [mares] about 4 or 5 years old[.] on[e] had on a Rop[e] the other a fashionable missone [?] Bridle[.] many prairie dogs we[re]r shot this day[.] Br Boss lost an oxen

Friday July 9th Traveled about 10 mil[e]s[.] the weather quit[e] warm[.] all our company came up

Saturday 10 July[.] traveled about 5 miles[.] Put up to burn cole [coal] & make som[e] repair as it was understood that their was not much wood after we left here until we got within about 60 miles of Larimie [Laramie]

Sund[a]y 11th July[.] did not travel but a company went & kille[d] Buffalos & some attend[ed] meeting[.] I rod[e] about 40 miles this day[.] Saw innumerable Buffalos[.] Several were killed

Monday July 12th 1847[.] traveled about 14 miles[.] 2nd fifty of the 1st 100 ahead[.] Br Eldrige [Eldredge] turned over his waggon came nie killing his buoy [boy?][.] on Sund[a]y 1 child died & Br [Jacob] Houtz lost an ox [list of food and supplies]

Tuesday July 13th 1847[.] traveled about 16 miles[.] Encamped on the River where the Bluffs come ne[a]r to the River[.] the Bthe [Brethren] killed several Buffalows[.] discovered 2 horses but could not hitch them[.] Br Smoot camp staid a few miles back as they broke a waggon[.] we are probably near the Junction of the North & South Platt[e] [.] find quite poor & land sandy[.] Buffalow quit[e] thick

July 1847 traveled about 12 miles[.] turn out under the Bluffs[,] pass Br Taylors Comp[an]y[.] Come to an Exelent [excellent] Boiling Spring[.] quite Cold[.] our cattle much fatigued and [worn?] out of going & hot[.] the Brethren discovered some cottn [cottonwood] on I[s]land opposite our camp which is on the River & from of where [?] near the Junction of the South & Nor[th] Fork of the Platt[e] find quit[e] Poor

Frid[a]y 16th July 1847[.] Traveled about 9 miles[.] Br Parl[e]y encamping about 2 miles behind[.] wated [waited] for him to com[e] up[.] weath[er] heat [hot][.] Saw immense herds of Buffalow on both Sid[e]s of the River[.] Killed 2[.] many run amongst our hirds [herds] of Cattle[.] the [C....?] went to hooking them & falling off but no injury was done[.] we are about 9 miles ab[o]ve the Junction of the 2 Platts Forks[.] the Poines [Pioneers] track plain to be seen

Saturday 17th July 1847[.] Traveled 13 miles[.] Saw Large hirds [herds] of Buffalo[.] Revcd [received] Communication from the Poiniers [Pioneers] by the Returning Emigrants[.] state they saw the[m] at the South Pass on the mountains 15 days Since[.] Br Grant had 70 head of cattle brake [break] from them t[hat] are missing we are about 25 mil[e]s above the Junction of the 2 Platts [Plattes]

Sunday July 18th 1847 Br Taylor & Rich up with us & Smoot [and] Grant who having Lost about 70 head of cattle[.] feed tolerable good[.] camped near a Small River

Spent the day at the same place wate [waited] to hear from Br Grant[.] Sent 12 men to help sirch [search][.] 6 on the South side of Plat[te] & 6 North[.] the 6 on the South found 20 head of oxen supposed to be Origon [Oregon] emigrants[.] Gilbert was one of the men that helped get them

Monday July 2

Tuesd[a]y 20th July [.] travel about 9 mil[e]s with road a high Bluff of sand[.] Encamped on a Large bottom[.] good feed[.] in company with Tayler[,] Smoot & Rich here we found tracks 15 prs [pairs] of oxen & assist the Brethren of Br Grant Company in continuing their travel[.] 5 pr [pair] from Each camp of 100s[.] we send one fresh[.] a pair White one & a Brindle with white face[.] Br P Prat delivered up to us a pr [pair] of oxen which he had of us thinking he could get along without them

Wednesday 21 July 1847[.] traveled 12 miles[.] found a letter from the Poineers [Pioneers] Stating it was 356 miles from Winter Quarters, 45 above the Junction of the 2 Plats [Plattes] & that they should measure all the distance beyond this pass[.] this day a Sand hill the worst we have come to Since of [left?] Indians[.] a Short distance from here the Brethren Saw where 13 Buffalow have been[.] insight they say this day [killed] Encamped near the west side of the Sand ridges

Thursday July 22d 1847[.] Traveled about 12 miles[.] cross[e]d 2 small slews[.] followed the Poineers [Pioneers] trail up to one of them[.] they then turned to the right & went up the first one under the Bluff[.] we cross[e]d & went to the Bank of the River [.] found excel[l]ent Road[.] Encamped on the River[.] plenty of [fload?] and Wood[.] moved about noon[.] disc[o]vered Indian Lodges about 8 miles distan[t] by the Glass[.] agree to move slowly on about 2 or 3 miles & wait for Br J. Taylor & Smoots company to come up and acordly [accordingly] drive on about 2 miles & camp[.] at the time we had unyoke[d] our oxen & garde [guard] them[.] a number of Indians made their appearance and we turned our cattle in the yard[.] they came up and stop[e]d th[e]re about 50 Rods from camp[.] the first company was about 15 or 20 in No.[.] we fed them with bread[.] about the time they had done eating there came another company of about 80[.] we proceeded the same with them as the others[.] they were quit[e] anxious to com[e] into our camp but we refused until we fired the Cannon to gratify them after which they cum [came] round our camp[.] they express the best of feeling, they could not understand our language[.] Br Stan [Staines?] could talk with one of them who had bin [been] with the Punk [Ponca] trib[e][.] they cal[l]ed themselves the Ogelaligus [Ogalalla Sioux][.] they left our camp before dark

Friday 23d July 1847[.] hard Rain during the Night and a part of the forenoon[.] tar[r]ied all day while waiting for Br Grants company to come up[.] was visited by many Indians & some trading was had with them[.] the cannon was fired several times[.] Fife & Drumb [drum] & fiddle playing & Dancing by the Indian[s] & our people[.] they expressed perfect friendship

Satur[d]ay July 24th 1847[.] Traveled 12 miles[.] cross[e]d Several Cricks [creeks][.] Encamped on the River[.] traded some with the Indians[.] Br Pratt purchased a pr [pair] of oxen from the Native[s] at about 3 dollar[s][.] others have to pay higer [higher][.] they got 9 in all[.] Indians appeared to be well satisfied with all our deals

Sunday 25th July 1847[.] Traveled about 4 miles near a Crick & Bad Bluffs[.] This day were med [met] by a company of our Brethern from the Poin [Pioneers] Br Grover, E Ellsworth & others who brot [brought] us letters of information of this [...] & road[.] they here [hear] the company was advised to make their best way to the mountains if 50s are merjt [merged]

Monday 26th July 1847[.] traveled about 18 mil[s][.] cross[ed] a bad sand hill[.] several crick [creeks] & sr Rivers of 8 Rods wid[e][.] Br Boss broke his waggon tongue[.] Encamped on the bottom near a Smaller Bluff on the Poineer [Pioneer] camp[.] Broth[er] Walis [Wallace] Cap of 50 in Br Smoots company is near us.

Tuesday July 27th 1847 [.] traveled 14 miles[.] pasd [passed] an Indian Lodge[.] was met by their Chief & Braves[.] the Name is [blank space] we fed them upon the rest [west?] of our Camp & they passed by[] this tribe is about 125 mile from Fort Larimie [Laramie] & 30 miles above the Oglialigus [Ogalalla Sioux][.] we done no trading with them[.] they see[m] to have plenty of horses & mules[.] Campt in company with Capt. Wallis [Walker] on the bank of River

Wednesday July 28th 1847[.] traveled about 14 miles passed a bad Sand ridge[.] Shower of rain about 4 OClock P.M.[.] was overtaken & passed by us Br Parleys 50, Riches & Russels[.] Met several men returning from Origon [Oregon] who had been th[ere] 2 years[.] Saw the Poineers [Pioneers] about the 10 of July about 450 miles from this place

Thursday 29th July 1847 traveled about 20 miles[.] Road good[.] pass[e]d a ledge of Rock or Sand Caled the cort hous [Courthouse] & camped in South of what is cal[l]ed the Chimny [Chimney] Rock about 6 miles distant[.] all the companies behind us

Friday July 30th 1847[.] traveled 14 miles[.] Encamped on the River[.] good feed[.] Parley[,] Wallis [Wallace] & Rich with us[.] Saw some Buffalow this day[.] we are in about 17 miles of the High Bluff said to be about 60 miles from fort Larimie [Laramie] & in are in about 3 miles of the Chimny [Chimney] Stone[.] Weath[er] fine

July 31 Saturday 1847[.] traveled 16 miles[.] incamp on Banks of the River ne[ar]ly opposit[e] the 2 Cort House Rocks said to be 60 miles from Fort Larimie [Laramie][.] met Several Emigrants returning from Oregon[.] Sister Brown complains of Sister Curtiss [Catherine Adelia Curtis]

Sunday August 1st 1847[.] Remain in our camp[.] repair Waggons[.] good feed[.] Br Parley camp lost 2 ox [oxen][.] Recd a Visit from 2 fr men [frenchmen] who live at the Fort[.] took Suppe[r] at Cind[?] Waggons

