Capt. Dennie W. FARR [Parents] [scrapbook] 1 was born 2, 3 on 7 Jan 1840 in Chesterfield, Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States. He died 4, 5 on 5 May 1864 in Wilderness Battlefield, Spotsylvania, Virginia, United States. He was buried 6 in Chesterfield, Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States. Dennie married 7, 8 Mary Hannah BROWN on 31 Jul 1863 in Brattleboro, Windham, Vermont, United States.
Dennie resided in 1850 in Chesterfield, Cheshire, New Hampshire, United States.
From the research of Linda Farr Welch:
Farr, Dennis "Dennie" W. - Dennie was born in Chesterfield, New Hampshire, 7 Jan., 1840, son of Worcester & Abial (Kneeland) Farr. The FARR FAMILY is an ancient New England family whose New England roots began with Captain Stephen Farr (1647-1696) of Concord, Massachusetts, a soldier of King Philip's War who served in the Narragansett Expedition in 1675 under Captain Nathaniel Davenport. Dennie probably didn't know much about his Farr ancestry back then, however. In the days of his youth, young men were more interested in their own lives and the issues they faced at the time. He grew up in Chesterfield where his father was a small time farmer. Their farm in 1850 was valued at $300. The family was quite large in 1850. Living in that small farmhouse were eleven children with the parents. Of those, two baby boys died in infancy: Gilbert and Chester; and two other sons died at age ten: James and Bernard. The rest of Worcester and Abial's children reached adulthood, married and have children of their own, except Dennie. Dennie was the middle child. He learned the skills of farming from his early youth. His mother and father were Universalists by faith. They attended church in Walpole. They traveled to Brattleboro, Vt. often to hear Rev. Addison Brown preach. He was one of the most popular Universalists preachers in the area at the time. It was during these visits that Dennie met and fell in love with Rev. Brown's daughter. He was a soldier when he married (at age 23), 31 July, 1863, Mary Hannah Brown of Brattleboro, Vermont (b. Brattleboro, 5 July, 1842, dau. of Rev. Addison & Ann Elizabeth (Wetherbee) Brown). They began their married life together in the midst of war. Mary lived with her parents in Brattleboro while Dennie was off with her brother and others to the battlefield. Mary was quite an accomplished young lady. She began her studies with her parent's home schooling. When she was seven years old, her father gave her a new arithmetic book to study. He was so impressed with how well she did, that he wrote a letter to a friend in 1847 to recommend it as follows:
DANIEL BIXBY, ESQ.
DEAR SIR : - I give you many thanks for the " First Book in Arithmetic," by Frederick A. Adams, which you had the kindness to send me, some time since. To test its merits, I set my youngest child, a daughter, seven years of age, to studying it. She has been about half through it; and having heard her lessons myself and watched her progress, and the effect the book has had in developing her powers of calculation, I am satisfied that it is a very excellent work. I think as a First Book in Arithmetic, it is decidedly the best I have either used or examined, and I should be glad to see it extensively introduced into our Schools. -Yours, with respect, ADDISON BROWN.Mary's parents were both highly educated. They had opened a school in Brattleboro in the 1840s they named the Melrose School. It was operated through the generous donations of Universalist parishioners in their community and the surrounding towns. In 1847, Melrose Seminary had 214 students studying in Brattleboro. Many of them were obliged to rent rooms from the farmers of the area in order to attend the school. -Mary Brown and her sister Frances were among the towns' youth who were early enrolled. Their elder sister, Ann Elizabeth Brown married in 1853, Professor Christian F. Schuster, an immigrant from Mainz, Germany, who was a musician of great note. He was often times at the Brown family home in Brattleboro, performing wonderful concerts for guests and the family. Ann died at the young age of 26 years in 1862, but her husband and the children were frequent guests at the Brown household after her death. Frances Brown, Mary's other sister was a schoolteacher at the Pemberton Square School in Boston. She worked with George B. Emerson in planning a curriculum and was one of the most beloved teachers herself. Frances too, died young, in 1870 after Mary had married a second time. All three of the Brown girls were privileged to meet and know Henry David Thoreau. In September 1856, Thoreau went to visit their father and mother in Brattleboro on invitation to learn about botanical flora in that section of Vermont. Frances (age 22) and Mary Brown (age 14) traveled with Thoreau on his nature trips around the Connecticut River Valley. They crossed the Connecticut River and climbed Mount Wantastiquet with him. It was a beautiful clear day, and they were able to see the outline of Mt. Ascutney in the distance. The girls came home to tell the family all about it. It was an experience they would not soon forget. Indeed, in later years, Mary told her story to those who were researching the life of Thoreau. With all this in mind, indeed, Dennie Farr married into a most prominent and highly respected family when he wed Mary Brown of Brattleboro. Mary learned to read and write before she was five years old. She spoke Greek, Latin, and had begun studying the French language. Dennie knew the rudimentaries of reading and writing, but subsequent to his marriage, and in their short life together, Dennie learned much more from Mary then he had in his district school. He was ready to begin in business for himself in Brattleboro, but their plans were cut short. When Mary's brother Addison Brown Jr. came home after a six months' deployment as a soldier of the Civil War in New York state, he set about recruiting men for a company he was raising in Brattleboro. Dennie Farr was one of his recruits. Dennie enlisted at Brattleboro, 13 Aug., 1862 as a private in Co. "F", 4th Regiment, Vermont Volunteers. He was promoted to first lieutenant of Company "F" 19 Jan., 1862. He shortly afterwards rose to the rank of Captain. He was one of the first men killed in the Battle of the Wilderness. He was waving his sword and encouraging his troops to move on and fight when he was struck in the head by a minie ball. He was only twenty-four years old, and gave up his life, which was full of promise and hope, a willing sacrifice to his country, 4 May, 1864. Captain George Blood French of Cavendish, whose own little brother Quincy was also killed that day at the Wilderness and was wounded in that battle himself, wrote a letter home to Mary Farr explaining the circumstances which led to her beloved husband's death. A couple of months letter, she wrote at letter back to Captain French as follows:
Brattleboro, Vt., April 7, 1865
To: Captain George Blood French, Proctorsville, Vt.
From: Mary F. Farr [widow of Capt. Dennie Farr]
Capt French, Dear Sir: I see by Dennie's account book that he sold to you his saddle just before starting on his last campaign. I am quite anxious to obtain it if I can do so. Have you it now and are you willing to sell it to me? Sincerely, -Mary F. FarrMary m. 2nd, 7 Feb., 1867, Colonel Augustus Thomas Dunton (b, Manchester, Vt. 22 Aug., 1826, son of Dr. Thomas & Waity (Kent) Dunton). Dr. Dunton was a circuit preacher in Bennington and St. Lawrence Counties, New York. Colonel Dunton served as captain and assistant quartermaster in a New York regiment of volunteers during the Civil War and received brevet commission as major and lieutenant colonel. He and Mary owned a hotel in Brattleboro. In November, 1906, 7hey moved first to Rockford, (Winnebago County) Illinois. They had one daughter, Florida Starr Dunton, who married in Clearwater, Florida, 15 Jan., 1892, Ovington Ross. Mary and Mr. Dunton were living at 629 Ontario Avenue in Sheboygan, Wisconsin in 1908, with Florida and her husband and their children. Augustus Dunton d. there, 9 Aug., 1912. In 1930, Mary Brown Farr Dunton was 88 years old and living back in Brattleboro, Vt. at the Brattleboro Home For the Aged.
DEATH: Killed in the Battle of the Wilderness from a shot to the head. His remains were brought back to Chesterfield where he was buried with a Masonic ceremony in the cemetery near the West Village.
