- Chandler Farnsworth was the fifth of 11 children known to have been born to David Farnsworth and Sophia Howes. He was born on May 4, 1820 in Hawley, Franklin County, in the hills of western Massachusetts. About 1825 he moved with his parents and siblings to the vicinity of Perrysburg, Cattaraugus County, in western New York. Following the death of his father in 1841, Chandler appears to have taken over the role of head of the family of his widowed mother and unmarried siblings. Per census records, he made his living as a farmer. In the 1840's and early 1850's he farmed near Conewango, Cattaraugus County, New York, then in the late 1850's moved to South Grove, De Kalb County in northern Illinois, where he married Lucy Blackman on February 2, 1862. In 1864 Chandler, Lucy, and his oldest son William Farnsworth moved to Madelia, Watonwan County in southern Minnesota where their remaining four children (Asa, Inez, Frank, and Philo) were born. Chandler farmed at Madelia and lived out the remainder of his life there. He died at his home on January 29, 1888 and is buried at Madelia's Riverside Cemetery.
The February 3, 1888 edition of the Madelia [MN] Times carried the following short obituary of Chandler Farnsworth:
"DIED - At their home, near this village, on Sunday, Jan. 29th, 1888, Mr. Chandler Farnsworth, in the 68th year of his age.
"The deceased was born in Massachusetts, his descendants [sic - ancestors] having been among the earliest settlers when that was a colony. His parents removed to New York in 1840 [error - the family had moved to western New York from Massachusetts by 1826], and in 1862 he came to Illinois [another error - he was in Illinois at the time of 1860 census] where he married and soon after removed to this place where he had since resided. He has been sick a long time with consumption, and his death was not unexpected. He leaves a wife and four children, and two sisters residing in this vicinity. The funeral was held in the Methodist church on Wednesday."
|
1820 - 1888 (67 years)