Monday August 2d 1847[.] traveled about 24 miles[.] feed rather Poor[.] cattle are in camp[?] for the first time[.] drove until Sunset

Tuesday August 3d 1847[.] Traveled 12 miles[.] Encamp on the River[.] plenty of wood[.] poor feed[.] lost 2 oxen by the efects [effects] of Saltpeter & some others sick[.] one ox belongs to Br [William] Brown the other to [blank space][.] we were met by 15 of the Souldrs [Soldiers] on their return to their [wifes?][.] Some uniting in the 1st 50 of the 1st 100

Wednesday 4th August 1847[.] Traveled 12 miles[.] came to a french trader & an Indian Sett[le]ment all near Fort Larimie[Laramie][.] we treated the Indians to some bread but they are not perfectly satisfied[.] poor feed[.] plenty of wood[.] got many wild currants

Thursday August 5th 1847[.] Traveled 6 miles crossed the Platt[e] at Fort Larimie [Laramie] at the mouth of the Larime [Laramie] River[.] Small stream[.] Beautiful water[.] about 400 Lodges of Indians was visited by many & made present[s] to them[.] Br Eldredge exc... [exachanged] oxen[.] Encamp[e]d about 4 M[iles] above the ford on the bank of the Platt[e] in company with Br Pratt & Walker [,] Smoot having precd [preceded]

Friday August 6th 1847[.] Spent the day in repairing waggons and sho[e]ing oxen[.] Br Wallis [Wallace][,] Prat[t] & a part of Grants Company pass[ed] us[.] Br Farr [--] [etc.] come into our company

Saturday 7th 1847[.] Traveled 6 miles[.] preced[ed] by Taylor[,] Grant[,] Smoot & Parley Pratt Company[.] came on a verry steep Bluff on to a sandy bottom[.] encamped on the River[.] tolerable feed[.] Br Far[r] went ahd [ahead] & laid out the Camp[.] Br Joseph Murdock Broke a W. Tire[.] a little Rain at Sundown[.] Shod several of our cattle

Sunday August 8 1847[.] traveled 16 miles over high Hills & Deep vallies[.] Br Houtz turned over a Waggon on top of the higher hill[.] Barron [barren] country[.] Encamp[e]d at a good Spring [blank space] the best one we have found had a hail storm & rain about 12 oclock noon and rain in in the Night[.] good feed

Monday 9th August[.] Traveled 16 miles to Horse Cri[c]k[.] Besra [?] Curtis[.] feed tolerable good[.] had a tremendous Storm in the Night[.] Br Eldridge on <[gu--]> [guard?]

Tuesday 10th August 1847[.] traveled 16 miles over Hilly Ro[a]ds the worst we had from[.] Several little spots of sand[.] Ro[a]ds hard[.] mad[e] many of our oxen lame[.] Encamped on a Small Cri[c]k [.] tolerable feed 1 mile dow & saw 2 Buffalows

Wedn[e]sday Aug[u]st 11 1847[.] traveled 9 miles[.] hard shower[.] some hills[.] verry broken country[.] find little water about 3 miles from our camp[.] Encamped on a dry Crick but found a little water

Thursd[a]y 12th August[.] traveled 9 miles[.] Encamp[e]d on a small cri[c]k by the Name of Papill[i]on [.] Some 50 head of our cattle came over to this place from the camp in the Night[.] did not find all until next day[.] shod several oxen[.] killed 2 Buffalow[.] Br Benson [?] & Glines came ahe[a]d with the 2 tires[.] wood & water plenty & some feed

Friday August 13[.] Traveled 12 miles[.] past [passed] a pleant [pleasant] creek about 7 miles[.] Encamp on a cri[c]k[.] pleasant place[.] tolerable feed[.] Br Ensign had an ox stray[.] Ro[a]ds good

Saturd[a]y August 1847[.] Traveled about 9 miles[.] good Road[.] Encampt on Deer Crick & Platt River having come to it about 5 miles back[.] here we[re] met by Br Glines & Brinley messengers for Br Benson with his letters incouriging [encouraging] us to come on & that he wo[u]ld meet us tomorro[w]

Sunday August 15th Traveled 16 miles[.] Smo[o]th Road[.] met B Benson who continued on to meet the balance of the Camp[.] Encamped on the Platt[e] about 8 miles from the 1st ferry

Monday August 16, 1847[.] Traveled 13 miles[.] Br Holm[e]s brok[e] a Wagon Wheel ar[r]ive at the ferry [.] found Jonathan Higby [John Somers Higbee][,] Luke Johnson[,] [William Adam] Empey & Som[e] others wa[i]ting our arivel [arrival][.] Encamp on the River crossed our cattle, found good feed[.] killed 1 Buffalow

Tuesday Aug 17th[.] Spent the day in repairing waggons[.] had 9 Tire set myself [.] Brthrn [Brethren] Killed 2 Buffalows[.] Some Rain during the day & Night

Wednesd[a]y August 18th [.] Spent the day in repairing [blank space][.] Rained most of the day

Thursday Augu[s]t 19th[.] Wet & rainy [.] P.P. Prat[t]s comp[an]y overtook us they crossed the Plat[te] River & encamped[.] We started & drove about 3 miles beyond them & Cam[p]ed with out wood[,] water or feed in the Rain

Frid[a]y 20 Augu[s]t[.] traveled about 21 miles[.] Good Roads[.] poor feed[.] Encamped on a [.ont] crick or Spring 3 miles beyond the Poison Springs

Saturd[a]y Augu[s]t 21st traveled about 8 miles[.] Encamped on a Sand hill 3 miles from the Willow Springs[.] Weath[er] cold[.] plenty Buffalows

Sunday Augu[s]t 22d 1847 [.] traveled 17 miles[.] deep sands[.] crossed 1 cri[c]k turned over on B[r] Houtz Waggon[.] Encamp on Sweetwater[.] Good feed[.] Br Benson & Rockwell they left us for the Poineers [Pioneers] camp and Sent Ellin [Calvin?][.] Boss to our company[.] they passed the saleratus Beds[.] laid in Stor[e]s of it[.] Encamped by the sid[e] of the Independence Rock--Quit[e] huge[.] many names written on [.] Sent a letter to B [Francis] Boggs requesting to meet us as soon as he can

Monday Aug[u]st 23rd 1847[.] traveled 12 miles[.] Encamp on Sweet water [Sweetwater][.] feed good [.] B[r] [Rufus] Abbot[t]s Team sent for[.] did not come up till later

Tuesday Aug[us]t 24th 1847[.] traveled 16 mil[e]s[.] Encampt on Sweet water[.] Br Green found an Indian Pony lame[.] drove ah[ea]d by request of Br Eldridge [Eldredge] in the afternoon[.] had a meeting in the evening to decid[e] who should go ahe[a]d [.] Voted that the Capt[a]ins should decide the order of traveling on[.] decided that the 1st 10 should go a head all the time[.] the other 10's to take turns[.] the Rodes [roads] quit[e] Sandy

Wednesd[a]y Aug[u]st 25th 1847[.] traveled 9 miles to the narrows in the mountains[.] Weather cold[.] [stopped?] Capt [Cleathin?] [Wayland?] this day good feed

Thursday Aug[u]st 26 1847[.] Traveled 9 miles[.] road stony[.] the Narrows at what is cal[l]ed the canion [canyon][.] crossed the Crick 6 times during the day [.] Br Eldrich [Eldredge] & Farr oxen sick[.] Encampt on the River[.] poor feed [.] Ice found on our water pails & whit[e] frost

Friday Augu[s]t 27th[.] traveled 17 miles[.] pasd [passed] the Sulfur springs being about 6 miles from our Encampment[.] most Rode [road] Gravely to Sandy[.] encamp on the Sweet water[.] found an Indian Pony all bound this morning

Saturd[a]y Aug 28th 1847[.] traveled 14 miles to the head of a F [Fork?] East over the a South mntn [mountain?][.] here met a company of the Poineers [Pioneers] also Eliet Boss the person we sent with Br Benson[.] Weather quit[e] cold[.] Snow was sene [seen] on the mount[a]ins not far off

Sunday Aug[us]t 29th[.] Traveled 13 miles[.] Encampt on a Small crick[.] poor feed[.] John Eldridge came to us from the Poineers [Pioneers][.] informed us that Br Bogs was a long [along?]

