Charles H. Farnum, the owner of a fine farm in Concord, comes of ancestors who were among the earliest settlers of the town. He was born upon the patrimonial estate, December 30, 1838, son of Benjamin and Emily (Farnum) Farnum. According to New England records the first bearer of the name in this country was Ralph Farnum, who came from Wales; while the first representative of the family in Concord was Benjamin, the great-grandfather of Charles H. Ephraim Farnum, the grandfather, who was born in West Concord on the estates of his ancestors, reclaimed from the wilderness a large tract of land, which he left to his heirs, a large and well-improved property. He died at the age of sixty-five years. He married Sarah Brown, of Plymouth, N.H., who bore him six children-Joseph, Nancy, Benjamin, Susan D., Lydia, and Luther. Luther, who died March 15, 1897, at the advanced age of eighty-one years, was the noted Professor Farnum, who had been connected with the Public Library of Boston, Mass., for more than forty years.
Benjamin Farnum, Jr., was born on the family estate in West Concord, and received his education in the district schools of his native town. At his father’s decease he inherited the farm, and took up and continued its cultivation and improvement from the stage where his father had dropped it. In the year 1845 he erected a fine set of new buildings, Emily Farnum, daughter of Moses and Rhoda (Carter) Farnum, and reared a family of six children. These were: George, who died at the age of fifteen years; Rhoda, who died at the age of twenty years; Charles H., the subject of this sketch; Cyrus R., who lives in Concord; Lewis C., a resident of McGregor, Ia., who married Jennie Tiffany, and has one daughter, Emily F.; and George E., a farmer, living in Spencer, Ia., who married Josephine Jacobs, and has four children-Roswell, Eugenia F., Annie E., and Mattie B.
Charles H. Farnum received his education in the public and private schools of Concord and at Colby Academy of New London, N.H. At the age of twenty-two years he went to California, where he remained three and a half years engaged in the teaming business. In 1863 he went to Nevada, and was there some five years, teaming, lumbering, and running a saw-mill. It was his purpose to remain longer; but, on paying a visit to his home, he yielded to the earnest solicitation of his mother, and took up his residence again on the homestead estate, where he still lives.
On November 29, 1870, which is memorable as the day on which the old Concord church was destroyed by fire, Mr. Farnum was united in marriage to Annie L. Farnum, the daughter of Moses H. and Judith (Kilburn) Farnum. Mrs. Farnum’s grandfather, Enoch Kilburn, served as a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Her only child died in infancy. Mr. Farnum is a Republican in his politics, and he cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. He enjoys the esteem and good will of his fellow-citizens, who at one time selected him to represent them in their City Council.