Colonel Preston Withers Farrar[1] (1805/06 - March 7, 1850) was an American lawyer and Whig politician. He was the Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1848 to his death in 1850.[2][3][4] He also served in both houses of the Mississippi Legislature.[5]
Preston W. Farrar | |
|---|---|
| 17th Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives | |
| Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives | |
| In office 1847 – March 7, 1850 | |
| Member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the unknown district | |
| In office 1847 – March 7, 1850 | |
| Member of the Mississippi Senate from the Wilkinson County district | |
| In office 1836–1837 | |
| Member of the Mississippi House of Representatives from the Wilkinson County district | |
| In office 1838–1841 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1805 or 1806 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S. |
| Died | (aged 44) Baton Rouge, Louisiana, U.S. |
| Relations | Abram M. Scott (father-in-law) |
| Alma mater | Transylvania University |
Biography
editPreston Withers Farrar was born in Lexington, Kentucky.[3][6][7] He had a brother, Daniel Foster Farrar (died 1841).[8] He graduated from Transylvania University.[3][7] Farrar moved to the state of Mississippi in 1827, where he began practicing law in the town of Woodville.[3][7] In March 1833, Farrar married Eliza Scott, the only daughter of Mississippi Governor Abram M. Scott.[7][9] Governor Scott unexpectedly died of cholera in June 1833.[9] In 1837, Preston and Eliza took control of half of the late Abram's plantation and enslaved people in Rapides Parish, Louisiana.[9] In 1838 they mortgaged the property and 43 enslaved people to obtain a loan of $29,000, which Farrar then used to pay off a $24,443 debt he owed to a New Orleans firm.[9] When the Farrars could not repay a majority of the $29,000 loan the bank threatened to foreclose on the plantation property.[9]
Farrar was a member of the Whig Party.[2] In the 1836 and 1837 sessions, Farrar represented Wilkinson County in the Mississippi House of Representatives.[5] He represented the same county in the Mississippi State Senate from 1838 to 1841.[10] In 1839, Farrar experienced bank losses and moved to New Orleans, Louisiana.[7]
In 1847, Farrar served on the first board of the University of Louisiana.[11] In 1847 he served as Speaker of the Louisiana House of Representatives.[2][12] He was again elected Speaker for the 1848 session, and the 1850 session[2] in which the state capital moved from New Orleans to Baton Rouge.[12]
In March 7, 1850, Farrar died in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, at age 44.[13][14] He was survived by his widow and several children.[15][7]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Stafford, George Mason Graham (1943). General Leroy Augustus Stafford: His Forebears and Descendants. Pelican Publishing Company. pp. 437–438.
- ^ a b c d Goodspeed, Weston Arthur (June 7, 1904). "Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Indian territory". Weston historical association – via Google Books.
- ^ a b c d Stryker's American Register and Magazine. W.M. Morrison. 1850. p. 452.
- ^ Shields, Joseph Dunbar (June 7, 1883). "The Life and Times of Seargent Smith Prentiss". J.B. Lippincott – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Lowry, Robert; McCardle, William H. (June 7, 1891). A History of Mississippi: From the Discovery of the Great River by Hernando DeSoto, Including the Earliest Settlement Made by the French Under Iberville, to the Death of Jefferson Davis. AMS Press. ISBN 9780404046101 – via Google Books.
- ^ Society, Kentucky Historical (1943). Register of Kentucky State Historical Society. Kentucky State Historical Society. p. 149.
- ^ a b c d e f "Farrar, Preston Wither, Obituary, New Orleans Weekly; March 11, 1850". New Orleans Weekly Delta. 1850-03-11. p. 5. Retrieved 2024-06-17.
- ^ "Daniel Foster Farra, Brother of Preston W Farrar Dies in KY". The Times-Picayune. 1841-09-25. p. 2. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
- ^ a b c d e Ann, Sharon (2023-04-05). Banking on Slavery: Financing Southern Expansion in the Antebellum United States. University of Chicago Press. p. 190. ISBN 978-0-226-82460-4.
- ^ Rowland, Dunbar (1904). The Official and Statistical Register of the State of Mississippi. Department of Archives and History. p. 162.
- ^ Education, United States Office of (June 7, 1898). "Contributions to American Educational History" – via Google Books.
- ^ a b Fortier, Alcée (June 7, 1914). "Louisiana: Comprising Sketches of Parishes, Towns, Events, Institutions, and Persons, Arranged in Cyclopedic Form". Century Historical Association – via Google Books.
- ^ Senate, Louisiana Legislature (June 7, 1876). "Official Journal of the Proceedings of the Senate of the State of Louisiana, ..." – via Google Books.
- ^ Hough, Franklin Benjamin (1875). American Biographical Notes: Being Short Notices of Deceased Persons, Chiefly Those Not Included in Allen's Or in Drake's Biographical Dictionaries. J. Munsell. p. 136.
- ^ "Preston W. Farrar". New Orleans Weekly Delta. 1850-03-11. p. 1. Retrieved 2024-06-16.
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