Monday 30th[.] Travel 8 miles over with the pioner [pioneers] Br Boggs and all of camp

Monday 29th [sic] Aug[ust][.] travel 8 miles[.] Good feed on the Sweet water [Sweetwater]

Tuesday 31 Aug[ust][.] traveled fourteen miles[.] roads good[.] was overtaken by Br P P Prat[t] with a letter from Br Taylor informing us of the misfit [misfortune?] of the Back camps of the loss of cattle by Poison and otherwise requesting a genall [generall] councils of the capt[ains] of companys[.] we concluded not to have a council as this could not help to spair [spare] to relieve them but agreed to send messenger to the Salt River Val[l]ey to get help there[.] Encamp[e]d at the Pasific [Pacific] Springs[.] here we were overtaken by Br Little & Br Hunter [...?] who informed us that Prest Young was already here[.] Br Elderdg [Eldredge] had 2 horses lost[.] supposed to be taken by the Indian who was in our Camp[.] all day there were hundred[s] of by the nor[th] of Smoky

We[dne]sday 1 Sep 1847

Thursday 2 Sept 1847 [.] traveled 23 miles[.] good road [.] Encamp on Sandy[.] Poor feed[.] the Brethern that were in the sirch [search] of the lost horses did not return[.] Weath[er] quit[e] cold[.] Some Rain

Friday Sept 3 1847[.] Traveled 10 miles[.] camp[e]d on big Sandy[.] here we were overtaken by Br Young & the 12[.] we found them in good health & spirits[.] had a meeting in the evening[.] all good[.] were Blessd [Blessed] by the 12 & promised prosperity & requested locate to the Valley & then return for the rest of our brethren

Saturday 4 Sept 1847[.] traveled 17 miles[.] Encamp on a large plain by the River[.] Br Norton [?] Frost & Taft join[e]d our company[.] Sent a letter to J. Williams

Sunday 5th Sept 1847[.] traveled 14 miles[.] Encamp[e]d on Green roads good

Monday 6 Sept 1847[.] trav[eled] 19 miles[.] Road sandy & Slow[.] Encamp[e]d on Muddy Banks of Green River

Tuesday 7th Sept[.] traveled 4 miles[.] Encamp[e]d on a Crick[.] plenty currants

Wednesday 8th Sept 1847[.] Cold[.] Still all day[.] Capt [Erastus Willard] Bingham & Buoys [Boyce] left us & went ahead [.] Feed good[.] Set som[e] tires & made other repairs[.] was overtaken by Goodye[a]rs men on their way home with skins, peltry 20 mil[e]s behind.

Thursday Sept 9 1847[.] Traveled 15 miles[.] crossed 3 cricks or Rivers[.] Encamped on a crick & Br Eldridge Broke a Brace to his waggon[.] had to stay up miles behind[.] Road tolerable good

Friday Sept 10th 1847[.] Traveled 15 miles to a good cam[p]ing a mil[e]from Bridgers Fort[.] a company of almo[s]t 30 man fur company have good cows [corn?] & Horses plenty[.] quite Independent in Spirit[.] Br Abbot[t] used a mair [mare] to draw his Waggon

Saturday 11th Sept 1847[.] Traveled 15 miles passed the Fort Bridger on a handsom[e] Val[le]y [.] 3 Sandy cricks pass[e]d this day[.] made som[e] allretis [alterations] in the Road[.] went Round a mountain[.] Br McInt[yre] & Br J. Hate [Haight] broke there [their] waggons

Sunday 12th [Sept] 1847[.] Traveled 13 miles[.] [foll]owed the Road [with McIntyre?] on Steep Hill Br McIntire Broke his waggon

Monday 13th[.] Traveled 17 miles[.] made 8 miles of new road around to requested of Br Young[.] Broke Br [Samuel Oliver] Holm[e]s last waggon[.] Encamp on a little Crick 2 1/2 mil[e]s east or north of Bair [Bear] River the calculation in the Road down Bair [Bear] mountain

Tuesday 14th Sept 1847[.] traveled 12 miles[.] Encamp[e]d on a smaller crick 42 1/2 miles from Fort Bridger--feed first rate[.] Broke the Bolt to the Toung [tongue] of my waggon[.] need some repairs[.] & the Road tolerable good[.] from this we Scat[t]ered ourSelv[e]s & made the last of our way over the mountains[.] Br Eldridge Brok[e] his Wheel & turned over his waggon

we all ar[r]ived in the Gr[e]at Salt Lake Val[l]ey the 23rd of Sept 1847

Marriage Notes:

MARRIAGE: They were married by Brigham Young.

They had the following children.

  M i Enoch FARR Sr. was born on 28 Dec 1845. He died on 30 Jun 1914.
  F ii
Julia FARR [scrapbook] 1 was born 2, 3, 4 on 11 Apr 1848 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States. She died 5, 6, 7 on 11 May 1857. She was buried 8 on 14 May 1857 in Ogden, Weber, Utah Territory, United States.


Julia in some documents died in 1851 and in other documents she died in 1857. In light of the new photo found by Thomas Stanley Farr, Julia was alive in 1855 and couldn't have died in 1851. The photo was found on page 24 of "Our America" authored by Ken Burns. No names were listed in the book but you can see that Nancy Bailey Chase Farr had three daughters all dressed alike. The photo was found by Thomas Stanley Farr and provided courtesy of Florentine Films.

The following date in incorrect:
Julia died May 14, 1851 in a drowning accident. This was a very sad and tragic event in the lives of the Lorin Farr family. Nancy would keep the clothes of her beloved Julia throughout her life.

Her name on headstone is Alma.
  F iii Sarah FARR was born on 30 Oct 1849. She died on 4 Feb 1921.
  F iv Tirzah FARR was born on 3 May 1852. She died on 23 Oct 1946.
  M v
Loren FARR Jr. (twin) [scrapbook] was born 1, 2, 3 on 21 Feb 1854 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. He died 4 on 8 Oct 1928 in Centerville, Davis, Utah, United States. He was buried 5 on 10 Oct 1928 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.

Loren resided 6 in 1910 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.
  M vi Ezra FARR (twin) was born on 21 Feb 1854. He died on 5 Dec 1933.
  M vii Newton FARR was born on 31 May 1856. He died on 16 Jun 1921.
  F viii
Diantha FARR (twin) was born 1, 2 on 5 Apr 1858 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. She died 3 on 30 Oct 1858.
  F ix Diana FARR (twin) was born on 5 Apr 1858. She died on 24 Aug 1933 from of sigmoid cancer.
  F x Isabelle FARR was born on 3 Mar 1861. She died on 20 Apr 1936 from of a cerebral hemorrage.
  F xi
Mary Belinda FARR [scrapbook] was born 1, 2 on 16 Oct 1863 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. She died 3 on 21 Jul 1864 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.

Lorin FARR [Parents] [scrapbook] was born 1, 2, 3 on 27 Jul 1820 in Waterford, Caledonia, Vermont, United States. He died 4, 5 on 12 Jan 1909 in Hot Springs, Weber, Utah, United States. He was buried on 17 Jan 1909 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Lorin married 6, 7 Olive Ann JONES on 28 Feb 1852 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States.

Lorin resided 8 on 15 Jul 1870 in Ogden, Weber, Utah Territory, United States.

Other marriages:
CHASE, Nancy Bailey
GILES, Sarah
BINGHAM, Mary
ERICKSON, Nicholine
BATES, Clara Jane

The following appeared in the Ogden Standard Examiner for the Aug. 2006

Winslow Farr Sr. Family Reunion:
OGDEN - When the descendants of Ogden's first mayor meet in Ogden this week, they will ponder Lorin Farr's hat, wander around his old fort, gaze upon his tombstone and hear the latest discoveries regarding his deoxyribonucleic acid.
The other stuff just sits in museums or on the ground, but Farr's DNA has been doing some interesting stuff of late. Everyone is very excited.
Farr became Ogden's first mayor, unofficially, in 1850 when he was sent to the area now called Ogden by Brigham Young, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Farr's title was made official in a special election in 1851. He kept the job 22 years, off and on, and had a career that included American Indian troubles, a brief move to Southern Utah, the coming of the Transcontinental Railroad, a mission in England and getting arrested for having five wives too many.
He beat the polygamy rap and went on to meet with President Theodore Roosevelt, who was stumping the country encouraging large families as a way to avoid "race suicide."
Farr, who at the time had 326 descendants, certainly qualified. Since then, in raw numbers, the Farr family has done all right by itself.
David Farr, Mission Viejo, Calif., president of the Winslow Farr Sr. Organization, serves as a central coordinator for the Farr family.
Winslow Farr Sr. was Lorin Farr's father. David Farr's best guess is there are perhaps 8,000 descendants of Winslow Farr. There are probably 40,000 for the whole family, if you add in ancestors, their other descendants and so forth, he said.
Descendants meet
The reunion, which runs Thursday through Saturday, won't draw anywhere near that many relatives. North Ogden resident Duane Manscill, who is organizing a bus tour of Farr historical sites, guesses there will be about 400 Farr relations at the reunion. He has 100 seats for the bus tour and expects them to sell out.
David Farr said the reunion is held every two years and is actually for descendants of Winslow Farr Sr. and his wife, Olive. They usually pick one descendent to focus on. This year, the focus is on Lorin Farr.
"The meeting is about our mission statement, research, telling the stories, focusing on Winslow and Olive and the five children," said David Farr. "We hold classes on them. We want to communicate our heritage to the descendants of the Farr family, to strengthen families this way."
Mysterious origins
One major advance this year was not in finding descendants of Lorin Farr, but his antecedents. That is where Farr's DNA comes in. It will be a major topic at the reunion.
Members of the LDS faith are scrupulous about genealogical records for religious reasons. Before the faith was founded by Joseph Smith, however, people were not so careful about keeping track of who was who.
Lorin Farr's great-great-great-grandfather, Stephen Farr, was a puzzle. He just seemed to show up in America around the early 1670s, with no hint of his origins.
St. George resident Tim Farr, the clan's chief genealogist, said they are pretty sure Stephen Farr was born in 1640, but the earliest positive paper record they have of him is his 1674 marriage.
But where did he come from? He was a Puritan, living in Massachusetts, which meant he probably came to America from England. Beyond that, nothing was certain.
Tim Farr said he was able to narrow it down to a Farr family in Bedfordshire, England, mostly by laboriously searching old records for people named Stephen Farr who did not connect up properly in other places through the existing documents.
He found one Stephen Farr, in Bedfordshire, England, who seemed to fit the bill. How to be sure?
Internet, science help
That's where DNA testing came in.
Tim Farr posted the Farr ancestry on the Internet and, subsequently, was contacted by a man in Belgium named Stephen Timothy Farr. This fellow told him he had looked into his own ancestors and there seemed to be a lot of similarities to what Tim Farr had found.
So David Farr in this country took a DNA test. Stephen Timothy Farr in Belgium took the same test. The test looked for a particular strand of DNA that is carried intact through male descendants.
They found that strand in both Farrs and it matched, Tim Farr said.
"It's actually a pretty major thing," he said. It provided first proof of from where in England the Farr family came. It also connected the family in America to a whole new branch in Belgium, England and around Europe.
Mike Farr, who runs Farr's Ice Cream in Ogden, said he's glad to see his great-great-grandfather the focus of this year's reunion.
The bus tour includes his family's ice cream shop where, yes, he said, they will get free Farr's ice cream. He'll also be with them when they visit a monument to his ancestor in the Ogden Municipal Gardens.
"They asked me if I will say a few things at that, and I will be doing that," he said.
His great-great-grandfather will be there, too, in a way.
"I will be dressed in a suit that was Lorin Farr's," he said, which like the former mayor's memory, is carefully preserved and handed down.
[End of Article]


When he was eight years old, his parents moved north into the town of Charleston, Orleans county, Vermont where his father bought a farm. In the spring of 1832, when Lorin was eleven years of age, the family, for the first time, heard the gospel preached by Orson Pratt and Lyman E. Johnson. Although but eleven years of age Lorin's mind was prepared to receive the testimony of these servants of God, so he was baptized by Lyman E. Johnson, in Clide river, near his father's house, and confirmed by Orson Pratt. In the fall of 1837, Father Farr, who with his family had joined the Church, sold his farm and moved to Kirtland, Ohio. In the spring of 1838, Lorin started for Far West, Mo., where he arrived May 1st, and made his home with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He passed through most of the persecutions heaped upon the Saints in Missouri, and when they were driven from the State, he went to Quincy, and in the spring of 1840 settled in Nauvoo, Ill. In the spring of 1843 he was called upon a mission, by the Prophet Joseph, to the Middle and Eastern States, with the instruction to go wherever the spirit led him He was performing this duty when the sad news of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph and Patriarch Hyrum reached him. Elder Farr remained in the field, comforting and strengthening the Saints, until late in November, 1844, when he returned to Nauvoo. Jan. 1, 1845, he was married to Miss Nancy B. Chase, by Pres. Brigham Young. Elder Farr was with the Saints during all their troubles in Nauvoo and assisted in building the Temple. In the spring of 1847, he prepared to go to Great Salt Lake valley, where he arrived Sept. 20th of that year. He lived in Salt Lake City till the spring of 1850, when he was called by Pres. Brigham Young to go to Ogden to preside over the Saints in the northern part of the Territory. The following year (1851), when the Weber Stake of Zion was organized, Elder Farr was called and set apart as the president of the Stake. This position he held until 1870, when he was called on a mission to Europe, where he remained until 1871. Elder Farr has served as mayor of Ogden city for many terms; he also represented Weber county in the Territorial legislature from the organization of the Territory until he was disfranchised, excepting one year while on his mission to Europe. He is a public spirited man and has done much for the advancement of the kingdom of God and the commonwealth. (See also Tullidge's History, Vol. 2, Bio. 172.)

Settled at Ogden 1850. First president Weber stake; president high priests' quorum in 1850-51. Erected first grist mill and sawmill in Weber county. Member first territorial legislature from Weber county, and in the earlier days represented Box Elder county from the time of the organization of the territory until 1887; first mayor of Ogden 1851-70, and re-elected in 1877. Missionary to Europe 1870. Prominent in building of railroads; superintendent of grading Central Pacific for two hundred miles west of Ogden, and also building of Utah Northern to Brigham City. Died Jan. 12, 1909, Ogden.

Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p.1313
Sun. 26. Pres. Brigham Young and party held meetings with the Saints in the south fort, Ogden, when Lorin Farr was chosen President of the Weber Stake, with Charles R. Dana and David B. Dille as counselors.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 14, p.490
Lorin Farr Sawmill Lorin Farr was called by Brigham Young to build a sawmill at Ogden. In the spring of 1850 he chose a site southeast of the present "Old Mill Inn," 1251 Canyon Road. Logs were cut in Ogden Canyon and floated down the river. A dam was made to divert the water to form a mill pond in which the logs collected. Men cutting logs for Farr received 50% of the logs as pay. The saws were run by water power. The first sawyer was Joseph Harris. The mill was abandoned in 1873.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 13, p.21
On the 14th of September, that year, elder Woodruff recorded the death of Ezra T. Benson, who died suddenly at Ogden City, at the home of Elder Lorin Farr. The following Sunday elder Woodruff preached a discourse in the Tabernacle,  [p. 22] in honor of Brother Benson, and gave a brief sketch of his life. He said that on that occasion there were about sixty ladies and gentlemen from Ohio, who occupied the front benches and who gave strict attention to what was said.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 14, p.489
Lorin Farr Gristmill With lumber available from the sawmill built by Lorin Farr, and rock plentiful nearby, a 30 x 40 foot, two-story flour mill was built by Lorin Farr in the fall of 1850, on Canyon Road. The grain was ground by the use of burrs, several of which were set up. The bottom burr remained stationary, while the upper burr was propelled slowly by wooden paddles turned by water power. It was placed evenly between the burrs and sifted slowly by way of numerous grooves, chiseled at 45-degree angles. This process required constant watching and it was necessary to sharpen these grooves often. The first burrs were made from rock from our mountains and proved too soft, cracking and crumbling. The next were made from granite like that used in the Salt Lake Temple. This proved too hard, striking fire and scorching the grain. Other experiments were made until suitable material was found.
[p.490] In the Ogden City Directory of 1883, we find the following description of his mill: "There was a substantial stone building with frame wings and stone houses. The power supplied by a flume nearby, one mile in length, running from the Ogden River to the mill. There are four run of stone burrs with a capacity of some 10,000 pounds of flour per day. John P. Williams ground the first and last grist from 1862 to 1897. Joseph Stonebreaker was the first miller." Lorin Farr Sawmill Lorin Farr was called by Brigham Young to build a sawmill at Ogden. In the spring of 1850 he chose a site southeast of the present "Old Mill Inn," 1251 Canyon Road. Logs were cut in Ogden Canyon and floated down the river. A dam was made to divert the water to form a mill pond in which the logs collected. Men cutting logs for Farr received 50% of the logs as pay. The saws were run by water power. The first sawyer was Joseph Harris. The mill was abandoned in 1873.

Biographical Sketch of Lorin Farr (1820- )
Source: Biographical sketch of Lorin Farr typed from the original photostat from Bancroft Library. The original was written on stationery with the following letterhead:
CLIFT HOUSE, S. C. Ewing, Proprietor.
Room and Board, $2.00 per day. Salt Lake City, .......188
Lorin Farr of Ogden, born Caladona County, Vermont, July 20, 1820. Remained there and attended the schools at that time. Moved with his parents to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1838. Moved to Missouri 1839. Went to Nauvoo then to Council Bluffs. In 1847 came to Utah with Captain Spencers Company of over 600 wagons. Nearly 5000 people remaining till spring of 1850.
Located in Ogden building a saw and grist mill, the first north of Salt Lake City. Also helped build first mill in Utah. Has followed the milling business until the present time. I 1868 built the Ogden Woolen Mills in connection with Randall Rugsley and Neil. He also followed merchandising for several years buying a stock of good costing $30, 000. Setting out in 1869. Has also been and is a extensive farmer owning 300 acres of farmland all subject to irrigation.

Then he came to Ogden. Was elected as mayor which office he held for 20 years. After 6 years out? [p.2] was elected for a term of 2 years. Was appointed as president of the stake of Weber Co. which he held for 20 years. Then going to Europe and being obliged to resign his position as president of the stake. Has also been a member of the Territorial Legislature from the time of its organization until the last session, when he was disfranchised...but having never broken to law neither the law of 1862 or the recent Edmonds law.

Has always taken an active part in all matters pertaining to the welfare to the Church or Territory. Was the principal mover in building the roads through the Ogden Canyon. Also held the contract with Benson & West for constructing 200 miles of the C.P. Also took an active part in building the U.U., also the Utah Central. Was instrumental in seeing the R.R. Depot at Ogden. Also in getting the D & R G into Ogden making several trips to Denver for that purpose. He raised a family of 38 children, the youngest being 16 years. All respectable and well educated. Has also buried 9 children.

Lorin Farr
Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, Vol. 4, p.106
The Farrs of Utah are a numerous and an influential family, especially in Weber county, where the subject of this story resides. The life of Hon. Lorin Farr has been active, useful, and replete with interesting incidents. Than he, none of the founders of our States have made more honorable records, whatever may be said of more illustrious ones. To speak of greater gifts and larger opportunities, is not to disparage those possessed by a man whose abilities as a colonizer, a law-maker and an executive are so well known and recognized.

The simple fact that for twenty-two years he was mayor of the second city in Utah is an eloquent tribute to his worth and the esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens. Those were times, too, when the best men were sought for and put in office, men of honesty and integrity, who could be relied upon to expend the public revenues wisely and economically and administer the affairs of government in the interest of the entire people. No man was given office as a reward for political service, partisan politics was almost unknown, and the spoils system had no place in public life. For a period of equal length to that during which he was Mayor of Ogden, Mr. Farr presided over the Weber Stake of Zion, and for twenty-eight years he represented Weber, Box Elder and Cache counties, and some of the time Carson county, in the Territorial legislature.

Lorin Farr was born July 27, 1820, in Waterford, Caledonia county, Vermont. His parents were Winslow and Olive Hovey Freeman Farr, and his earliest American ancestor was George Farr, who emigrated from London, England, in 1629, as a ship-builder for a Boston company. His father was a well-to-do farmer, prominent and influential, holding the office of judge of the county court. When Lorin was about eight years old the family moved to Charleston, Orleans county, forty miles north of their former home, and it was there that they became connected with Mormonism. They were converted under the preaching of Orson Pratt who, by the laying on of hands, was instrumental in healing Mrs. Farr of consumption and other ailments from which she had been a sufferer for five years. The healing was instantaneous and permanent; she who was then an invalid, thirty-two years of age, living until she was ninety-four.

Lorin was baptized a Latter-day Saint in the spring of 1832, being then eleven years of age. Five years later he removed with his parents to northern Ohio, and in the general Mormon migration from that part to the State of Missouri, he and his brother Aaron walked the whole distance from Kirtland to Far West. This was in the spring of 1838. The following winter he was in the exodus of his people from Missouri to Illinois, and while in both those States he lived a good deal of the time in the family of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Hitherto a farmer and a carpenter, Lorin, who had received a good common education, now turned his attention to school teaching. He taught for a number of years at Nauvoo and the vicinity, the children of the Prophet and those of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor and other leading men being among his pupils. In the spring of 1842, by direction of the Prophet, he was ordained an Elder of the Church, and in the fall of 1844, under the hands of Elder Charles C. Rich, was ordained to the office of High Priest. While still at Nauvoo, on New Year's day, 1845, he married his first wife, Nancy B. Chase. Early the next year he bade farewell to that city and the State of Illinois, and with the main body of the exiled Saints passed over the frozen Mississippi and traveled across the Territory of Iowa on his way to the Rocky Mountains. From the Missouri river, where he remained until the summer of 1847, he journeyed [p.107] westward in the companies that followed immediately behind the Pioneers, leaving the Elk Horn in June. These companies comprised about six hundred wagons, with fifteen hundred human beings and five thousand head of stock. His individual outfit was a wagon, two yoke of oxen, two yoke of cows and provisions to last him and those dependent upon him eighteen months. His family was then small, consisting of his wife and his little son Enoch. He first traveled in A. O. Smoot's hundred and George B. Wallace's fifty, but during the latter part of the journey he was in Daniel Spencer's hundred and Ira Eldredge's fifty. He reached Salt Lake valley September 21, 1847.

After living awhile in the "Old Fort," he moved onto a lot north-west of the Temple block and adjoining the corner now occupied by the residence of Hon. Moses Thatcher. His first domicile in the valley was his wagon box, taken off the running-gears and made into a temporary abode; but he and his brother Aaron soon hauled logs from the canyon and built homes of a more comfortable character. Their houses in the fort had whip sawed lumber floors and were among the best constructed there. Lorin had brought with him from Winter Quarters all kinds of seeds, and these he planted in the spring of 1848. Most of his crop was devoured by the crickets before they were destroyed by the, gulls, but he raised enough to support his family till another harvest time, and had considerable to spare. Some of his neighbors were forced to eat thistle roots, raw hides and even wolf meat. Many put their families upon rations. He was not reduced to this necessity, owing to the fact, he says, that he had an economical wife, who managed so well that the family had enough to eat and something to give away.

In March, 1850, by special request of President Young, Lorin Farr removed to Ogden "to locate and take charge of the northern colonies." He with Charles Hubbard built, in the summer of the same year, the first saw mill and grist mill north of Salt Lake City. In the fall he bought out Mr. Hubbard and conducted the milling business alone for several years, after which he took in as a partner his brother Aaron.

In the fall of 1851 the colonists on the Weber had considerable trouble with the Indians, caused by the accidental killing of the Shoshone chief Terakee by Urban Stewart, one of the settlers. The chief, who was a noble specimen of his race, and very friendly to the whites, had gone into Mr. Stewart's cornfield one night about eleven o'clock to get his horses out of the corn, when the owner, hearing a noise and supposing it to proceed from some animal, wild or tame, that had strayed into his enclosure, imprudently fired his gun in that direction. The bullet struck Terakee, killing him instantly. Much beloved by his people, his tragic death was deeply lamented, and for a time it seemed as if the Shoshones could not be placated, but would take revenge on the whole colony for the unwise act of one of its members. As it was, the Indians, on the day following the accident, shot and killed one of Mr. Farr's men, his best mechanic, while at work upon his mills. Mr. Stewart regretted his rashness as much as any one, but that did not bring the dead to life, though his explanation and apologies, with the protestations of his associates, did much to appease the wrath of the red men. The settlers, however, fearful of a massacre, lived for several years in forts. A large portion of the immigration of 1851 was sent to strengthen the Weber county settlements. The first military organization of the county was formed about this time; it comprised all the militia in the Territory north of Davis county, and was organized by President Lorin Farr.

Elected Mayor of Ogden in the spring of 1851, he was re-elected every two years until he had had ten consecutive terms of office. He retired in November, 1870, but in 1876 was again elected for two years, making his aggregate period in the Mayoralty twenty-two years. From 1852 until 1880 he was a member of the Utah legislature. Meantime, in the summer of 1868, in connection with Chauncey W. West and Ezra T. Benson, he took a contract from Governor Leland Stanford, of California, President of the Central Pacific railroad, and did the grading for two hundred miles of that road west of Ogden.

In November, 1870, President Farr took his first and only foreign mission, which was to Europe. He had always been of a religious turn, and had done much preaching in his time, but his ministerial labors were generally at home, where his services were most needed. He not only preached the gospel, but practiced it, "trying to persuade men, women and children to live better lives in every way. I have labored all my life," he says, "to promote religious sentiment and make laws to protect the same. I have tried to do all the good I could, and as little harm as possible."

Mr. Farr was a member of the Constitutional Convention, which in 1895 framed the State Constitution upon which Utah was admitted into the Union. Since then he has led a quiet, uneventful life at his home in the city of Ogden. He is the father of forty children. His first wife, who has been named, and his plural wives, Sarah Giles, Olive Ann [p.108] Jones, Mary Bingham and Nicoline Erickson, are all dead. He has recently married again. Some years ago Mr. Farr met with an accident, a very painful fall, which at first threatened to be fatal, but he recovered and regained much of his old time sprightly vigor. At this writing he is in the eighty-third year of his age.


Fountain Green, Utah
August 10, 1992

Tim Farr
Box 449
Ferron, Utah 84523

Dear Brother Farr,

As I promised, even though a little late, the following is the essence of the remarks your great-grandfather made at the dedication of the Manti Temple:

"Elder Lorin Farr said he felt very thankful for the present privilege. For a year and a half he had not been able to stand before a congregation. For over fifty-six he had been connected with the, Church, and when a youth, he was intimately associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He never saw a man who manifested greater kindness and consideration towards his family than Joseph did. He, knew him then to be a prophet of God. A greater prophet never lived. He held the keys of all dispensations, and conferred the same, upon the Apostles. Temples would yet be built not only throughout America but in the various nations of Europe and Asia as well.

He could promise the saints that if they would be faithful, the present temple never should be taken from them nor destroyed. Faithful men had died in the past ages were engaged in the work of redemption in other spheres, which work would be connected with that performed in the Temples upon the earth. Millions of the dead were waiting for ordinances to be performed by the living in their behalf. He could testify that the Latter-day Saints were people, of God. It was the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands which was destined to fill the whole earth."

Tim, you can certainly be grateful for your progenitors. These men, those who built up this part of the West and had sacrificed so much, were some of God's choicest! They were men of great faith. How grateful we should be for them and for what we enjoy today because of their faith and sacrifice.

Very truly yours,

Victor J. Rasmussen


Death and funeral of Lorin Farr as described in the journal of Caroline Ballantyne Farr:

Jan 12 1909
Father Farr went up to the Hot Springs to take a bath and while in the warm pool he died. He was in the act of taking a plunge when life went out. When found, he was standing in the water with bowed head and hands extended. His body was still warm. Barlow Wilson and ________ Wallace went to his rescue. It was always his desire to go suddenly when his time came to leave this earth and his desire was granted. He was the best Father-law that ever lived with the exception of one, my own Father. We shall miss his dear face, one of the grandest among men. There is no feeling of gloom however, but a spirit of peace and love characteristic of him who has just left his place among the great ones who have lived on earth (Apostles and Prophets.) He was in his usual good health up to the moment of his death. His life just went out. He was standing in about four feet of water when found and his life gone out, and he did not fall. Surely the hand of God was made manifest in his behalf. I trust we may live lives that will be worthy of in other words that we may be worthy children of such a nobel father.

Sunday, Jan 17, 1908
At 2 o,clock in the Ogden Tabernacle was held the funeral service of Lorin Farr, our dear Father. No grander funeral was ever held, I believe here or at any other place. The speakers were President Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Parry, David 0. McKay, Moses Thatcher, George A. Smith, Fred J. Keisel, President L.W. Shurtliff and a poem in memory of the dedication of the Joseph Smith monument in Vermont which our Father was present with a company of about 30 members from Utah (He being the oldest.) He was the first of them to be called to the other side. It was a most beautiful poem written by Susie Y. Gates who was also one of the number who attended the dedication of that monument.

The Ogden Tabernacle choir were out in full force rendered most beautiful music under the direction of my brother Joseph Ballantyne. The decorations were beautiful. A calla lily blanket covered the casket. and many other beautiful flowers. There were at least 300 or 400 relatives present. The speakers were greatly inspired, and I have never heard grander words spoken of any human  being than were said of him. They were spoken by a Prophet of the living God. I never felt more humble. I felt very small indeed and unworthy but hope to become worthy of a membership in his family.

Carriages were provided for all the relatives who all met at his terrace on the hill on 21st street and looked at him for the last time in this life.

BIRTH: Name recorded as Loring Farr in Waterford Vital Records.

RESIDENCE: Age 50, Mayor & Pub. Speaker.

Olive Ann JONES [scrapbook] was born 1 on 1 Jun 1829 in Wallingford, New Haven, Connecticut, United States. She died 2 on 19 Dec 1914 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Olive married 3, 4 Lorin FARR on 28 Feb 1852 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States.

They had the following children.

  M i
Laertus FARR [scrapbook] was born 1, 2 on 23 Jan 1853 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. He died 3 on 6 Dec 1928 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.
  M ii Valasco FARR was born on 29 Aug 1855. He died on 12 Dec 1937.
  F iii
Olive Ann FARR [scrapbook] was born 1 on 3 Aug 1857 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. She died 2 on 1 May 1866 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.

Olive resided 3 in 1860 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.
  F iv
Ellen FARR [scrapbook] was born 1 on 25 Oct 1859 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. She died 2 on 6 May 1866 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.
  M v
Merlin Jones FARR [scrapbook] was born 1 on 4 Feb 1862 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. He died 2 on 2 May 1866 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.
  M vi David FARR was born on 5 Apr 1864. He died on 4 Jan 1943.
  M vii Asael FARR was born on 17 Oct 1866. He died on 6 Oct 1961.

Lorin FARR [Parents] [scrapbook] was born 1, 2, 3 on 27 Jul 1820 in Waterford, Caledonia, Vermont, United States. He died 4, 5 on 12 Jan 1909 in Hot Springs, Weber, Utah, United States. He was buried on 17 Jan 1909 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. Lorin married 6, 7 Mary BINGHAM on 2 Dec 1854 in Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States.

Lorin resided 8 on 15 Jul 1870 in Ogden, Weber, Utah Territory, United States.

Other marriages:
CHASE, Nancy Bailey
GILES, Sarah
JONES, Olive Ann
ERICKSON, Nicholine
BATES, Clara Jane

The following appeared in the Ogden Standard Examiner for the Aug. 2006

Winslow Farr Sr. Family Reunion:
OGDEN - When the descendants of Ogden's first mayor meet in Ogden this week, they will ponder Lorin Farr's hat, wander around his old fort, gaze upon his tombstone and hear the latest discoveries regarding his deoxyribonucleic acid.
The other stuff just sits in museums or on the ground, but Farr's DNA has been doing some interesting stuff of late. Everyone is very excited.
Farr became Ogden's first mayor, unofficially, in 1850 when he was sent to the area now called Ogden by Brigham Young, leader of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Farr's title was made official in a special election in 1851. He kept the job 22 years, off and on, and had a career that included American Indian troubles, a brief move to Southern Utah, the coming of the Transcontinental Railroad, a mission in England and getting arrested for having five wives too many.
He beat the polygamy rap and went on to meet with President Theodore Roosevelt, who was stumping the country encouraging large families as a way to avoid "race suicide."
Farr, who at the time had 326 descendants, certainly qualified. Since then, in raw numbers, the Farr family has done all right by itself.
David Farr, Mission Viejo, Calif., president of the Winslow Farr Sr. Organization, serves as a central coordinator for the Farr family.
Winslow Farr Sr. was Lorin Farr's father. David Farr's best guess is there are perhaps 8,000 descendants of Winslow Farr. There are probably 40,000 for the whole family, if you add in ancestors, their other descendants and so forth, he said.
Descendants meet
The reunion, which runs Thursday through Saturday, won't draw anywhere near that many relatives. North Ogden resident Duane Manscill, who is organizing a bus tour of Farr historical sites, guesses there will be about 400 Farr relations at the reunion. He has 100 seats for the bus tour and expects them to sell out.
David Farr said the reunion is held every two years and is actually for descendants of Winslow Farr Sr. and his wife, Olive. They usually pick one descendent to focus on. This year, the focus is on Lorin Farr.
"The meeting is about our mission statement, research, telling the stories, focusing on Winslow and Olive and the five children," said David Farr. "We hold classes on them. We want to communicate our heritage to the descendants of the Farr family, to strengthen families this way."
Mysterious origins
One major advance this year was not in finding descendants of Lorin Farr, but his antecedents. That is where Farr's DNA comes in. It will be a major topic at the reunion.
Members of the LDS faith are scrupulous about genealogical records for religious reasons. Before the faith was founded by Joseph Smith, however, people were not so careful about keeping track of who was who.
Lorin Farr's great-great-great-grandfather, Stephen Farr, was a puzzle. He just seemed to show up in America around the early 1670s, with no hint of his origins.
St. George resident Tim Farr, the clan's chief genealogist, said they are pretty sure Stephen Farr was born in 1640, but the earliest positive paper record they have of him is his 1674 marriage.
But where did he come from? He was a Puritan, living in Massachusetts, which meant he probably came to America from England. Beyond that, nothing was certain.
Tim Farr said he was able to narrow it down to a Farr family in Bedfordshire, England, mostly by laboriously searching old records for people named Stephen Farr who did not connect up properly in other places through the existing documents.
He found one Stephen Farr, in Bedfordshire, England, who seemed to fit the bill. How to be sure?
Internet, science help
That's where DNA testing came in.
Tim Farr posted the Farr ancestry on the Internet and, subsequently, was contacted by a man in Belgium named Stephen Timothy Farr. This fellow told him he had looked into his own ancestors and there seemed to be a lot of similarities to what Tim Farr had found.
So David Farr in this country took a DNA test. Stephen Timothy Farr in Belgium took the same test. The test looked for a particular strand of DNA that is carried intact through male descendants.
They found that strand in both Farrs and it matched, Tim Farr said.
"It's actually a pretty major thing," he said. It provided first proof of from where in England the Farr family came. It also connected the family in America to a whole new branch in Belgium, England and around Europe.
Mike Farr, who runs Farr's Ice Cream in Ogden, said he's glad to see his great-great-grandfather the focus of this year's reunion.
The bus tour includes his family's ice cream shop where, yes, he said, they will get free Farr's ice cream. He'll also be with them when they visit a monument to his ancestor in the Ogden Municipal Gardens.
"They asked me if I will say a few things at that, and I will be doing that," he said.
His great-great-grandfather will be there, too, in a way.
"I will be dressed in a suit that was Lorin Farr's," he said, which like the former mayor's memory, is carefully preserved and handed down.
[End of Article]


When he was eight years old, his parents moved north into the town of Charleston, Orleans county, Vermont where his father bought a farm. In the spring of 1832, when Lorin was eleven years of age, the family, for the first time, heard the gospel preached by Orson Pratt and Lyman E. Johnson. Although but eleven years of age Lorin's mind was prepared to receive the testimony of these servants of God, so he was baptized by Lyman E. Johnson, in Clide river, near his father's house, and confirmed by Orson Pratt. In the fall of 1837, Father Farr, who with his family had joined the Church, sold his farm and moved to Kirtland, Ohio. In the spring of 1838, Lorin started for Far West, Mo., where he arrived May 1st, and made his home with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He passed through most of the persecutions heaped upon the Saints in Missouri, and when they were driven from the State, he went to Quincy, and in the spring of 1840 settled in Nauvoo, Ill. In the spring of 1843 he was called upon a mission, by the Prophet Joseph, to the Middle and Eastern States, with the instruction to go wherever the spirit led him He was performing this duty when the sad news of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph and Patriarch Hyrum reached him. Elder Farr remained in the field, comforting and strengthening the Saints, until late in November, 1844, when he returned to Nauvoo. Jan. 1, 1845, he was married to Miss Nancy B. Chase, by Pres. Brigham Young. Elder Farr was with the Saints during all their troubles in Nauvoo and assisted in building the Temple. In the spring of 1847, he prepared to go to Great Salt Lake valley, where he arrived Sept. 20th of that year. He lived in Salt Lake City till the spring of 1850, when he was called by Pres. Brigham Young to go to Ogden to preside over the Saints in the northern part of the Territory. The following year (1851), when the Weber Stake of Zion was organized, Elder Farr was called and set apart as the president of the Stake. This position he held until 1870, when he was called on a mission to Europe, where he remained until 1871. Elder Farr has served as mayor of Ogden city for many terms; he also represented Weber county in the Territorial legislature from the organization of the Territory until he was disfranchised, excepting one year while on his mission to Europe. He is a public spirited man and has done much for the advancement of the kingdom of God and the commonwealth. (See also Tullidge's History, Vol. 2, Bio. 172.)

Settled at Ogden 1850. First president Weber stake; president high priests' quorum in 1850-51. Erected first grist mill and sawmill in Weber county. Member first territorial legislature from Weber county, and in the earlier days represented Box Elder county from the time of the organization of the territory until 1887; first mayor of Ogden 1851-70, and re-elected in 1877. Missionary to Europe 1870. Prominent in building of railroads; superintendent of grading Central Pacific for two hundred miles west of Ogden, and also building of Utah Northern to Brigham City. Died Jan. 12, 1909, Ogden.

Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p.1313
Sun. 26. Pres. Brigham Young and party held meetings with the Saints in the south fort, Ogden, when Lorin Farr was chosen President of the Weber Stake, with Charles R. Dana and David B. Dille as counselors.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 14, p.490
Lorin Farr Sawmill Lorin Farr was called by Brigham Young to build a sawmill at Ogden. In the spring of 1850 he chose a site southeast of the present "Old Mill Inn," 1251 Canyon Road. Logs were cut in Ogden Canyon and floated down the river. A dam was made to divert the water to form a mill pond in which the logs collected. Men cutting logs for Farr received 50% of the logs as pay. The saws were run by water power. The first sawyer was Joseph Harris. The mill was abandoned in 1873.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 13, p.21
On the 14th of September, that year, elder Woodruff recorded the death of Ezra T. Benson, who died suddenly at Ogden City, at the home of Elder Lorin Farr. The following Sunday elder Woodruff preached a discourse in the Tabernacle,  [p. 22] in honor of Brother Benson, and gave a brief sketch of his life. He said that on that occasion there were about sixty ladies and gentlemen from Ohio, who occupied the front benches and who gave strict attention to what was said.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 14, p.489
Lorin Farr Gristmill With lumber available from the sawmill built by Lorin Farr, and rock plentiful nearby, a 30 x 40 foot, two-story flour mill was built by Lorin Farr in the fall of 1850, on Canyon Road. The grain was ground by the use of burrs, several of which were set up. The bottom burr remained stationary, while the upper burr was propelled slowly by wooden paddles turned by water power. It was placed evenly between the burrs and sifted slowly by way of numerous grooves, chiseled at 45-degree angles. This process required constant watching and it was necessary to sharpen these grooves often. The first burrs were made from rock from our mountains and proved too soft, cracking and crumbling. The next were made from granite like that used in the Salt Lake Temple. This proved too hard, striking fire and scorching the grain. Other experiments were made until suitable material was found.
[p.490] In the Ogden City Directory of 1883, we find the following description of his mill: "There was a substantial stone building with frame wings and stone houses. The power supplied by a flume nearby, one mile in length, running from the Ogden River to the mill. There are four run of stone burrs with a capacity of some 10,000 pounds of flour per day. John P. Williams ground the first and last grist from 1862 to 1897. Joseph Stonebreaker was the first miller." Lorin Farr Sawmill Lorin Farr was called by Brigham Young to build a sawmill at Ogden. In the spring of 1850 he chose a site southeast of the present "Old Mill Inn," 1251 Canyon Road. Logs were cut in Ogden Canyon and floated down the river. A dam was made to divert the water to form a mill pond in which the logs collected. Men cutting logs for Farr received 50% of the logs as pay. The saws were run by water power. The first sawyer was Joseph Harris. The mill was abandoned in 1873.

Biographical Sketch of Lorin Farr (1820- )
Source: Biographical sketch of Lorin Farr typed from the original photostat from Bancroft Library. The original was written on stationery with the following letterhead:
CLIFT HOUSE, S. C. Ewing, Proprietor.
Room and Board, $2.00 per day. Salt Lake City, .......188
Lorin Farr of Ogden, born Caladona County, Vermont, July 20, 1820. Remained there and attended the schools at that time. Moved with his parents to Kirtland, Ohio, in 1838. Moved to Missouri 1839. Went to Nauvoo then to Council Bluffs. In 1847 came to Utah with Captain Spencers Company of over 600 wagons. Nearly 5000 people remaining till spring of 1850.
Located in Ogden building a saw and grist mill, the first north of Salt Lake City. Also helped build first mill in Utah. Has followed the milling business until the present time. I 1868 built the Ogden Woolen Mills in connection with Randall Rugsley and Neil. He also followed merchandising for several years buying a stock of good costing $30, 000. Setting out in 1869. Has also been and is a extensive farmer owning 300 acres of farmland all subject to irrigation.

Then he came to Ogden. Was elected as mayor which office he held for 20 years. After 6 years out? [p.2] was elected for a term of 2 years. Was appointed as president of the stake of Weber Co. which he held for 20 years. Then going to Europe and being obliged to resign his position as president of the stake. Has also been a member of the Territorial Legislature from the time of its organization until the last session, when he was disfranchised...but having never broken to law neither the law of 1862 or the recent Edmonds law.

Has always taken an active part in all matters pertaining to the welfare to the Church or Territory. Was the principal mover in building the roads through the Ogden Canyon. Also held the contract with Benson & West for constructing 200 miles of the C.P. Also took an active part in building the U.U., also the Utah Central. Was instrumental in seeing the R.R. Depot at Ogden. Also in getting the D & R G into Ogden making several trips to Denver for that purpose. He raised a family of 38 children, the youngest being 16 years. All respectable and well educated. Has also buried 9 children.

Lorin Farr
Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, Vol. 4, p.106
The Farrs of Utah are a numerous and an influential family, especially in Weber county, where the subject of this story resides. The life of Hon. Lorin Farr has been active, useful, and replete with interesting incidents. Than he, none of the founders of our States have made more honorable records, whatever may be said of more illustrious ones. To speak of greater gifts and larger opportunities, is not to disparage those possessed by a man whose abilities as a colonizer, a law-maker and an executive are so well known and recognized.

The simple fact that for twenty-two years he was mayor of the second city in Utah is an eloquent tribute to his worth and the esteem in which he was held by his fellow citizens. Those were times, too, when the best men were sought for and put in office, men of honesty and integrity, who could be relied upon to expend the public revenues wisely and economically and administer the affairs of government in the interest of the entire people. No man was given office as a reward for political service, partisan politics was almost unknown, and the spoils system had no place in public life. For a period of equal length to that during which he was Mayor of Ogden, Mr. Farr presided over the Weber Stake of Zion, and for twenty-eight years he represented Weber, Box Elder and Cache counties, and some of the time Carson county, in the Territorial legislature.

Lorin Farr was born July 27, 1820, in Waterford, Caledonia county, Vermont. His parents were Winslow and Olive Hovey Freeman Farr, and his earliest American ancestor was George Farr, who emigrated from London, England, in 1629, as a ship-builder for a Boston company. His father was a well-to-do farmer, prominent and influential, holding the office of judge of the county court. When Lorin was about eight years old the family moved to Charleston, Orleans county, forty miles north of their former home, and it was there that they became connected with Mormonism. They were converted under the preaching of Orson Pratt who, by the laying on of hands, was instrumental in healing Mrs. Farr of consumption and other ailments from which she had been a sufferer for five years. The healing was instantaneous and permanent; she who was then an invalid, thirty-two years of age, living until she was ninety-four.

Lorin was baptized a Latter-day Saint in the spring of 1832, being then eleven years of age. Five years later he removed with his parents to northern Ohio, and in the general Mormon migration from that part to the State of Missouri, he and his brother Aaron walked the whole distance from Kirtland to Far West. This was in the spring of 1838. The following winter he was in the exodus of his people from Missouri to Illinois, and while in both those States he lived a good deal of the time in the family of the Prophet Joseph Smith.

Hitherto a farmer and a carpenter, Lorin, who had received a good common education, now turned his attention to school teaching. He taught for a number of years at Nauvoo and the vicinity, the children of the Prophet and those of Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, John Taylor and other leading men being among his pupils. In the spring of 1842, by direction of the Prophet, he was ordained an Elder of the Church, and in the fall of 1844, under the hands of Elder Charles C. Rich, was ordained to the office of High Priest. While still at Nauvoo, on New Year's day, 1845, he married his first wife, Nancy B. Chase. Early the next year he bade farewell to that city and the State of Illinois, and with the main body of the exiled Saints passed over the frozen Mississippi and traveled across the Territory of Iowa on his way to the Rocky Mountains. From the Missouri river, where he remained until the summer of 1847, he journeyed [p.107] westward in the companies that followed immediately behind the Pioneers, leaving the Elk Horn in June. These companies comprised about six hundred wagons, with fifteen hundred human beings and five thousand head of stock. His individual outfit was a wagon, two yoke of oxen, two yoke of cows and provisions to last him and those dependent upon him eighteen months. His family was then small, consisting of his wife and his little son Enoch. He first traveled in A. O. Smoot's hundred and George B. Wallace's fifty, but during the latter part of the journey he was in Daniel Spencer's hundred and Ira Eldredge's fifty. He reached Salt Lake valley September 21, 1847.

After living awhile in the "Old Fort," he moved onto a lot north-west of the Temple block and adjoining the corner now occupied by the residence of Hon. Moses Thatcher. His first domicile in the valley was his wagon box, taken off the running-gears and made into a temporary abode; but he and his brother Aaron soon hauled logs from the canyon and built homes of a more comfortable character. Their houses in the fort had whip sawed lumber floors and were among the best constructed there. Lorin had brought with him from Winter Quarters all kinds of seeds, and these he planted in the spring of 1848. Most of his crop was devoured by the crickets before they were destroyed by the, gulls, but he raised enough to support his family till another harvest time, and had considerable to spare. Some of his neighbors were forced to eat thistle roots, raw hides and even wolf meat. Many put their families upon rations. He was not reduced to this necessity, owing to the fact, he says, that he had an economical wife, who managed so well that the family had enough to eat and something to give away.

In March, 1850, by special request of President Young, Lorin Farr removed to Ogden "to locate and take charge of the northern colonies." He with Charles Hubbard built, in the summer of the same year, the first saw mill and grist mill north of Salt Lake City. In the fall he bought out Mr. Hubbard and conducted the milling business alone for several years, after which he took in as a partner his brother Aaron.

In the fall of 1851 the colonists on the Weber had considerable trouble with the Indians, caused by the accidental killing of the Shoshone chief Terakee by Urban Stewart, one of the settlers. The chief, who was a noble specimen of his race, and very friendly to the whites, had gone into Mr. Stewart's cornfield one night about eleven o'clock to get his horses out of the corn, when the owner, hearing a noise and supposing it to proceed from some animal, wild or tame, that had strayed into his enclosure, imprudently fired his gun in that direction. The bullet struck Terakee, killing him instantly. Much beloved by his people, his tragic death was deeply lamented, and for a time it seemed as if the Shoshones could not be placated, but would take revenge on the whole colony for the unwise act of one of its members. As it was, the Indians, on the day following the accident, shot and killed one of Mr. Farr's men, his best mechanic, while at work upon his mills. Mr. Stewart regretted his rashness as much as any one, but that did not bring the dead to life, though his explanation and apologies, with the protestations of his associates, did much to appease the wrath of the red men. The settlers, however, fearful of a massacre, lived for several years in forts. A large portion of the immigration of 1851 was sent to strengthen the Weber county settlements. The first military organization of the county was formed about this time; it comprised all the militia in the Territory north of Davis county, and was organized by President Lorin Farr.

Elected Mayor of Ogden in the spring of 1851, he was re-elected every two years until he had had ten consecutive terms of office. He retired in November, 1870, but in 1876 was again elected for two years, making his aggregate period in the Mayoralty twenty-two years. From 1852 until 1880 he was a member of the Utah legislature. Meantime, in the summer of 1868, in connection with Chauncey W. West and Ezra T. Benson, he took a contract from Governor Leland Stanford, of California, President of the Central Pacific railroad, and did the grading for two hundred miles of that road west of Ogden.

In November, 1870, President Farr took his first and only foreign mission, which was to Europe. He had always been of a religious turn, and had done much preaching in his time, but his ministerial labors were generally at home, where his services were most needed. He not only preached the gospel, but practiced it, "trying to persuade men, women and children to live better lives in every way. I have labored all my life," he says, "to promote religious sentiment and make laws to protect the same. I have tried to do all the good I could, and as little harm as possible."

Mr. Farr was a member of the Constitutional Convention, which in 1895 framed the State Constitution upon which Utah was admitted into the Union. Since then he has led a quiet, uneventful life at his home in the city of Ogden. He is the father of forty children. His first wife, who has been named, and his plural wives, Sarah Giles, Olive Ann [p.108] Jones, Mary Bingham and Nicoline Erickson, are all dead. He has recently married again. Some years ago Mr. Farr met with an accident, a very painful fall, which at first threatened to be fatal, but he recovered and regained much of his old time sprightly vigor. At this writing he is in the eighty-third year of his age.


Fountain Green, Utah
August 10, 1992

Tim Farr
Box 449
Ferron, Utah 84523

Dear Brother Farr,

As I promised, even though a little late, the following is the essence of the remarks your great-grandfather made at the dedication of the Manti Temple:

"Elder Lorin Farr said he felt very thankful for the present privilege. For a year and a half he had not been able to stand before a congregation. For over fifty-six he had been connected with the, Church, and when a youth, he was intimately associated with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He never saw a man who manifested greater kindness and consideration towards his family than Joseph did. He, knew him then to be a prophet of God. A greater prophet never lived. He held the keys of all dispensations, and conferred the same, upon the Apostles. Temples would yet be built not only throughout America but in the various nations of Europe and Asia as well.

He could promise the saints that if they would be faithful, the present temple never should be taken from them nor destroyed. Faithful men had died in the past ages were engaged in the work of redemption in other spheres, which work would be connected with that performed in the Temples upon the earth. Millions of the dead were waiting for ordinances to be performed by the living in their behalf. He could testify that the Latter-day Saints were people, of God. It was the little stone cut out of the mountain without hands which was destined to fill the whole earth."

Tim, you can certainly be grateful for your progenitors. These men, those who built up this part of the West and had sacrificed so much, were some of God's choicest! They were men of great faith. How grateful we should be for them and for what we enjoy today because of their faith and sacrifice.

Very truly yours,

Victor J. Rasmussen


Death and funeral of Lorin Farr as described in the journal of Caroline Ballantyne Farr:

Jan 12 1909
Father Farr went up to the Hot Springs to take a bath and while in the warm pool he died. He was in the act of taking a plunge when life went out. When found, he was standing in the water with bowed head and hands extended. His body was still warm. Barlow Wilson and ________ Wallace went to his rescue. It was always his desire to go suddenly when his time came to leave this earth and his desire was granted. He was the best Father-law that ever lived with the exception of one, my own Father. We shall miss his dear face, one of the grandest among men. There is no feeling of gloom however, but a spirit of peace and love characteristic of him who has just left his place among the great ones who have lived on earth (Apostles and Prophets.) He was in his usual good health up to the moment of his death. His life just went out. He was standing in about four feet of water when found and his life gone out, and he did not fall. Surely the hand of God was made manifest in his behalf. I trust we may live lives that will be worthy of in other words that we may be worthy children of such a nobel father.

Sunday, Jan 17, 1908
At 2 o,clock in the Ogden Tabernacle was held the funeral service of Lorin Farr, our dear Father. No grander funeral was ever held, I believe here or at any other place. The speakers were President Joseph F. Smith, Joseph Parry, David 0. McKay, Moses Thatcher, George A. Smith, Fred J. Keisel, President L.W. Shurtliff and a poem in memory of the dedication of the Joseph Smith monument in Vermont which our Father was present with a company of about 30 members from Utah (He being the oldest.) He was the first of them to be called to the other side. It was a most beautiful poem written by Susie Y. Gates who was also one of the number who attended the dedication of that monument.

The Ogden Tabernacle choir were out in full force rendered most beautiful music under the direction of my brother Joseph Ballantyne. The decorations were beautiful. A calla lily blanket covered the casket. and many other beautiful flowers. There were at least 300 or 400 relatives present. The speakers were greatly inspired, and I have never heard grander words spoken of any human  being than were said of him. They were spoken by a Prophet of the living God. I never felt more humble. I felt very small indeed and unworthy but hope to become worthy of a membership in his family.

Carriages were provided for all the relatives who all met at his terrace on the hill on 21st street and looked at him for the last time in this life.

BIRTH: Name recorded as Loring Farr in Waterford Vital Records.

RESIDENCE: Age 50, Mayor & Pub. Speaker.

Mary BINGHAM [scrapbook] was born 1 on 1 Apr 1820 in Saint Johnsbury, Caledonia, Vermont, United States. She was christened on 11 Nov 1823 in Caledonia, Vermont, United States. She died 2 on 25 Sep 1893 in Ogden, Weber, Utah Territory, United States. Mary married 3, 4 Lorin FARR on 2 Dec 1854 in Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States.

Mary resided 5 in 1850 in Salt Lake, Utah Territory, United States. She resided 6 in 1860 in Ogden, Weber, Utah Territory, United States.

Other marriages:
FREEMAN, Elijah Norman I
SNOW, Willard Trowbridge

Mary Bingham was Sealed to Elijah Norman Freeman for tme and all eternity and married to Lorin and Willard for time only. The sealing line for her and all her children would be with Elijah Norman Freeman, Not Lorin Farr nor Willard Snow.

as. T. Jakeman, Daughters of the Utah Pioneers and Their Mothers, p. 124
Mary Bingham Farr:—Mrs. Farr, daughter of Erastus and Lucinda Gates Bingham, was born April 1, 1820. She was married to E. N. Freeman, who died while with the Mormon Battalion. She was married later to Willard Snow, who died while on a mission to Scandinavia. Later she was married to Lorin Farr, who died in Ogden. Sister Farr was a great believer in all the principles of the Church. She was a worker in and held office in the Relief Society. She was the mother of six living children, two of whom passed away later.

They had the following children.

  M i Willard FARR was born on 5 Jul 1856. He died on 18 Nov 1951 from of bronchopeumonia.
  M ii
Erastus FARR was born 1, 2 on 14 May 1859 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States. He died 3 on 28 Jun 1859 in Ogden, Weber, Utah, United States.
  M iii Isaac Farwell FARR was born on 23 May 1860. He died on 8 Mar 1935.

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